Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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Aulain Penner is in just his second year with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team, but on Saturday night he learned a valuable lesson about resilience.
The Huskies running back and kick returner went from zero to hero at Griffiths Stadium, as he rebounded from an early muffed punt return to secure two key late touchdowns for Saskatchewan in a 34-24 victory over the UBC Thunderbirds.
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“(The coaches) believe in me and they gave me enough of an opportunity,” Penner said. “I went out there and I showed them why they trusted me, and why I’m on this team.”
Penner’s late-game scores helped the Huskies mount a fourth quarter comeback against the Thunderbirds in a tightly contested Week 5 affair to earn their fourth consecutive victory.
Huskies quarterback Anton Amundrud, who threw for 295 yards passing and a touchdown in the win, said it’s a key win this season with Saskatchewan now alone on top of the Canada West standings with a 4-1 record.
“It’s nice knowing being atop the conference, the only thing that hurts us is us,” Amundrud said. “We know we got to eliminate mistakes, just come out every week and perform.”
Saskatchewan’s defence limited UBC to just 10 points scored in the second half and recorded two interceptions, including a key pick late in the first half by defensive back Nathan Casimir.
He said the Thunderbirds did not make it easy on the Saskatchewan secondary and was proud of how the Huskies gutted out a tight win.
“It was like a bar fight,” Casimir said.
“It was a hard battle, but the defence knew we had to step it up and make some turnovers. Offence knew they had to step it up in the second half and then we pulled it off in the end.”
Saskatchewan opened the game with a 33-yard field goal from James Keane to take a 3-0 lead, before UBC took the ball over and drove the field.
With 2:36 left in the first quarter, Thunderbirds quarterback Drew Viotto aired the ball out to receiver Ben Gutek, who made an outstanding diving catch for the touchdown and a 7-3 lead.
Early in the second quarter, UBC was handed a gift with Penner misreading his punt return to allow the Thunderbirds to knock the ball out of bounds at the 18-yard line and move their offence into the red zone.
A few plays later, Thunderbirds running back Marvin Larozar punched the ball in from the three-yard line to make it a 14-3 game.
Huskies head coach Scott Flory said it was a frustrating first half with a distinct lack of execution in all facets.
“I think I had a list of eight or nine mistakes,” Flory said. “Interceptions that should have been through our hands, second-and-one going offside, pre-snap penalties, completely within our control things.”
The turning point for Saskatchewan came with 2:37 left in the opening half and the Huskies facing a third-and-long scenario, as Keane faked a field goal attempt and punted the ball a short distance which bounced off a Thunderbirds player and was recovered by the home side.
Flory said the recovery was nearly a dead play, with linebacker Kenten Effa moving a touch early all week.
“I was about to get hot at (Effa) and then it ended up working,” Flory said. “That’s the stuff we rep and it’s a great call by Coach Whiting.”
On third and goal, Huskies running back Javin Boynton ran around the line of scrimmage for Saskatchewan’s first touchdown of the night to cut the deficit to 14-10.
PICKED! Nathan Casimir comes up with ball! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/wqtnC5fD2m
— Huskie Football (@skhuskies) October 4, 2026
The Huskies got another big play just a few minutes later with Casimir picking off Viotto to give the offence another shot at a drive before the end of the first half.
“That allowed us to at least get some points on the board, take the lead before (halftime),” Casimir said. “That was a big momentum shift.”
In the dying seconds of the quarter, Amundrud rolled out to find a wide-open Kayden Miller for the nine-yard touchdown reception to boost the Huskies into the lead 17-14 at halftime.
With 7:33 left in the fourth quarter and down 20-17, the Thunderbirds jumped back into the lead with a 12-yard pass from Viotto to Trey Montour to make it a 24-20 game and force Saskatchewan to play from behind.
A 48-yard pass by Amundrud to Keaton Belsher gave the Huskies good field position with four minutes left on the clock, which was converted by Penner on an 11-yard run to redeem himself from his earlier turnover.
He said the Huskies offensive line had fire in their bellies on Saturday night and allowed him to run downhill effectively in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t even have to do much,” Penner said.
“I just follow the box down to bounce, exactly what I do. All those five guys out there were pushing their hardest. You could tell going into the huddle, they wanted it just as bad as anybody else.”
University of Saskatchewan Huskies defensive back Connor Tyson celebrating a sack on UBC Thunderbirds quarterback Drew Viotto as part of a 34-24 win on Oct. 3, 2026 (Electric Umbrella / Huskie Athletics)
Aided by a couple of costly UBC penalties, the Huskies moved the ball into scoring position with 1:32 left on the clock, which was capped off by Penner who finished with 66 yards rushing and two touchdowns on the night.
Flory was impressed with the way his second-year tailback managed to rebound from his rough first half.
“Nobody is perfect at their job, we make mistakes,” Flory said. “We got the confidence in him and the teammates have the confidence in him to come back and make plays, and that’s what he did.”
Huskies defensive back Ethan Laing secured the win with an interception off Viotto in the final minute of play.
Despite the crucial win to move into sole possession of first place in Canada West, Flory admitted there’s plenty for his group to work on with playoffs just over a month away.
“We need more consistency throughout the game and that’s the part I’m going to be harping on these guys,” Flory said.
“We got a talented group and we can’t keep making a ton of mistakes and expecting to win football games, especially the deeper we go.”
Set to enter a bye week over the Thanksgiving weekend, Amundrud said it’s hard to take a break with how well the team is performing, but is also excited for some rest.
“I’d love to keep playing, but I think we all need a Thanksgiving break a little bit,” Amundrud said. “It’s nice to have this and we got to take advantage, get some rest and be back after the bye week stronger than ever.”
Balancing rest and repetitions on the field at Griffiths Stadium will be key for Flory’s team, as he added the games don’t get any easier the rest of October.
“We got to take care of ourselves,” Flory said.
“Physically, mentally, emotionally, we got to be smart through this bye. We’re going to get better at football, we’re going to practice. They got to be mature adults, take care of their bodies and be smart with that.”
All Canada West teams will enjoy a week off before conference action resumes on Oct. 16 when the Huskies (4-1) host the Manitoba Bisons at 7 p.m.
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