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I wonder why the Dinos don't pursue a partnership with the Calgary Colts for player development, much like Western has done with the London Beefeaters. If the two teams ran the same or similar...

They definitely fell on hard times when he graduated. Because they're so much smaller, it is always more difficult for them.

That said, I think their 2013 season is both a model and a warning to...

I have to wonder what would work for Concordia, McGill, and Sherbrooke at this point? I can see why AUS interlock wouldn't be terribly appealing, but the status quo isn't exactly great either. Those...

Yet they won every game they played against non top 10 opponents, and are the only 5 win team (outside of AUS) that is not ranked. Losing to the top 3 in OUA would've been expected given their...

While we can carve up OUA and come up with schemes, it doesn't gain us much if the teams themselves aren't interested in it. I don't see a lot of evidence to show that OUA teams want to replace games...

I still think Ottawa is dismissed a bit too easily in these rankings based on their playoff loss to Waterloo, but overall I think these rankings are as good as or better than any others out there.

Of the many issues with a super-league or tiering, OUA remains the toughest one.

RSEQ is easy to tier (with its teams likely seeing the benefit of doing so), and AUS sticks together in a second...

If the CFL signs a 5 year deal with USports, I don't expect they'd move the Grey Cup any earlier than they've already have planned to (which is 1 week earlier). Even that could be tough for USports...

Yeah, but their last road game against the eventual Vanier Cup champions was 1 point (and 1 play) away from being a win.

I think this Manitoba team was capable of putting the boots to just about...

I really hope Ottawa gets their hands on one of the 3 years left, but there is no guarantee.

We know 2020 is Saskatchewan, 2021 is Hamilton. Rumour is that Montreal is next in line, if Olympic...

I thought that 3 of the 4 regular seasons did have an interesting build to them. Aside from a touch of national interlock, which really helps RSEQ more than anyone, what more can be done there?

I think Toronto could be a team that could jump into the playoff group. It wasn't that long ago that Waterloo was solidly in the bottom group, but now they have a QB. Toronto is looking similar in...

Another thing that I had considered is the how C8 could work with different playoff formats. It probably doesn't matter since a new playoff format is unlikely, but I'll share my thoughts anyhow.
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It seems expanding the playoffs might be dead on arrival, since it would conflict with the Vanier Cup & Grey Cup pairing initiative. Given the benefits from a partnership with the CFL and TSN, that...

The point being that they are looking to pair the next 2 games, and if it that goes well, they may look at pairing the events long term.

Starting earlier to accommodate the Grey Cup will be tough...

With the way that some teams are deploying their safety, the position has become a lot more important. While they're still occasionally the deep guy providing help over the top, it is also common to...

It might be really difficult to add an extra week to the playoffs now that USports wants to link with the CFL. The CFL is moving their season one week earlier, so Vanier Cup must move earlier as...

It avoids the issue of Regina not having enough hotel space, but it'd certainly take more work to make it feel paired. They'd probably need to run some fan busses up to Saskatoon for the game,...

I've created a blog post about this proposal, making it easier to share on social media and to send to actual decision makers:
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Some of that may be fair criticism. It doesn't eliminates teams faster though. Prior to the national semi-finals, there is guaranteed to be as many or more OUA teams alive than in the prior system....

The added week is an issue, but it is actually a bigger issue for most 8 team variants since every conference would need to gain a week, whereas the 12 team format spares OUA (who are already...

It would be very interesting to have some actual decision makers see the proposal.

Actually implementing this would be tricky for a couple of reasons. One is that there would need to be support...

That is the simplest reshuffle for sure, but not the only one.

I can see some logic to Ottawa and Carleton playing in a revived OQ to reduce travel costs, especially if they moved together, but it...

Technically we already have 17/27 in the overall Vanier bracket if you include the conference playoffs. This would reduce that 16 teams, by getting rid of the outlier where 4 of 5 are qualifying in...

In my view, here are the main pros and cons of the 12 team playoff format.

Overall Pros:



Little to no added cost over an 8 playoff.

Conference size and games on the field are the only...

While we still have forum traffic, I thought it’d be a good time to revisit and update the 12 team playoff proposal. As before, the regular season remains as is. Conference playoffs are reduced to a...

Yeah, to me the only realignment that could make any sense is a restructure of teams in Ontario and Quebec. CW and AUS are geographically isolated and already have great parity within their...

Pairing increased both the ticket count and TV audience, so from that perspective I'm sure they'll have a look.

One problem is that the next two Grey Cups will be taking place in the league's...

One possible endgame in all of this may be Laval being merely a strong Western-like USports football powerhouse, rather than being in another stratosphere from everyone else.

It won't happen...

At those ticket prices, they'd do just fine with 15K. It is when they're at half that number that it doesn't work as well.

It is sad to see how much effort people want to put into screwing over one of our conferences. Every year we get "Here is my proposal for USports football. It is horrendously flawed and infeasible,...

This is pretty important, because it seems that USports last hope to return the Vanier Cup to prominence is to pair it with Grey Cup. Right now it has slid to the point it is only prominent when it...

No, of course not. If we had vice-champion vs champion this year, one of those match-ups could've ended up being Laval vs Calgary in the first round. Based on what we've seen in this year's playoffs,...

Plus one from me. It is an enjoyable top 10.

You seem to think that there is some magic way to ensure the top 4 teams will meet in the semi-final games, and to ensure that they will be good games.

However, no matter how you fill a bracket,...

I can imagine a scenario with an expanded playoff where Laval beats Montreal twice in the regular season, again in the Dunsmore, but then loses to them in the Vanier.

For most of us, 4 rock fights...

While SMU returning to a powerhouse program would temporarily help fix the semi-final game, it wouldn't do much to fix the overall issue. Remember that SMU's strength relative to their conference...

I'd suggest that the other option for that #10 spot would be Regina. They finished one win behind Alberta, but with a much better +/-. With how those two teams finished the year, I think Regina...

Calgary

38 total points scored

Final score is 11-6 for the Hilltops. They win their 6th straight Canadian Bowl, this time without scoring a TD.

I'm not so sure. Which is worse for USports, a conference which plays exciting football all year long until the national semi-final, or a conference where almost every regular season game is boring...

Rams get their passing game going and score a TD. Sacked on the 2 point conversion, so the score is now 8-6 Hilltops.

Calgary's MLB scores a receiving TD on short yardage. That might do it.

Hilltops miss a FG. Langley runs it out. Score is 8-0 at half.

Great knockdown by Langley DB prevents a TD pass. Hilltops settle for a FG, so now leading 8-0. Two strong defensive performances today.

Calgary starting to take over.

Langley gives up a safety. 5-0 Hilltops.

I think the point was that you don't need to be playing for Vanier Cups to play football and have a following. If AUS teams wished, they could go do their own thing. But that is a decision for them...

No score after 1 quarter, but the Hilltops are in FG range. Pretty good battle so far.

Now 3-0 after a FG to open the 2nd.

I don't really see that being an improvement. You're adding an entire round to the playoffs just to move a blowout game one week earlier. If that week is added by bringing in all losing conference...