Coming off a thrilling and emotional victory that got them into the postseason, the Huskies football team now faces a do-or-die situation in a playoff meeting with the undefeated University of Calgary Dinos.

Needing a win in the final week of the season, the Dogs didn’t make it easy on themselves. After digging themselves into a 23-point hole, it took a mighty comeback effort in the second half for the Huskies to escape with a 38–37 win over their provincial rivals, the University of Regina Rams.

Head coach Brian Towriss hopes the team will use this win to build momentum as they prepare for their Canada West semifinal game.

“The guys were excited. We had an emotional win, which is something we needed. The way it turned out certainly was good and we have to use it as a springboard to carry over to this week,” Towriss said.

Following the hard-fought victory, the team must now focus their attention towards the new season where they will have a difficult match-up with the number one ranked team in the country. In their two previous meetings with the Dinos this season, the Huskies are 0–2 and have been outscored 103–34. Slowing down the second ranked offence in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport has proved to be a challenge for any team this year, as Calgary enters the postseason with a perfect 8–0 record.

Although they are considered the underdog, Towriss isn’t counting his squad out just yet.

“There’s been times in the past where nobody in the national media or local media gave us any chance to win, and we’ve done it before,” Towriss said. “We went into Manitoba and beat an 8–0 team in 2002. In 2005, we beat Laval here at home in the national semis. Those were games we weren’t suppose to win, but we did.”

Slowing down the Dinos offence will be the determining factor in the game. Led by quarterback Andrew Buckley — who set a new CIS record for passing yards in a season this year with 3,162 — the Dinos are operating at an outstanding rate on offence, averaging 701 yards and 59 points per game.

Leading the conference in both passing and rushing yards, it will be a tall order for the Huskies defence to shut down such a prolific offensive attack. Although the Saskatchewan defence is ranked fifth in the conference in yards allowed, you better believe they will come out with intensity in the post-season.

Towriss had a clear idea of how his team must prepare for the pivotal winner-take-all matchup. If they execute the game plan and limit their mistakes, he thinks they have a shot to win.

“What we have to do is worry about our own execution and our own preparation and our own mental state going into the game. Those are the things that we can control, we have to instill in our thought process this week that we can win the football game,” Towriss said. “There are 24 of them and there are 24 of us on the field at the same time. We have to go out and play a clean football game, that’s the difference — you can’t make mistakes. This is all about us and our execution and our effort level, that’s our approach to the game.”

Offensively, the Huskies are a new team with second-year pivot Kyle Siemens under centre. He has looked sharp in his first two career starts, turning the ball over just once in the two games. That will be one advantage for the green and white, as the Dinos have yet to see Siemens in action, while the Huskies know what to expect from Buckley, having already suited up against him twice.

Towriss has been impressed by Siemens’ contributions thus far, citing his ball security as a big reason for his success.

“Kyle’s execution has been good and he’s protected the football well. He’s also picked up some big first downs with his feet too, so if there’s an added dimension it’s that he can take off and run a little bit. He’s brought some enthusiasm to our offence and his play has been outstanding.” 

They say everything gets thrown out the window for playoffs — including records, stats and previous meetings. That must ring true for the Huskies, as they look to forget the past two meetings with the Dinos and focus on this game, and this game only. Crazier things have happened in sports, and the Huskies will look to shock the nation in what could be their final game of the 2015 season.

The CanWest semifinal will take place on Nov. 7 with kickoff set for 2 p.m. SK time. The game will be available for viewing on canadawest.tv.

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Image: Jeremy Britz / Graphics Editor