With the calendar turned to September it means two things when it comes to Canadian Football – the CFL season is about to hit high gear, and CIS football is getting underway from coast-to-coast.
The Canada West season opens up this weekend with one of the best matchups of the year when Saskatchewan travels to Calgary to take on the defending conference champs. While that game between the two premier teams in the conference is the highlight of opening weekend, there’s an equally intriguing game in Vancouver for Edmonton football fans as the Golden Bears travel west to take on the revamped UBC Thunderbirds.
After making the playoffs for the first time in three seasons, the Bears enter 2010 with a lot of questions. With last year’s starting quarterback Quade Armstrong having graduated, Julian Marchand will step in as the new number-one man behind centre when the Green and Gold open their season this Saturday.
Marchand takes over the top QB spot sporting all the tools to be more than just a good player at the CIS level, but after seeing limited playing action a season ago, just how long it will take for him to find the consistency needed to be a top tier quarterback remains to be seen.
Playing in the same conference as reigning Hec Crighton winner Erik Glavic – who quarterbacked the Dinos to a berth in the Vanier Cup in ’09 – means that Marchand isn’t going to be the big dog on the QB block right away, but that’s not what the Bears need out of the former Dino.
Consistency from the quarterback position will be key for Alberta after suffering from the highs and lows that Armstrong provided, after he threw 16 interceptions a season ago. Those 16 picks were tied for first in the conference with Regina’s Marc Mueller, and far too often came at inopportune times for the Bears.
Another area of emphasis for the Gridiron Bears will be penalties after they were penalized a conference high 95.9 yards per game in ’09.
In the super competitive Canada West, both the consistency with which Marchand leads the offence, and minimizing the flying nylon against, will go a long way in determining if the Bears will once again find themselves in the midst of a playoff race come the middle of October. This weekend is only the beginning of the Bears answering those questions, and more.
Tags: Canada West, Football, Golden Bears, university of alberta
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