They’ve been beaten up physically and scarred emotionally.
And so when the University of Manitoba Bisons return to work this week in Canada West Football action, they know full well if they don’t find their legs and start punching again, their 2016 season could be dealt a serious knock-out blow.
The Bisons, 2-3 after a crushing quadruple-overtime 53-50 loss to the UBC Thunderbirds in their last game before last week’s conference bye, are back at it Friday night in Calgary against a 4-1 Dinos squad that is the fifth-ranked club in the country.
And with just three regular season games remaining, there is now very little room for error for a Bisons squad that has dropped the OT game to the T-Birds, gave up an 11-point lead in the final four minutes in a 41-38 loss to Regina and opened the season by giving up a third-quarter lead on the Dinos before falling 23-14.
“We’ve dug ourselves into a hole with three close losses,” said fourth-year linebacker D.J. Lalama. “I don’t want to say ‘must-win’ because you never want to use that term, but I think we know what’s at stake. We have the tiebreaker against Saskatchewan if it should come to that, but we’ve got to do our own work in our games ahead against Calgary and Regina.
“In Canada West there are no days off. Every game is a tough game and now we’ve got to move forward and show that we want it; show that we want to be part of the dance.”
The Bisons have been without 11 regulars at various times this season, a massive hit that has tested their depth. That’s why last week’s bye couldn’t have been more perfectly timed.
“It definitely gave us a lot of time to heal because we’ve had a lot of injuries,” said third-year linebacker Houston Rennie. “We should be getting some guys back this week, and that’s helpful. We only have three games left and really have to win at least a couple of those. Anybody can win in our conference so if we can make it to the playoffs it doesn’t matter who is in what position.”
There is a potential silver lining to all this, of course. All the injuries have fast-tracked the development of some players who weren’t even expected to see the field this year. And going through some soul-crushing losses can either harden a team or kill it.
The Bisons, of course, are hoping for the former, not the latter.
“It’s not so much a rebound, it’s about learning and moving forward with it knowing that if we have a similar situation with it down the road we’ll be better at handling it,” said Lalama.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys on our roster playing in different spots, so to have those types of tests early on in the season hopefully bodes well going forward.”
BISONS (2-3) at # 5 CALGARY (4-1)
When: Friday, October 14th, 8 p.m.
TV/Radio: Shaw-TV; Live webcast (canadawest.org – fee required).
Head-to-head: The Bisons and Dinos met in Week 1, with Calgary exiting Investors Group Field with a 23-14 victory.
FYI: The Bisons are 11-20 vs. Calgary during head coach Brian Dobie’s tenure at Manitoba… The last time the Bison won at Calgary in the regular season was a 28-27 victory back on Oct. 21, 2005… Manitoba ranks first in Canada West in offence with 36.4 points per game, including 524.6 yards offence per game… The Dinos have surrendered just 88 points this season, making them one of just six teams nationally to be under 100 points allowed… A Calgary win guarantees them a playoff berth.
