University of Manitoba Bisons' quarterback Theo Deezar caries the ball against the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds', during the first half of their game, Saturday, September 19, 2015. (TREVOR HAGAN/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
A football coach is always worried about something, be it as significant as the Xs and Os of a tough match-up, to injury concerns, to the little details of a travel schedule.
University of Manitoba Bisons head coach Brian Dobie is fretting over all those things in advance of Friday’s critical contest against the CIS defending champion UBC Thunderbirds in a battle of two 2-2 teams trying to remain in the Canada West playoff fight.
But he also knows this about his crew: He has a tremendously resilient bunch.
“That’s one of the intrinsics about this team,” said Dobie Thursday after his team’s walk-through in B.C.
“They are resilient. They have grit. They don’t have a lot of fear and we have players who are champing at the bit for their shot. We’ve seen it every week.”
Coach Brian Dobie
“It’s been good for the locker room. You don’t just get respect when you walk into a football locker room, you’ve got to prove yourself that you can get it done and then you have to prove it to the rest of the guys in the locker room. There’s been a lot of getting it done in our room.”
The Bisons have lost 10 different regulars this season, the latest being their long snapper just this week. That alone has Dobie pulling his hair out by the fistful, especially in the short eight-game Canada West schedule.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” he said. “Never. Ever. It’s been everything. If lightning is going to hit at IGF, I just know it’s going to hit somebody on our team. It’s just been the weirdest year.
“We’ve fought up the ladder and our ladder is a short one with only eight games as opposed to 18. There’s very little room for error and we errored right off the hop going 0-2. We’re right in the mix now and I honestly think Canada West is there for the taking because there’s no stand-alone power, which there often can be in the CIS. Five of the six conference teams can win it all and we’re in the mix.”
One of the big factors in the Bisons not just treading water of late, but winning games, has been the play of quarterback Theo Deezar. Deezar ranks second in the country in passing yards, averaging 381.8 yards per game (Regina’s Noah Picton is first at 428.5) and has thrown for over 400 yards in two of his last three games as the Bisons have rallied from their 0-2 start.
“His numbers are phenomenal,” said Dobie. “Not just in terms of his own career since he’s been with us, but in terms of the history of our program. It feels like almost every game he plays he’s bumping somebody down on an all-time Top 10 list.
“He’s laid claim to being one of the two, three, four top quarterbacks in the country. Good on him.”
BISONS (2-2) at UBC (2-2)
When: Thursday, 8 p.m.
TV/Radio: Live webcast (canadawest.org – fee required).
Last season: The Bisons and T-Birds played three times last year (including the playoffs) with UBC winning all three. Manitoba lost 51-48 at home on Sept. 19, 2015, 24-10 at UBC on Halloween and then 52-10 in the Canada West Semifinal last November.
Over Brian Dobie’s tenure with Manitoba (20 years), the Bisons have a 17-14 overall record against the T-Birds and 10-6 on the road during conference regular season.
FYI: The Bisons are ranked 9th in the latest CIS poll; UBC is unranked… This is the lone regular season meeting between the two teams this year… Bison kicker Brad Mikoluff was selected CIS Special Teams Football Athlete of the Week for his work last week after his connected on all three of his field goal attempts (36, 30, 12) and hitting on three converts in a win over Saskatchewan.
