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Canada West: #6 UBC Thunderbirds (4-0) at #8 Saskatchewan Huskies (3-1) Preview, Players to Watch, Prediction, U Sports Football

The undefeated UBC Thunderbirds travel to Saskatchewan to take on the Huskies in a rematch of the 2022 Hardy Trophy which Saskatchewan won 23-8. It is the only scheduled meeting between these two teams during this season’s regular season. Last year they played each other twice with the home team winning both games.

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@JonathanClink on Twitter

#6 UBC Thunderbirds (4-0) at #8 Saskatchewan Huskies (3-1)

Date/Location: Friday, September 29/ Griffiths Stadium, Saskatoon, SK

Kickoff Time: 7 PM CST (8 PM ET, 5 PM PT)

Ticket Price: Premium $27, Adult $22, Youth (ages 4-18) $10, USask Reserved $10, Student and New Alumni $0

Where to Watch: CanadaWest.TV

#6 UBC Thunderbirds (4-0): UBC is coming off a 54-37 victory over the Alberta Golden Bears in what was a meeting of 3-0 teams. The Thunderbirds’ offense has looked unstoppable so far this season as they have scored 180 points in 4 games. Garrett Rooker is leading the conference in yards with 1,303 and 10 touchdowns with only 1 interception. On the ground, Isiah Knight is 2nd in rushing yards in the conference with 432 yards and 3 touchdowns. 

#8 Saskatchewan Huskies (3-1): The Huskies are coming off a win but will likely need a much cleaner game from their quarterback Anton Amundrud who passed for 171 yards last week with 0 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. The Huskies had 169 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns from their runningback duo Ryker Frank and Ted Kubongo. The defense had a big game against Calgary limiting Calgary to 76 passing yards and 78 rushing yards.

Thunderbirds to Watch

QB #11 Garrett Rooker

Rooker has simply been elite so far this season. He has completed 84 of 106 passes (79.2%) for 1,303 yards and 10 touchdowns with only 1 interception. He has 12.3 yards per attempt. The starting QB with the second most yards per attempt ins Eli Hetlinger who has 9 yards per attempt.

RB #5 Isiah Knight

Knight is coming off of a monster performance in which he rushed 21 times for 185 yards and a touchdown and added another 34 receiving yards on 4 catches. His longest rush last week was a 24-yard play in which he hit the hole with a lot of speed and exploded through the second level.

WR #33 Dane Kapler

Kapler had the most receiving yards last week catching 7 passes for 90 yards.

WR #83 Sam Davenport

Davenport had 3 catches for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns last week.

DL #96 Taaj Jhooty

Jhooty had a solo tackle and 3 assisted tackles last week. He had 3 QB hurries and a run stop.

LB #42 Mitchell Townsend

Townsend spend a lot of time in Alberta’s backfield last week hurrying the quarterback 6 times and hitting him once. He had 3 solo tackles and 5 assisted tackles last week.

HB #15 Ben Sangmuah

Sangmuah broke up 2 passes last week and had 2 solo tackles. He did not allow any big plays his way.

K #9 Kieran Flannery-Fleck

Last week Flannery-Fleck made all 4 of his field goals and all 6 of his extra points. His longest field goal was for 34 yards.

Huskies to Watch

QB Anton Amundrud

Amundrud’s first season as a starter has been rocky at times. He had a very big game in week 2 in which he completed 39 of 40 passes for 391 yards and 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. So far this season he has completed 62.6% of his passes for 1,141 yards and 9 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.

RB Ryker Frank

Frank rushed 14 times last week for 101 yards (7.2 average) and a touchdown.

RB Ted Kubongo

Kubongo rushed 15 times last week for 83 yards (5.5 average) and a touchdown. Kubongo also caught 5 passes for 47 yards last week.

WR Rhett Vavra

Vavra caught 5 passes for 40 yards last week.

DE #50 Nathan Jule

Jule had 5 solo tackles and an assisted tackle last week. He had 2 QB hurries and 3 run stops last week.

DL #99 Charlie Parks

Parks had 3 solo tackles and an assisted tackle last week. He also had 2 QB hurries and a run stop last week.

LB #43 Nick Wiebe

Wiebe had 3 solo tackles and 5 assisted tackles last week. He also had 2 QB hurries and helped with a run stop.

CB #9 Katley Joseph

Joseph broke up 2 passes last week and did not allow any big plays his way. He also had 2 solo tackles and an assisted tackle.

Prediction

Saskatchewan’s defense has been quite strong only allowing 14.7 points per game in the last 3 games. However, Anton Amundrud has at times been reckless with his passing especially when pressured and there is no margin for error when playing a quarterback who has been as efficient as Garrett Rooker has been so far this season.

I predict UBC to win 39-27.


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Jonathan Clink Reporter
Jonathan Clink joined CFL News Hub in early April of 2023. His primary responsibilities are covering the BC Lions and Montreal Alouettes. He self awarded himself the CFL Rookie Journalist of the Year in 2023 following the 2023 CFL season. He also proclaims himself to be a "really cool guy". He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and lived a large portion of his childhood in Northwest Ontario. He currently lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan and misses being being able to have 4 months of skating every winter. Clink has written over 240 articles for CFL News Hub. He was the publication's boots on the ground at the 2023 Grey Cup in Hamilton. Clink has always had an obsession for sport and has a background in other sports as well having played hockey all his life and soccer, basketball, and lacrosse in high school. As a young child he used to log his hockey statistics after every game which is either an indication that he was destined for the role or perhaps and indication that he is rather strange.
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