Saturday afternoon might go down as the strangest afternoon in the history of the University of Regina Rams.
First, a 22-20 nail-biter loss in Saskatoon to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies that appeared to all but eliminate the Rams from playoff contention. That was beause the University of Alberta held, at one point, a 30-4 late third quarter lead in their game versus the University of Manitoba.
An Alberta win would have meant the Rams would have needed to beat the Golden Bears by at least 24 points in Friday’s season finale in Regina. Instead, a Bisons comeback ended in a wild 38-37 overtime loss for Alberta.
That sets up this scenario for the Rams: win-and-you’re-in. It’s a Friday night showdown in Regina against the Golden Bears to finish the regular season. Rams head coach Mark McConkey admits it was strange for his staff and players to go from dejection to elation in under 30 minutes.
“It’s win and we’re in. That’s it. Pretty simple. It’s a playoff game,” McConkey said.
The losses drop both Regina and Alberta into identical 2-5 records and since the Rams hold the tie-breaker with the Calgary Dinos, it means a Regina win guarantees the Rams the fourth seed in Canada West and a playoff spot.
As for Regina in the loss in Saskatoon, the defence held a high-powered Saskatchewan offence to its lowest output of the season including several quarterback hurries and one sack. However, the offence failed to capitalize on two interceptions and great field position.
“You want your defence to play well and our defence has been the backbone of our team for the whole season. To play against a potent offence like that, and to do that, it was pretty impressive by the defence,” McConkey said.
“The offence showed flashes. We had 63 plays and on 18 of them one person messes up. A missed throw, a missed catch, a missed route — enough is enough. It’s too many play mess-ups, we’ve got to do a better job coaching and do a better job of executing our plays. It’s pretty simple.”
The loss marks the fifth in a row and also fifth straight game the Rams have failed to score more than one offensive touchdown.
That regular season finale can be heard Friday night on CKRM 2 with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. and kickoff at 7:00 p.m.
