Canada West first place on line as Huskies visit UBC Friday

Griffiths Stadium has been blanketed by snow not just once, but twice over the past week.

That’s no issue for University of Saskatchewan Huskies linebacker Kenten Effa, however, with the team’s final game of the Canada West regular season approaching.

“When you get to this time of year, you got to love it, right?” Effa said. “You just got to embrace (the snow). It’s going to be what it’s going to be.”

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While the Huskies likely won’t encounter much snowfall this weekend, they’re preparing to play in the rain when they visit the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night to cap off their regular season schedule.

First place in Canada West will be decided in Vancouver, along with who will have the chance to secure home-field advantage in playoffs through to the Hardy Cup title game.

“It’s going to be a dogfight, man,” Effa said. “You can’t ask for anything else, right? Under the lights, Friday night, Halloween weekend at UBC, I can’t wait.”

Friday’s game will be the second of two meetings this season between Saskatchewan and UBC, after the Huskies earned a 34-24 victory at Griffiths Stadium on Oct. 3 in a battle of two nationally-ranked powerhouses.

Holding a 6-1 record on the season compared to UBC’s 5-2 mark, the Huskies can secure the top seed in the conference with either a victory on Friday or a loss by 10 points or fewer.

As for the Thunderbirds, they still have a shot at first place in Canada West after a 21-17 victory last weekend over the Regina Rams, but will need a victory of 11 points or more to drop the Huskies down to the No. 2 seed.

Offensive lineman Jack Warrack said the Huskies view Friday’s rematch as a must-win game, despite already knowing they’ll host a playoff game next weekend.

“The mentality right now is that it’s playoffs already,” Warrack said.

“I know it’s a regular season game, but there’s a lot on the line this week. We want to be at home all through playoffs and guarantee our future.”

Last Friday, the Huskies survived heavy rains and gusting winds to keep their six-game win streak alive with a 21-19 victory over the Alberta Golden Bears.

Saskatchewan nearly suffered its second loss of the season with Alberta holding a late lead, until a last-minute drive got the Huskies into field goal range for a 41-yard game-winner off the foot of kicker James Keane.

According to head coach Scott Flory, it was a difficult game to get a read on considering how much of a factor the weather played.

“The execution side gets hard in a game like that,” Flory said.

“It takes away a lot of what we do on offence, you can’t throw the ball. Even the kicking game you saw that, the turnovers and the safeties. How many times do you have four or five safeties in a game?”

Quarterback Anton Amundrud rewrote the program’s record books, as he passed Brent Schneider for the most career passing yards in Huskies history with 8,411 yards following the win against Alberta.

Amundrud will have a shot at adding another Huskies record on Friday against UBC, as he trails Schneider by two touchdowns for the program’s all-time regular season record of 56.

Defensively, Effa admitted their game against Alberta last week wasn’t their finest work, but is encouraged with how the team battled both the Golden Bears and the elements.

“There’s a lot of things, looking at the film, that we got to clean up as a defence and as a team,” Effa said. “Mental error-wise and just doing our jobs, but I do think there’s something to be said about coming out of a tough game like that.”

Discipline could decide whether it’s the Huskies or the Thunderbirds atop the Canada West standings at the end of the weekend, with both teams leading the conference with 65 penalties taken.

Saskatchewan has averaged a conference-worst 88.7 yards of penalties against per game, which Flory said has meant valuable field position and even touchdowns have been lost.

“That just becomes hard to overcome because you’re your own worst enemy at that point,” Flory said.

“We’ve got to be able to clean that stuff up. On the flip side, we’ve got to be able to turn the page faster too. We talked about that, myself included, number one, we’ve got to move on.”

Along with staying clean when it comes to penalties on the line of scrimmage, Warrack added the offensive line will need to block well for their running backs if the weather again proves to be a big factor.

“With the weather, obviously running the ball is going to be a huge focus,” Warrack said. “For us as (offensive linemen), that just means bringing physicality and being consistent in our assignments.”

The Huskies head into their regular-season finale ranked fourth in the country, while U Sports listed the Thunderbirds eighth in their most recent ranking.

With just over a week until playoffs begin, Effa said they’re out to prove themselves as a legitimate contender for the Vanier Cup.

“It’s a great opportunity to just show the league what we’re about and go take what’s ours, that first place spot,” Effa said.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday in Vancouver between the Huskies and Thunderbirds.