With a win at home and a loss on the road, the UBC football season has been off to a shaky start. But with Homecoming now on the horizon, everything could change. Things don’t get much more exciting than this.
I know. You probably think the team is doomed for failure, but let’s not think too far just yet. One step at a time. The season is still very much in its infancy and as head coach Blake Nill once said, the ’Birds are still trying to get up to speed with the changes that have been in store.
“We are going to miss some guys, especially on defence, but what that does is it creates opportunity and the ability for young kids to step up,” said Nill.
With the many young players on the current UBC roster, few doubted that taking on the Calgary Dinos was going to be a challenge for the T-Birds. For the last couple of seasons, the Dinos have been dominant both offensively and defensively.
Clearly, it showed.
With four of last year’s all-Canadian defensive players still on the team, Calgary’s defensive line practically shut down UBC’s offence. UBC quarterback Michael O’Connor — who averaged 304.5 passing yards per game last season — only had 175 yards in the last game. What’s worse was that the T-Birds didn’t gain any offensive yards whatsoever during the final quarter!
It’s going to be a tough loss to cope with, but look at it this way — last season started off shaky as well. UBC ended with a perfect streak of eight games to capture the Vanier Cup in the end and we didn’t expect that at all either.
Also, for the second straight season, the ’Birds will square off against the Regina Rams to prove that they are a force to be reckoned with. Last year’s Homecoming was a close contest that ended with UBC coming out on top 27-20.
But while Regina’s ended last season without a single win, they are tied with a 1-1 record with UBC so far this season. In terms of scoring, the Rams have produced 80 points in the last two games — the highest in the Canada West conference.
T-Birds receiver Alex Morrison— who was a Canada West All-Star last season — will also be out for the next game with an arm injury from their Calgary game.
Not everything might be working in UBC’s favour and the ’Birds may not be able to squeeze past this time.
At the end of the day, consistency does take time to build, so the results don’t quite reflect the actual performance of the T-Birds just yet. With Homecoming only days away, it’s time to stop dwelling on the previous loss against Calgary.
It's time to bring all the excitement you can to Thunderbird Stadium and hope for the best.
The T-Bird's face off against the University of Regina Rams will kick into live action at 5 p.m. at Thunderbird Stadium.
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