CIS: First national ranking of 2012 to be released Tuesday

The 2012 opener will pit the Alberta Golden Bears against the hometown Saskatchewan Huskies, Friday night in Saskatoon. Ten more matchups are scheduled on opening weekend in the Canada West, OUA and RSEQ conferences, including the McMaster Marauders kicking off the defence of their first-ever Vanier Cup title with a home tilt against Guelph on Labour Day (Sept. 3). The AUS regular schedule is set to start the following weekend.

A total of 123 conference and playoff games will be played across the country over the next three months, culminating with the 48^th Vanier Cup final on November 23^rd at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Thirteen CIS teams took the field for pre-season contests this past weekend, including a rematch of the 2011 Vanier Cup final that saw the Laval Rouge et Or defeat McMaster 28-22 in front of 9,991 fans Sunday in Quebec City. Other exhibition results were Guelph 26, Saskatchewan 21; Manitoba 29, Regina 13; Montreal 29, Windsor 10; Concordia 31, Toronto 24; Bishop’s 35, York 2; Menlo College (NAIA) 28, UBC 13; Queen’s 23, McGill 9.

A pair of AUS pre-season games are scheduled for Saturday while the regular schedule gets under way in the three other leagues.

Once again this fall, members of Football Reporters of Canada will vote for the weekly Top 10 ranking, which will be released every Tuesday.

A year ago, Laval was ranked No. 1 in seven of 10 national polls, including the first six and the final one, which was published at the end of the regular season. Western (two weeks) and Calgary (one week) also reached the top of the charts in 2011.

Laval has dominated the Top 10 voting in recent years, reaching No. 1 status 63 times in 70 polls dating back to the start of the 2055 campaign.

Below are pre-season schedule and results, the schedule for Weeks 1 and 2 of the regular season (including TV and web streaming information), as well as the 2012 playoff schedule. The complete 2012 schedule is posted on the CIS website at www.cis-sic.ca.

NOTES: Team previews of all 26 CIS football programs, profiles of 26 star players, as well as CIS football records going into the 2012 season are available at www.cis-sic.ca… Information on the 48^th Vanier Cup (including ticket info) can be found at www.vaniercup.ca… The CIS football players of the week – also selected by a panel of FRC members – will be announced each Wednesday, starting on Sept. 5.

PRE-SEASON SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times local)

August 24  
Guelph 26, Saskatchewan 21 (at Saskatchewan)
Manitoba 29, Regina 13 (at Regina)
Montreal 29, Windsor 10 (at Montreal)
Concordia 31, Toronto 24 (at Concordia)

August 25
Bishop’s 35, York 2 (at Bishop’s)
Menlo College (NAIA) 28, UBC 13 (at UBC)

August 26
Laval 28, McMaster 22 (at Laval)
Queen’s 23, McGill 9 (at Queen’s)

September 1
14:00   Saint Mary’s at Mount Allison
17:00   StFX at Acadia (EastLink TV)

REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE: WEEKS 1 & 2 (all times local)

August 31  
19:00   Alberta at Saskatchewan

September 1  
13:00   Bishop’s at Concordia (SSNCanada.ca)
14:00   Manitoba at UBC (CanadaWest.tv)     
17:00   Regina at Calgary (Shaw TV/ CanadaWest.tv)
19:00   Montreal at Sherbrooke

September 2  
14:00   McGill at Laval (Radio-Canada)

September 3  
13:00   Ottawa at Windsor (TVCogeco)
13:00   Laurier at Toronto (SSNCanada.ca)
13:00   Western at Waterloo (SSNCanada.ca)
13:00   Guelph at McMaster (Cable 14)
14:00   York at Queen’s (TVCogeco – tape delayed)

September 7  
17:30   Alberta at Calgary (CanadaWest.tv)
19:00   StFX at Mount Allison (sportscanada.tv)
19:00   Sherbrooke at McGill (SSNCanada.ca)
19:00   Concordia at Montreal
19:00   UBC at Regina (Shaw TV / CanadaWest.tv)

September 8  
13:00   McMaster at Waterloo (SSNCanada.ca)
13:00   Toronto at Western (Rogers TV / SSNCanada.ca)
13:00   Laval at Bishop’s (Radio-Canada / SSNCanada.ca)
13:00   Ottawa at York (SSNCanada.ca)
14:00   Saint Mary’s at Acadia (EastLink TV / acadiaathletics.ca)  
14:00   Saskatchewan at Manitoba (Shaw TV Manitoba)   
19:00   Guelph at Windsor (TVCogeco)
20:00   Queen’s at Laurier (theScore / thescore.com)

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE (all times local)

October 27
13:00   OUA quarter-final 6 vs. 3
13:00   OUA quarter-final 5 vs. 4

November 2
TBD Canada West semifinal #1 *

November 3
13:00   AUS semifinal 3 vs. 2
13:00   RSEQ semifinal 3 vs. 2
13:00   RSEQ semifinal 4 vs. 1
13:00   OUA semifinal #1
16:30   OUA semifinal #2
TBD Canada West semifinal #2 *

* Canada West semis: Still TBD whether games will be played on Friday/Saturday, or both on Saturday. 

November 10
13:00   AUS final: Loney Bowl (EastLink)
13:00   OUA final: Yates Cup (theScore)
13:00   Canada West final: Hardy Cup (TSN)
13:15   RSEQ final: Dunsmore Cup (Radio-Canada)

November 17
13:00   Uteck Bowl: AUS at RSEQ (TSN & RDS)
16:00   Mitchell Bowl: Canada West at OUA (TSN & RDS)

November 23
19:30   Vanier Cup: Rogers Centre, Toronto (TSN & RDS)