U Sports Top 10 (4): Waterloo beats Laurier…16 years later

Following their most impressive performance so far this season, the reigning Vanier Cup champion Western Mustangs top the U SPORTS football national rankings for the fourth consecutive week.

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The Mustangs (3-0), who outgained visiting York by 556 total yards (642-86) on Saturday in a lopsided 76-3 win, received 134 points from the Football Reporters of Canada panel in this week’s voting and an additional 140 from the ELO Rating System for a combined total of 274.

The 2018 Vanier Cup finalist Laval Rouge et Or (3-0 / 249 points) follow in second place for the fourth straight Tuesday, while the Calgary Dinos (3-0 / 231) are third for the second week in a row.

Western (10), Laval (3) and Calgary (1) were once again the only teams to merit first-place votes from the 14-member FRC panel.

Rounding out the fourth top 10 of the campaign are the fourth-seeded Montreal Carabins (2-1 / 184 / up one position), No. 5 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (2-1 / 144 / down one), No. 6 Carleton Ravens (3-1 / 131 / up two), No. 7 Saint Mary’s Huskies (3-0 / 79 / no change), No. 8 Regina Rams (2-1 / 52 / previously unranked), No. 9 Saskatchewan Huskies (2-1 / 45 / no change) and No. 10 Guelph Gryphons (2-2 / 45 / no change).

At London, top-ranked Western used a 32-point second quarter to build a 46-3 halftime lead against York and then cruised to its 15^th straight overall victory dating back to a loss to Laurier in the 2016 Yates Cup. Standout running backs Cedric Joseph and Alex Taylor both scored a pair of touchdowns, while on the other side of the ball, their teammates racked up four interceptions and seven tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Meanwhile, an hour north-east of TD Stadium, Tre Ford and Tyler Ternowski connected for an 88-yard pass-and-run score with under three minutes remaining as unranked Waterloo stunned Laurier 34-32 to win the Battle of Waterloo for the first time since 2002. At the midway point of the regular schedule, Ford, the 2017 national rookie of the year, has thrown a U SPORTS-leading 15 TD passes, eight of them to Ternowski.

After ending a 14-game losing streak against their cross-town rivals, the Warriors will now look to halt a 10-game drought versus Western when they host the Mustangs Saturday at 1 p.m., live on OUA.TV. Waterloo’s last head-to-head success dates back almost 17 years, a 22-3 win on Sept. 29, 2001.

At Saskatoon, Canada West-leading Calgary outgunned Saskatchewan 37-28 for its third straight top-10 win to open the campaign. Adam Sinagra threw for an eye-popping 569 yards, the second-highest single-game total in U SPORTS annals.

Other Week 4 results from top-10 squads included Montreal 43, Sherbrooke 11 (at Sherbrooke); Carleton 42, Queen’s 39 in overtime (at Carleton); Regina 19, UBC 17 (at Regina); Guelph 26, Windsor 20 (at Windsor).

Undefeated Laval and Saint Mary’s were both enjoying well-deserved breaks.

In addition to the Western-Waterloo tilt for first place in the OUA, the Week 5 schedule is highlighted by a top-10 confrontation between No. 8 Regina and No. 9 Saskatchewan, Friday evening in Saskatoon (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, SaskTel maxTV, TELUS Optik TV, Bell MTS &CanadaWest.TV).

Also on Friday night, Acadia (2-1) visits Saint Mary’s in a rematch of last year’s conference final (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, AUStv.ca).

For their part, Laval and Calgary will also look to maintain their unblemished records against McGill (1-2) and UBC (1-2), respectively. The Rouge et Or host the Redmen on Sunday (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT), while the Dinos visit the Thunderbirds on Saturday (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, SaskTel maxTV, TELUS Optik TV, Bell MTS &CanadaWest.TV).