The Gee-Gees enter Week 3 optimistic. Gelling, even. There are certainly plenty of improvements Marcel Bellefeuille will be asking for from his team after wins over Waterloo and York, but also plenty of encouraging signs.
Fourth-year quarterback Josh Janssen has found his groove with a younger crew of receivers, Noah Avery in particular. Janssen is 33-of-51 on the season, passing for 471 yards and three touchdowns to zero interceptions.
In the backfield, teams have stacked the box and spammed run blitzes against fourth-year Charles Asselin, helping open that passing game up. Souleymane Camara has proved himself as a worthy runner in his own right, exploding for a career-high 84 yards against York on just nine attempts.
On the other side of the ball, there’s a whole lot to love, the defensive line in particular. Louis Prince’s three sacks is tied for first in the country, while Riley Hildebrandt sits third with 2.5 — as a true interior lineman.
The Mustangs haven’t lost a home game since Oct. 4, 2014
Mustangs since Sept. 6, 2010
He’s since switched positions, piled up more than 5,700 CFL receiving yards, and has been retired for six years.
winning by a single point off the foot of current Argos’ kicker Lirim Hajrullahu.
Consider it a bit of a history lesson — and a reminder of the odds Ottawa is up against Saturday.
“These first two games were nice little steps,” said Gees head coach Marcel Bellefeuille after Saturday’s 33-17 home opening win over the York Lions.
“Next week we’re going to have to take a bigger step… now I just think it’s a matter of taking that next step in terms of our development and getting better so that we’re in position to compete against these teams.”
For Western, handling business in a nailbiter 4OT win over Queen’s and dominating Guelph last Sunday has predictably placed them atop the conference once again.
Quarterback Evan Hillock has been just so-so in the start to his last season in purple and silver, completing 26-of-49 passes for 466 yards but two interceptions to his two touchdowns.
But it’s been Greg Marshall’s famous run game that hasn’t lost a beat. Despite losing senior running backs Keanu Yazbeck and Keon Edwards, there really wasn’t a doubt that a strong offensive line and a healthy pipeline of rushers would make for another year of run dominance.
Ethan Dolby leads the country in rushing per game (123.5 yards) and is tied for first in touchdowns (four). Last game also saw backup Jack Kelly break off for a 62-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
The Gee-Gees linebacking corps of Marc Djonay Rondeau, Daniel Briere, and Jaxxon Brashear will need to have success helping the defensive line slow that run on Saturday evening.
Briere said after the York win the mentality heading into the road trip is “better” compared to the week before.
“It’s [about] process, that’s what’s our goal was this week, it was [to] be better than last week. In some areas we did that, in other areas we didn’t. We just have to keep getting better and better and better as the season progresses… there are better teams and better opponents, and we take no one lightly.”
Western represents the measuring stick in the OUA, the standard Ottawa has been chasing since Sinopoli’s days under centre.
Saturday is less about a win or loss, and more about whether the Gee-Gees can close their gap on the conference’s elite, just like Queen’s did in Week 1, or widen it, like Guelph did in Week 2.