In their first game to begin the second half of the Canada West season, the Manitoba Bisons football team heads west this weekend to face the Alberta Golden Bears.
The Bisons (2-2) hold the same record as Alberta going into the fifth week of the season after Manitoba suffered a tough loss to Calgary last Friday (42-41).
Alberta returns home after losing 49-13 at UBC on September 27, and gets a bonus win due to Calgary dressing an ineligible player and forfeiting the game.
“I’m happy with where our team is right now… I’m happy with what we’re doing,” Bisons head coach Brian Dobie said. “I’m not happy with having just two wins and two losses.”
Dobie said he doesn’t like making excuses for the team’s performance, but highlighted mistakes in plays and a handful of injuries as something the Herd will have to overcome.
Bisons receiver Nic Demski suffered an injury last week and is currently nursing a torn ACL, hoping to salvage the latter part of the season.
Manitoba is third in offence with 31.8 points average per game while Alberta is fifth at 25.2 points per game. In offence yards per game, the Bears are fourth with 439.0 while the Bisons are fifth at 438.5. On defence, Manitoba is second with 28.5 points allowed per game and third with 428.2 yards allowed per game while Alberta is last in points allowed at 51.0 and yards allowed at 636.5.
Kickoff is at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on CanadaWest.TV.