Lang on Windsor: “It’s All About Doing Your Job”

Football coach Stu Lang talks Queen’s loss and first playoff game versus Windsor.

The cafeteria in the University Centre was typical for a Tuesday at noon – boisterously busy. I received a call from Stu Lang asking to change the location of our interview from Alumni Stadium to Starbucks. “I have to attend a Town Hall meeting at 12 p.m. in the UC…I’m a Starbucks guy, so do you want to meet there?” said Lang. I laughed. A vision of the former Edmonton Eskimos receiver and now prestigious head coach of our proud football team ordering a Pumpkin Spice Latte is too much to keep in. “Starbucks works,” I respond while I quietly laugh.

Lang shows up with military precision – as per usual – in his quintessential red, black and gold Gryphons football jacket.

“Line-up is too long [at Starbucks], I’ll just go after.” He says as he extends his hand to greet me. This accommodating personality is exactly what the university has come to expect of Lang but I’m slightly upset – had his drink actually been the Twitter hash tag sensation “latte,” my interview and subsequent article could have been wildly more entertaining.

We hastily brief one another on our goings-on in recent days before I segue straight to the loss at Queen’s on the weekend. I’m anxious to hear his response as the last time I interviewed him there was an unspoken optimism about going undefeated this season on the road to the Vanier Cup.

“Tell me what went right in the first half and wrong in the second half?” I asked.

“It was an interesting game of momentum…” Lang replied, looking to the ceiling as if he were recapping the entire four quarters in his head in mere seconds. “We had too many two and outs,” a point Lang kept alluding to throughout the interview, “…and we could have went into the half up nine but instead we went in down two. I think that was the turning point of the game in terms of momentum.”

Momentum is an interesting concept for the Gryphons this year – It’s what solidified a win over York in week six when the defense stopped the Lions inside the Gryphons five on six straight plays, and it was undoubtedly the reason why Guelph’s shot at a perfect 8-0 season came to an end in Kingston last Saturday.

Moreover, the Gryphons rank eighth of eleven in the OUA for total offense, and managed to throw 10 interceptions – good enough for second highest in the province. Although the team tied a school record with seven wins on the year, momentum, usually dictated by ball control and turnovers, can’t be understated as an important factor in wins and losses.

I continued the interview with memories of the week-two game versus Windsor. It was a game that produced no offensive touchdowns and a bittersweet victory for the Gryphons as they squeaked by the dark horse Lancers 24-23 on a last second field goal by Daniel Ferraro.

“One of the biggest concerns against Windsor was the lack of offensive production,” said Lang. Jazz Lindsey went 15-for-29 while being sacked four times and the ground game produced an unimpressive 47 net yards. I interject, “so what’s the game plan for the offense this time around?”

“We’ve struggled all through the year with our offense,” Lang reminisced of the regular season. “The focus is to simplify things for Jazz, rather than make it too complicated… We’ve got all the parts from Farquharson to Saxon Lindsey… So we should be scoring more points.” Lang continued as he noted that by now, the team has a “good idea of what works and what doesn’t work.”

“Work” is a relative term, particularly for a team that played over half the season without their veteran running back Rob Faruqharson, who, because of a hamstring injury, got his first playing time in week five during Guelph’s homecoming versus McMaster. The running game has been the staple for the productivity on offense since Farquharson’s return – he has averaged 104.75 yards-per-game – and when the run game works, the Gryphons win.

On the defensive side of the ball, the task is clear according to Lang, “As Kevin MacNeill [defensive coordinator] says, ‘It’s all about doing your job.’” And by “job” Lang is referring to the containment of the Lancers standout quarterback Austin Kennedy, who managed 17 touchdowns on only five interceptions, including a total of 1920 yards in the air and another 395 on the ground.

“He’s so quick and he’s so elusive,” Lang said in praise of Kennedy before mentioning the upstanding performance of his front four this season. “But we have a very fast front four…On the one side you have Jordan Thompson and on the other you have Cam Walker, who do a very good job with containment and on the inside you have Jeff Finley and Ian Maouf who [speaking of Marouf] has made tackles 15, 20 yards away. He’s a phenomenal athlete.”

The power of the front four, arguably the best front four in the nation, is going to be pivotal to Guelph’s success on Saturday. The last time these two teams met, Guelph managed a season-high 10 sacks on Kennedy. Since then, Windsor has not improved much on the offensive line, letting up an astounding 38 sacks in only eight games, a whole 16 more sacks allowed than the next closest team, Waterloo, with 22 allowed.

The gridiron will certainly have a different feel to it this time around. As mentioned, Farquharson will be back and it is unlikely that Lindsey will go without a touchdown for the second time this year versus Windsor – two positives to look forward to.

Another headline to monitor is the absence of John Rush. The third year linebacker suffered a season ending knee (ACL) injury and his importance to the OUA’s number one defense is paramount. “Queens hurt us up the middle…In fact, talking with Adam Grandy, our linebacker coach, he said ‘John Rush is in there [versus Queen’s], he gets two picks,’” Lang said rather confidently of his junior Linebacker.

The hole in the middle with the injury to Rush will be filled by Vince Lonsdale, who was sidelined up until two weeks ago with mononucleosis, and Andrew Graham. Both will have to play big parts in preventing Kennedy from breaking out with another 371-yard game versus the Gryphons middle and secondary portions of the field.

“You have to play a very disciplined game,” Lang stressed.  Discipline on defense, coupled with the much-maligned offense’s ability to maintain possession and momentum, will be two talking points in regard to the success or demise of the Gryphons this postseason; a postseason that not seven weeks ago, in my last meeting with Lang, was supposed to mark a milestone hoisting of the Yates Cup for the budding football program here at the University of Guelph.