Reeling Guelph team drops 2-3 in the season
For the first time in four years, the Guelph Gryphons have lost to Western—and they couldn’t have picked a worse time to do so. Already reeling from a surprising upset by Windsor and a nail biting loss to the resurgent GeeGees, Guelph needed to get back on track. However, the Yates Cup rematch from last year could not have gone worse for the Gryphons, as they got steamrolled by Western in front of a rowdy home crowd. So what exactly went wrong for Guelph, and what does this mean for the rest of the season?
In the Stu Lang era, the Gryphons went 7-1 four years in a row, thanks to an elite defence and a dedication to winning the special teams battles. The offense was tasked with not losing the game. Now, having lost two CFL caliber linebackers (Curtis Newton and John Rush) as well as half of their defensive line starters from last season (Jordan Thompson and Dan Horta), the Gryphons’ front seven isn’t the dominant group they used to be. While the change in head coaches is a bit of an adjustment, the schemes on both sides of the ball remain the same. The offense of this year’s team is actually better than they have been in years. James Roberts has developed into a very capable starting quarterback, they boast a true bell cow running back in Johnny Augustine, as well as a bevy of quality young receivers, and a solid offensive line. But these improvements are not enough to make up for the talent lost on the other side of the ball.
[trx_slider engine=”swiper” custom=”yes” count=”3″ offset=”0″ orderby=”date” order=”desc” controls=”yes” pagination=”no” titles=”no” descriptions=”0″ links=”yes” crop=”yes” autoheight=”yes” slides_per_view=”1″ slides_space=”0″ interval=”5000″ top=”inherit” bottom=”inherit” left=”inherit” right=”inherit”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming10_mido.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming6_mido.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming5_mido.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming4_mido.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming1_mido.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming_mido11.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming_mido9.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming_mido8.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming_mido3.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming_mido2.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming_mido.jpg”] [/trx_slider]Photos by Mido Melebari.
Guelph has traditionally been a run-heavy team, however they abandoned the run game Saturday for a few reasons. Western was doing a good job containing Augustine, even though he did manage over five yards per carry, and Guelph was playing from behind almost the entire game. While Roberts had an effective game (30-46, 375 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) the lack of a run game stalled a lot of Gryphon drives. Western meanwhile ran roughshod to the tune of 232 yards, including 120 by Alex Taylor. Guelph’s veteran secondary had a decent day, holding Western pivot Chris Merchant to only 19 completions on 33 attempts and coming up with a pic, but couldn’t do enough to slow the Mustang attack. Simply put, Western shut down the Gryphons running attack, and Guelph couldn’t return the favour.
Guelph falls to 2-3 with the loss, and with tough games on the road against McMaster and Laurier next on the schedule, this season could get ugly in a hurry. However, while they won’t return to the national rankings any time soon, the Gryphons should still be a playoff team. Even if they drop both games on their upcoming road trip, they get to face the York Lions at home on the final game of the year. York, also 2-3, still has Ottawa and McMaster to deal with. While York is more competitive than they have been in years past, the Gryphons should still be able to beat the Lions handily and take the final playoff spot.
While this season has gone disastrously for Guelph, in a big picture sense, this has been a great year for the OUA. Guelph, McMaster, Western, and sometimes Queen’s have not received much competition from the rest of the league in the past five seasons. This year, Queen’s and Guelph are both in full-on rebuild mode, Western has been beaten by the steadily improving Carleton Ravens, McMaster was stunned by the still unbeaten Ottawa GeeGees, and Laurier has emerged from a decade of mediocrity straight to the top of the OUA. This is an exciting year for college football in Ontario, and while a few programs are still not showing any signs of life, the league is much more competitive than it has been in years. Every game matters, and the final few weeks will be very exciting to watch.
[trx_slider engine=”swiper” custom=”yes” count=”3″ offset=”0″ orderby=”date” order=”desc” controls=”yes” pagination=”no” titles=”no” descriptions=”0″ links=”yes” crop=”yes” autoheight=”yes” slides_per_view=”1″ slides_space=”0″ interval=”5000″ top=”inherit” bottom=”inherit” left=”inherit” right=”inherit”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming2_Tasha.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming1_Tasha.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/homecoming_Tasha.jpg”] [/trx_slider]Photos by Tasha Falconer.