U Sports top 10 (8): No. 1 Western dominates No. 5 Ottawa, clinches first place in OUA

Having clinched first place in the OUA standings over the weekend, the reigning Vanier Cup champion Western Mustangs top the U SPORTS football national rankings for the eighth week in a row.

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The Mustangs (7-0), who will enter the OUA playoffs as the No. 1 seed for the fourth consecutive year, received 149 points from the Football Reporters of Canada panel in this week’s voting and an additional 160 from the ELO Rating System for a combined total of 309.

The 2017 Vanier Cup finalist Laval Rouge et Or (7-0 / 292 points) follow in second place for the eighth straight Tuesday, while the No. 3 Calgary Dinos (6-0 / 260), No. 4 Montreal Carabins (5-2 / 227), No. 5 Ottawa Gee-Gees (5-2 / 151), No. 6 Saint Mary’s Huskies (7-0 / 142) and No. 7 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (4-3 / 122) also stay put this week.

Rounding out the eighth top 10 of the campaign are the Guelph Gryphons (4-3 / 65), who move up two spots to No. 8, as well as the No. 9 Carleton Ravens (5-3 / 54) and No. 10 UBC Thunderbirds (3-3 / 48), both unranked a week ago.

Western (9), Laval (5) and Calgary (2) were once again the only teams to merit first-place votes from the FRC panel.

First position in Ontario was on the line Saturday in the nation’s capital and top-ranked Western took care of business in impressive fashion, using a dominating ground game and a suffocating defence to blank No. 5 Ottawa 33-0. The Mustangs amassed 357 rushing yards and held the Gee-Gees to 181 yards of total offence en route to their 19^th straight success overall dating back to the start of the 2017 schedule, six short of Laval’s U SPORTS-record streak from 2012 to 2014.

In Canada West, No. 3 Calgary also secured the top spot over the weekend with a 34-16 victory over visiting Manitoba. The Dinos, who held a comfortable 34-1 lead after three quarters of action, are regular-season champions out west for the second year in a row and for the seventh time in the past eight campaigns.

Meanwhile, No. 2 Laval and No. 6 Saint Mary’s, who had already clinched first place in their respective conferences in Week 7, also remained undefeated in league play.

In the RSEQ, the Rouge et Or rolled to a 57-13 win at McGill thanks in large part to five touchdown passes from two-time RSEQ MVP Hugo Richard, while No. 4 Montreal, which has allowed a U SPORTS-low 6.6 points per game so far this fall, secured second place with a 24-0 shutout against Concordia.

In the AUS, the Huskies built a 28-10 advantage against visiting Mount Allison heading into the fourth quarter en route to a 28-16 decision.

Other Week 8 results from top-10 squads included Laurier 39, Windsor 24 (at Laurier); Guelph 46, Toronto 8 (at Guelph); Carleton 35, York 20 (at York); UBC 20, Saskatchewan 10 (at UBC).

Highlighting the Week 9 schedule is a second straight top-10 confrontation for No. 1 Western, this time on home turf against Laurier, Saturday at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT (Rogers TV & OUA.TV). The No. 7 Hawks are in a four-way tie for fourth position heading into the final weekend of league play in the OUA.

Second-ranked Laval also wraps-up conference play this weekend. The Rouge et Or, who host Sherbrooke (1-5) on Sunday afternoon, will then enjoy a bye in the final week of the RSEQ regular schedule.

Third-ranked Calgary hosts Regina (1-5) on Friday evening (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, SaskTel maxTV, TELUS Optik TV, Bell MTS &CanadaWest.TV), while No. 5 Ottawa looks to rebound at Queen’s (3-4) on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, YourTV & OUA.TV).

Montreal and Saint Mary’s both enjoy a well-deserved break this week.