CIS Corner: Without Marc Mueller, Regina still upsets Calgary in Friday night action

The CIS upset of the year so far might have happened Friday night, with the Regina Rams edging the previously-unbeaten Calgary Dinos 12-9. Calgary had been a solid #2 in the FRC-CIS polls heading into this and had rolled right over their competition, leading the country in points, yardage, points allowed, yardage allowed and many other stats, while #8 Regina lost to then-1-4 UBC last week and seemed to be reeling without quarterback Marc Mueller. They didn't need a passing offence Friday, though; despite gaining just 63 yards through the air and being outgained by 196 yards overall, the Rams led for most of this contest and came away with a crucial home win that locked up the second seed in the Canada West playoffs.

This was a remarkable result. Keep in mind, heading into this, Calgary looked like an absolute juggernaut, allowing just 8.6 points and 258.3 yards against per game versus tough competition while scoring 48.8 points per game and putting up 593.5 yards per game, all CIS-best numbers. They'd been so dominant that earlier this week, I'd made the televised case for why I kept voting them as #1 over (also-unbeaten) McMaster:

Yeah, that doesn't look so good in retrospect (unless McMaster somehow falls even flatter against Laurier Saturday, but with perfection on the line, that's highly unlikely). Still, despite coming out on the losing side here, the Dinos performed exceptionally well on defence. The only touchdown the Rams scored came off a 54-yard interception return from Joey Dwyer near the end of the first quarter, and the rest of their points came off a field goal and two rouges. They also got 85 yards off a missed field goal return. On offence, they picked up 132 rushing yards, but needed 30 attempts to do so, averaging just 4.2 yards per rush. Thus, that side of the ball's still looking strong for Calgary.

It was the offence that ran into crisis, though. Quarterback Eric Dzwilewski had played well for most of the year, but struggled Friday night, completing just 12 of 24 passes for 142 yards with an interception before he was pulled. Backup Andrew Buckley was better, completing 12 of 18 attempts for 114 yards and a touchdown and rushing six times for 50 yards, but he also threw a pick. The Dinos' ground game wasn't bad, with Steven Lumbala collecting 60 yards on 13 carries and Mercer Timmis adding 30 more on two carries, but it wasn't good enough to redeem their less-than-stellar passing game.

Still, don't rule out the Dinos as Vanier Cup contenders just yet. They're still the top seed in Canada West, and they still have an incredible defence. One bad offensive game on the road doesn't cover up all the impressive things they've done this year. This was a great win for Regina, though, who looked like a potential threat to Calgary's longstanding Canada West dominance (the Dinos have won the last four conference titles) even without Mueller. If they get him back in time for the playoffs, watch out for the Rams.