Game Day Football Notes #8 University of Manitoba Bisons (0-1) vs. University of Regina Rams (0-1) Thursday, September 8, 2016 The #8 Manitoba Bisons seek their first win of the 2016 campaign when they travel to play the Regina Rams in possibly the last match-up between the two teams at Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field. Kickoff will be at 8 p.m. CT on Thursday, September 8. The game will be shown on live on SHAW TV/Access TV plus live webcast at canadwest.tv website and live radio broadcast on 101.5 UMFM (umfm.com). To start the 2016 season, the Bisons were ranked fifth in the first CIS poll and hosted then #7 Calgary in week one and lost 23-14 on Thurs., Sept. 1. In Brian Dobie’s 21 years at the helm for regular season openers, the Bisons are now 11-10 overall and 4-5 at home. The Bisons played their first-ever Thursday game in week one and now becomes the first CIS football team to play back-to-back Thursday games in the regular season. In the conference standings, Manitoba is tied for fourth spot (four make the playoffs) with a 0- 1 while Regina is a three-way tie along with Alberta with 0-1 record after week one. This is the first of two meetings of the season between the two football teams as Manitoba and Regina will play once again during the conference regular season in 2016 when the Bisons host the Rams on Saturday, October 29 at 8 p.m. CT at Investors Group Field. Last season, Manitoba was very successful on the road as the Herd went 3-1 away from Winnipeg while going 2-2 at home. One of those road victories in 2015 was at Regina when the Bisons won a thrilling 49-46 game on Oct. 17. Since Regina entered the Canada West conference in 1999 (17 seasons), the Bisons have a 17- 11 overall record against the Rams and 6-8 on the road during the conference regular season. In the 2015 season, Manitoba went 5-3 in the regular season (third in Canada West) and lost in the conference semi-final to eventual CIS champion UBC Thunderbirds while Regina went 0-8 and was sixth place in the six team conference standings. Earlier this 2016 regular season, both teams played in week one with the Bisons losing 23-14 over then #7 Calgary Dinos at home (Sept. 1/16) while Regina lost in double overtime by a 41-39 score at the Saskatchewan Huskies on Sept. 2/16. In 2015 conference regular season team stats after week one, Manitoba is sixth in offence with 14.0 points average per game while Regina is second at 39.0 points per game. In offence yards per game, the Bisons are sixth with 355.0 while the Rams are first at 616.0. On defence, Manitoba is second with 23.0 points allowed per game while Regina in sixth with 41.0 pts/game. In yards allowed, Manitoba is third (427.0) and Regina is fifth (540.0). Individually for the Bisons in conference stats, third year QB Theo Deezar is third in passing yards (278); fifth in percentage (59.0%) and third in completions (23). Fourth year Alex Christie is tied for eighth in rushing yards with 55 on nine carries. Rookie Riley Harrison is sixth with 103 receiving yards while second year Jesse Walker is 11th with 73 receiving yards. In all-purpose yards, Christie is ninth with 125 overall yards while Harrison is 13th with 103 and Walker in 19th with 90. In addition, Christie and third year Shai Ross are eighth and ninth in kickoff return yards with 43 and 42. Third year Jayden McKoy is tied for first in conference punt return yards with 78. On special teams, second year Matt Riley is third in punting average at 37.6. Third year placekicker Ryan Jones is fourth in field goal percentage at 67% (2/3) and 1/1 on extra points. Jones is also fifth in Canada West scoring with 8 points while Walker is tie for seventh with six points. On defence in conference stats after one game, fourth year linebacker DJ Lalama is first with 14 total tackles while fifth year linebacker Bami Adewale is tied for sixth with seven total tackles and fifth year defensive lineman Evan Foster plus McKoy is tied for 12th at 5.5. Foster leads Canada West with two tackles for losses and Lalama are third with 1.5 TFL. McKoy is tied for first with two break-ups. With one forced fumble are rookie linebacker Caleb Abraham, third year linebacker Donovan Gregoire and Lalama. Adewale and Gregoire are tied for first with one fumble recovery each. The Bisons did not register a sack in game one. In game one, Manitoba best quarter for scoring was third quarter 97) and then fourth and second (3) and first quarter (1). Earlier this 2016 season, both teams played in pre-season action as Calgary won 37-13 over Regina at Medicine Hat, AB (Aug. 25) while the Bisons played in the first-ever CIS game played on Vancouver Island and defeated UBC by a 50-7 score in Langford, B.C. on August 26. LINEUP INFO. The Bisons lost five starters from game one as first year defensive back Marcel Arruda-Welch, fourth year offensive lineman Tom Clarkson, fourth year center Jordan Medal, third year wide receiver Stephen Ugbah and fourth year slotback Derek Yachison along with back-up fourth year receiver Kyle Patchell. New starters for game two are: fourth year defensive back Akeeno Williams, fourth year center Anthony Daley, second year offensive lineman Reid McMorris, third year Shai Ross and rookie Riley Harrison. Heading into week two there are 22 starters (eight on offence; 11 on defence; three on special teams) that are scheduled to play in week two at same position. On offence: WR Anthony Dyck, SB Jessie Walker, RB Alex Christie, QB Theo Deezar, RG Geoff Gray, RT Zack Williams, SB Trysten Dyce. On defence: CB Tristen O’Meara, HB Jayden McKoy, S Tyler Fong, HB Cam Teschuk, WILL LB DJ Lalama, MLB Bami Adewale, SAM LB Houston Rennie, DE Evan Foster, NT Braiden Watson, DT Brock Gowanlock, DE Derek Dufault On special teams: Placekicker Ryan Jones and Punter Matt Riley and long snapper Zach Esau. In addition, Myles Rose-Standish started in game one at LG and now at LT on game two. The lone rookie starter in game one was cornerback Marcel Arruda-Welch. Rookie wide receiver Riley Harrison sees his first CIS start in week two. In the first week of the 2016 Canada West football regular season, Manitoba Bisons fourth year linebacker DJ Lalama was selected Canada West Defence Football Athlete of the Week for the week ending September 4/16. Lalama set a new Bison record for most tackles in a single Canada West conference regular season game despite the #5 Manitoba Bisons losing 23-14 to #7 Calgary in Winnipeg on Thursday, September 1. Lalama, 23, registered a whopping 14 total tackles (11 solo) with 1.5 tackles for five yard losses and added one forced fumble and one break-up in the conference season opener game. Lalama broke the Bison single game record for most tackles in a game with 14 total (Teague Sherman; Oct. 20, ’12 vs. UBC with 13.0). Quarterback Theo Deezar has played in seven of the last nine conference regular season (plus one playoff match) games over the last two seasons. Deezar threw three interceptions in game one home loss and had only six INTs in six games in 2015. Kickoff will occur at 8 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on the web at: canadawest.tv website plus SHAW TV/Access TV while live radio on 101.5 UMFM (umfm.com). Points of Interest Let’s count this up…Bison football starters that have missed action this 2016 season… The losses began before the season started. DB Eric Plett did not make it through training camp and WR Devin Csincsa was injured in the pre-season games. Week 1: DB Marcel Arruda-Welch, OL Tom Clarkson, C Jordan Medal, WR Stephen Ugbah, SB Derek Yachison and REC Kyle Patchell. The lone TD scored by the Bisons in game one was Jesse Walker with a six yard reception. In week one, Manitoba was down 5-4 at half after a 1-0 advantage after the first quarter. The Bisons had 2,286 fans at Investors Group Field for game one in 2016. The Bisons seek to make the post-season for five consecutive seasons, they have never accomplished that feat since records kept in 1968, the longest post-season stretch for Manitoba was four years (1999-2002). In the red zone after week one in 2016, Manitoba (4-4) is tied for first at 100% with 1 touchdown while Regina is also tied for first at 100% (5-5) and 3 touchdowns. In turnovers, Manitoba had two fumble recoveries. In Canada West penalties, Manitoba is sixth with 18 for 193 yards while the Rams are fifth with 16 for 175 yards. In time of possession, the Herd is fifth at 29:09 while Regina is sixth at 23:02. On defence in Canada West stats, Manitoba is second in passing yards allowed per game at 242.0 while Regina sits fifth at 338.0 while in rushing yards allowed per game, the Herd is fourth at 185.0 and the Rams are fifth at 202.0.