FRC – CIS Top 10 (7): No. 1 Western, Big Four remain undefeated

NOTE:  Canadafootballchat.com contributes to the Football Reporters of Canada (FRC) CIS Top 10 rankings

OTTAWA  – The top four teams in CIS football remained undefeated this past weekend including the high-scoring Western Mustangs, who lead the Football Reporters of Canada national poll for the second straight week.

The Mustangs (7-0) received 20 first-place votes and 290 points in the new Top 10 to slightly increase their advantage over reigning Vanier Cup champion Laval (6-0), which had led the first five media polls of the campaign before Western took over last Tuesday. The Rouge et Or earned the remaining 10 first-place nods and 280 points from the FRC panel.

Rounding out the new rankings are the No. 3 Calgary Dinos (6-0 / no change), No. 4 Guelph Gryphons (6-0 / no change), No. 5 Queen’s Gaels (5-1 / no change), No. 6 Montreal Carabins (4-2 / up one), No. 7 Saskatchewan Huskies (4-2 / down one), No. 8 Bishop’s Gaiters (4-2 / no change), No. 9 McMaster Marauders (3-3 / no change), as well as the No. 10 Windsor Lancers (4-3), making their first Top-10 appearance of the season.

Western, Laval and Guelph were all easy winners over the weekend, while Calgary defeated archrival Saskatchewan for the second time this fall to secure first place in the Canada West conference.

The Mustangs crushed Windsor 51-23 on the strength of 362 yards through the air from CIS passing leader Will Finch. With one game left in league play, Western is 15 points away from breaking the single-season OUA scoring record set by McMaster in 2003 (424), while fifth-year kicker Lirim Hajrullahu needs nine points in his final regular season outing to shatter the individual CIS career mark of 410 established by former Ottawa great Neil Lumsden in the 1970s.

The Rouge et Or scored touchdowns on offence, defence and special teams in a 65-9 domination of Concordia. The Gryphons took a 20-0 lead into the fourth quarter and cruised to a 33-7 victory over York. The Dinos outscored the Huskies 18-0 in the final 27 minutes to prevail 24-12 at Saskatoon.

Meanwhile, a pair of Top-10 teams survived a scare. Queen’s needed overtime to down Laurier 40-34, while Bishop’s registered its third one-point win of the season, this time 30-29 over McGill.

Montreal avenged a loss to Sherbrooke the previous week with a 30-24 win against the Vert & Or. McMaster downed Waterloo 66-3 to get back to .500. Windsor replaces Manitoba at No. 10 despite the one-sided loss to top-ranked Western.

Only six games are on the Thanksgiving schedule across the country. Guelph (at 0-6 Carleton), Queen’s (at 1-5 Waterloo) and McMaster (at 1-6 Laurier) are the only ranked teams in action.

The leading trio of Western, Laval and Calgary gets back on the field the following weekend against York (2-4), Sherbrooke (2-4) and Regina (2-4), respectively.

FRC – CIS FOOTBALL TOP 10 (#7)

                                   Pts (1st place) Last week
1. Western (7-0)             290 (20)           1
2. Laval (6-0)                   280 (10)           2
3. Calgary (6-0)               233                     3
4. Guelph (6-0)                212                     4
5. Queen’s (5-1)               202                     5
6. Montreal (4-2)            138                     7
7. Saskatchewan (4-2)  119                     6
8. Bishop’s (4-2)              97                       8
9. McMaster (3-3)          53                        9
10. Windsor (4-3)           20                      NR

Other teams receiving votes: UBC (9), Manitoba (8), Saint Mary’s (6), Sherbrooke (5), Ottawa (5), McGill (1).

WEEK 7 RESULTS

Bishop’s 30, McGill 29 (at McGill)

Guelph 33, York 7 (at Guelph)

Calgary 24, Saskatchewan 12 (at Saskatchewan)

StFX 30, Mount Allison 9 (at StFX)

Saint Mary’s 17, Acadia 10 (at Saint Mary’s)

Montreal 30, Sherbrooke 24 (at Sherbrooke)

Queen’s 40, Laurier 34 OT (at Queen’s)

McMaster 66, Waterloo 3 (at McMaster)

Ottawa 35, Carleton 10 (at Ottawa)

Western 51, Windsor 23 (at Windsor)

UBC 28, Manitoba 24 (at Manitoba)

Regina 25, Alberta 20 (at Regina)

Laval 65, Concordia 9 (at Laval)

 WEEK 8 SCHEDULE (all times local)

 NOTE: Click HERE for the complete 2013 regular season schedule.

October 10

19:00 Toronto (2-4) at York (2-4) (Rogers TV Toronto & video webcast)

October 11
19:00 Saint Mary’s (3-2) at Acadia (2-3) (video webcast)
19:00 No. 4 Guelph (6-0) at Carleton (0-6)
19:00 No. 5 Queen’s (5-1) at Waterloo (1-5) (Rogers TV Waterloo – tape delay & video webcast)

October 12
13:00 No. 9 McMaster (3-3) at Laurier (1-6) (video webcast)
14:00 StFX (3-2) at Mount Allison (1-4) (Eastlink TV & video webcast)