Don’t let the record fool you. UofT may have only beaten Guelph once since 1995 but they have played us very tough in recent years. The pre-game press release from gryphons.ca says as much.
Regardless of their standing, the Blues and Gryphs have played each other like bitter rivals over the past three seasons and two of those games were decided by two points. The Blues have been called Guelph’s kryptonite.
“Toronto has given us a tough time every time we’ve played them during my career,” coach Lang said. He added that his team will not be looking past the feisty Blues on Saturday.
But I do think some people make too much of last season’s score – 31-29. Thirteen points scored by the Blues with less than 3 minutes remaining distort the fact that Guelph dominated the game. In spite of 198 penalty yards and 5 lost fumbles by the Gryphons the game should never have been that close. The positive news for Guelph in 2012 was the play of QB Jazz Lindsey, named TheScore’s Player of the Game. The game will be on national TV for the third year in a row.
Last year UofT clearly worked to limit the Gryphon running of Rob Farquharson and the scrambling of Jazz but that created other opportunities. And Jazz made them pay. Last September I wrote … A great passing performance from Jazz Lindsey – 24 of 28 for 264 yards and 2 touchdowns with zero interceptions; that is an 86% completion rate. Impressive! Clearly his best game so far in 2012.
Donnovan Bennett’s take on the game: Guelph takes on Toronto in critical OUA battle
My Thoughts: I really expect [hope for] an offensive breakout game for the Gryphons. Guelph has the advantage of a bye week. If the O can’t get on track this week I will be worried. I really look for the O-line to start winning the battles in the trenches and that is all that it should take to get our running game rolling whether Farquharson plays or not, and he is expected to play. UofT has struggled on defense thus far in 2013. Only Carleton has given up more yards to opponents.
The Gryphon D leads the OUA in limiting opponent’s passing, rushing and total yards per game. I expect that they will add to their impressive sack total [14 in two games] as well. The victim for UofT will be QB Chris Jugovic who didn’t play in last year’s contest. Richard Quittenden and Simon Nasser split the duties. Joining Jugovic in the Blues’ backfield is tailback is Aaron Milton who played in the 2011 upset but sat out last season.
Record since 2007: Guelph holds a 4-1 advantage over the Varsity Blues since 2007. In fact, the 2011 upset at the Varsity Centre was the first time Toronto had defeated the Gryphons since 1995. The Gryphons hold a 21-16-1 head-to-head advantage over UofT since their first meeting in 1976. [Source: varsityblues.ca]
2012 – 31-29 Guelph
2011 – 21-12 Toronto
2010 – 15-13 Guelph
2009 – 53-25 Guelph
2008 – 30-0 Guelph
Broadcast – Televised nationally on Sportsnet360
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TheScore’s news highlights of last year’s game:
Gryphons Football Blog 