Yates Cup preview: Western Mustangs embrace ‘underdog’ role against Laurier

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The first half of the Western-Laurier football encounter in mid-September couldn’t have been worse for the Mustangs.

That’s why the 116th Yates Cup will be played Saturday (1 p.m. kickoff) on the unbeaten Golden Hawks’ home turf and not in London for the eighth time in nine seasons. The three-time defending conference champs endured an awful 30 minutes and it altered their familiar playoff path.

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“Football can be like that,” long-time Western head coach Greg Marshall said this week. “I told the guys at half-time at Laurier I haven’t been in a game where we had this many mistakes in one half. We fumbled. We were stopped in short yardage. We snapped the ball over our quarterback’s head. We had a penalty that took a long kickoff return back.

“But it’ll change. If you’re going to beat a great team like Laurier, you’ve got to stay with it. You can’t give and take away drives. You have to be resilient enough to not let (bad stuff) impact the game. Put pressure on them by not making it easy. That’s the message.”

The Hawks have the conference’s top coach in former Western quarterback Michael Faulds. The back-to-back Ontario university football player of the year Taylor Elgersma is a London Oakridge grad and Laurier’s inspirational leader.

But they have their demons, too.

They had the half-time edge in last year’s Yates Cup game at Western Alumni Stadium and never scored another point.

“Our players realize a lead isn’t safe,” Faulds said. “You have to keep scoring. We were up 14-5 and Western had an outstanding third quarter. (In September), we were up at the half and we kept scoring in the third (turning a 17-2 lead into a 43-28 victory). We know we can never take our foot off the gas. Defensively, we have to get timely stops.”

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Laurier also has to contend with one of the preeminent pigskin rules of thumb. It is exceptionally difficult to beat a great program twice in the same season.

The Mustangs have been on a mission since that lone defeat.

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“I don’t think I’ve looked forward to a game more than this one,” superb Western free safety Jackson Findlay said. “This is the biggest game of my university career. It is for a lot of guys. We’re the underdogs.

“We lost to them so it doesn’t feel like we have (a title defence) right now. I feel like it’s ours to take and we’re coming in hungry and will leave everything out there.”

GRAND SLAM: Most Yates Cup records involve Greg Marshall in some way and Western’s drive for four straight Ontario titles is no different.

The legendary coach led McMaster to four consecutive conference championships from 2000-03. As a player, he also had a big hand in the Mustangs’ run of four in a row from 1979-82.

The team feat has only happened two other times in the history of the oldest-existing football trophy in North America – by Toronto (1908-11) and Queen’s (1922-25).

No program has celebrated five consecutive Yates Cups.

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“It’s pretty special,” Marshall said. “I said to the players this week, ‘Yeah, we’ve won a few in a row. Yeah, we’ve been in the last bunch (this is their ninth straight appearance).’ Each one is different and everyone thinks sometimes we just roll in and it happens. That’s not the case. We out-work teams and out-prepare them.

“Preparation is crucial and so is knowing your opponent – one week at a time. We didn’t play our best game last time against them but we’re going to need it Saturday.”

There can be a possessive feeling once you raise that Cup and know you still have a chance at the Vanier Cup national crown.

“You never want to lose the Yates Cup game,” Western’s excellent left tackle Erik Andersen said. “I’m 3-for-3 and 4-for-4 sounds pretty good to me.”

ON THE SIDELINES: This is the fourth time it’s Mustangs-Golden Hawks in the past eight Yates Cups. Western has won two of the three previous meetings . . . Faulds said home-field advantage is more than just a one-hour bus ride. “It’s the crowd noise and the turf at Western is known league-wide as very slippery,” he said. “To be on our new turf, good traction and our fans behind us and guys sleeping in their own beds, it’ll be fine.” The Mustangs certainly don’t argue about the quality of playing surface. “It isn’t home-field advantage but we also won’t be slipping as much,” Findlay said . . . When the weather turns, you have to be able to run the football. The weather is expected to be pleasant Saturday, but both teams will work the ground game. “What separates Laurier now is they’re not a one-dimensional team,” Marshall said. “They can run the football. They can throw it. What’s going to win is good basic defence and offence and making sure we cover the kicks.” . . . Faulds noted that the two times in his Laurier tenure he has beaten his alma mater, the Hawks scored 43 points. Will he need 40 again? . . . The Western defence has allowed zero fourth-quarter points in its past four games, including playoff wins over McMaster and Guelph. “We’ve been slowly getting better each week and learning from our mistakes,” Findlay said. “Identity is huge and that involves trust in each other.” . . . Marshall declared Western’s top receiver Seth Robertson healthy and ready to play Saturday. He was used opportunistically against Guelph last week and still caught a touchdown pass despite a wonky ankle. The Mustangs are pretty healthy considering they had an early bye week and had to deal with an extra playoff game.

rpyette@postmedia.com

116th YATES CUP

Western (9-1) vs. Wilfrid Laurier (9-0)

When: Saturday, 1 p.m. at University Stadium in Waterloo.

The matchup: The three-time defending conference champ Mustangs lost to the Golden Hawks 43-28 Sept. 14 in their regular season encounter.

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