Huskie Handbook: Saskatchewan at Alberta

Football Huskies Top Stories

Saskatchewan (1-0) vs. Alberta (0-1)

WHEN: Friday Sept. 9/16, 7pm
WHERE: Foote Field
BROADCAST: CJWW
PREGAME: 6pm on CJWW
FORECAST:  Partly Cloudy. POP 20%. Wind SW 21 km/h. Temperature 17

HUSKIES in 2015: 3-5, Road 2-4 – 2016 1-0, Road 0-0
BEARS in 2015: 2-6, Home 1-3 – 2016 0-1, Home 0-0

HEAD to HEAD in 2015:            Sept. 11/15 – Bears 38 – Huskies 26

Huskies OFFENSE: Points 1, RUSH 2 (202 Yards), PASS 2 (338 yards), OVERALL 2 (531 YPG)

The Huskie offense seemed to move the ball with ease in week one. The team was able to move the ball on the ground with Tyler Chow racking up 100 yards in the first half alone. Meanwhile, Kyle Siemens was in control throwing for 338 yards and 3 touchdowns. The lone fly in the ointment for the Huskie offence was their red zone production coming away with only two majors in seven trips to the score zone.

BEARS OFFENSE: Points 4, RUSH 1 (312 yards), PASS 6 (197 yards), OVERALL 5

One of the most underrated players outside of the Alberta capital put on a show over the defending Vanier Cup champs in week one. Ed Ilnicki raced for 175 yards on the ground. In front of him his offensive line, that was rebuilding a year ago, seems to have taken a big step forward to power the Alberta offence.

Huskies DEFENSE: Points T 2, Yards Allowed 6 (606 yards), Pass, 6 (471 yards), Run 3 (135)

If you take away a 60+ yard scamper from Quarterback Noah Picton on a short yardage bust the Dogs defense was terrific at stopping the Rams run game, even though it should be mentioned that Regina lost Atlee Simon early in the contest. The Saskatchewan defense, who surrendered the second most yards in Canada last year, look to be well on their wat to that dubious distinction again giving up big play after big play. Secondary busts have to stop this week. We will see if the Dogs can adjust.

BEARS DEFENSE: Points T2, Yards Allowed 2 (408), Pass 3 (275), Rush 2 (133)

Well the story behind the stats is one of intrigue for the Golden Bears. Alberta’s special teams had a rough night allowing UBC to set up in excellent field position throughout the opener. Thus, Alberta’s yardage surrendered is quite impressive as compared to the points surrendered. The question is if special teams can put them in a better spot to defend on the field.

HUSKIE SPECIAL TEAMS:

What a night for Sean Stenger! After shanking an early 16 yard field goal attempt the Huskies kicker connected on his next six kicks powering the Dogs to a win. If you think about it on the final kick of regulation, the extra point in overtime and the game winner in the second mini-game Stenger had the game on his foot three times and he delivered. He overshadowed returner Chad Braun who was solid all night. The Huskie special teams came out firing on all cylinders in week one.

BEARS SPECIAL TEAMS:

As mentioned above the Bears special teams had trouble containing the return game of the Thunderbirds last week. That allowed the T-Bird offence to operate on short fields. Getting this rectified for this week will be a priority!

OF NOTE:

This is the second time in as many seasons that the Huskies and Bears will meet in week two in Alberta. Last year’s homecoming game in Alberta was one of the best road atmospheres that the Dogs face all season. The crowd was a huge difference in the game. It will be interesting to see if the fans turn out for what could be a cooler night in the Alberta capital.