In The Huddle: Playoff time

Burlington, Ont. (by Mike Hogan) - It seems like just yesterday that the regular season opened, but the OUA playoffs have arrived. This week In The Huddle takes a look at this weekend’s two quarterfinal games.

No. 6 Carleton Ravens (4-4) at No. 3 Guelph Gryphons (6-2)

CARLETON

There is usually a team or two that gets hot heading into the playoffs. This season, the team that best exemplifies that is Carleton.

The Ravens, written off by most two weeks ago, beat McMaster at home and Laurier on the road to grab the final OUA playoff spot. They won’t be intimidated by the daunting task of having to beat the Gryphons in Guelph.

This was supposed to be a team led by quarterback Michael Arruda, who passed for 2,263 yards and 17 TDs a year ago. In the off-season, he informed head coach Steve Sumarah that he simply didn’t want to play football anymore. Enter Tanner Dejong from Brockville, a fourth-year player who knew the system, but didn’t have any game experience.

He showed in camp that he was ready and able to take the reins and came out of the gate very impressively, highlighted by a 354-yard performance at Western. If there was any trepidation about him at the beginning of the season, there’s not now. He finished with 2,125 passing yards, along with 10 TDs and seven INTs.

The ground game was led for the most part this by diminutive Nathan Carter, who plays much bigger than his 5’7”, 175-pound frame. He had a pair of games with over 100 rushing yards, but the Ravens found a fresh face for their last two games after an injury to Carter. Second-year Raven Josh Ferguson carried the ball 32 times against McMaster for 187 yards, adding 142 more against Laurier on 26 carries.

Phil Iloki, a Toronto Argonauts draft pick, is the Ravens top target. He caught 44 passes for 644 yards and three TDs. The other main threat through the air is Quinton Soares, who led the team with four receiving touchdowns, while averaging 21.2 yards per catch, second-highest average in the conference.

The Ravens pass protection has tightened up since the beginning of the season. In the first four games they surrendered 16 sacks, compared to 10 in the final four. In the two must-win games at the end of the season, they allowed just one to McMaster and two to Laurier. The line also did a great job creating holes for Ferguson to close out the regular season.

Defensively, the Ravens were middle of the pack in virtually every category, exemplified by finishing sixth in the conference with 22.6 points allowed per game.

There is nothing even slightly average, however, about the play of Jack Cassar. The linebacker is good in every situation, he can pressure the QB, is effective in coverage, and is a sure tackler. The fourth-year Raven led the team in sacks with four, a title usually reserved for a defensive end.

Danny McWhirter, like most of the team, saved his best until the end of the season. He led the Ravens with five interceptions, including three in the playoff-clinching win over Laurier. He ended up with those five picks in the last four games and finished atop the OUA in that category.

Vincent Plouffe hit just six of his ten field-goal attempts this year, but stop me if you’ve heard this before, was clutch in the final two games. He hit 4/5 when it counted the most, with a long of 39 yards. Plouffe finished seventh in the conference with a punting average of an even 39 yards per kick. He’ll need to be solid directionally to help mitigate the Gryphons explosive return game.

There are a couple of things Carleton may have to do to pull off the upset; they’ll have to focus on not taking penalties, and with points likely at a premium, they’ll have to convert trips into the red zone into TDs. They did that 65 percent of the time this year, among the best in the OUA.

GUELPH

The Gryphons have been consistent for the most part but have taken their game to a higher level because of the play of their offence.    

First-year head coach/quarterback whisperer Ryan Sheahan has been able to work with fifth-year QB Theo Landers this season and is seeing his work pay off, as Landers is playing the best football of his OUA career. While finishing just eighth in passing yards, Landers has seen improvement over the last half of the season.  

In the first four games Landers was 48/85, 56.5%, 710 yards (177.5 per game), 5 touchdowns, and two interceptions. In the last four he was 84/126, 66.7%, 985 yards, (246.3 per game), four TDs, with five INTs. The threat of the pass has also made him a more effective runner, as he’s carried for 32 more yards in the second half of the season on eight fewer carries.

The overall strength of opposing defences was roughly the same in each half of Guelph’s season.

The new-found passing attack has been great news for the receiving corps. Fifth-year Gryphon Kade Belyk is the go-to guy, averaging six catches for 70 yards per game after missing the first three contests of the season. Kian Schaffer-Baker is the deep threat, averaging 16.5 yards per catch.

It seems there’s no shortage of running backs able to put up over a hundred yards on any given Saturday. Freshman Kaine Stevenson was the main back early and showed flashes, most notably in a 21-carry, 194-yard, three-touchdown performance against Waterloo. The running game struggled against both Western and Ottawa, before Juwan Jeffrey responded against Queen’s with a 24-carry, 150-yard effort. He’d rush for over 100 yards in the season finale at Toronto, as would Landers, as would Kwame Osei, who like Jeffrey, is a second-year player.

The offensive line will be tested. The only running back to have a 100-yard game against a playoff team was Stevenson’s effort against Waterloo, hardly a top-tier OUA defence. They allowed 25 sacks, a high number for a team with a mobile quarterback, though they’re forced to sustain their blocks longer because of his scrambling ability. Among that sack total were seven against Queen’s in the penultimate regular-season game.

The Gryphons’ strength is their defence, perhaps the best in the conference. It’s a group that has pressured opponents almost at will, resulting in an OUA-high 31 sacks, led by 6’8” Tavius Robinson’s eight, including three of Waterloo’s super-elusive Tre Ford.

The defence allowed a league-low 17.8 points against per game. Teams have been able to move the ball against Guelph (380 yards per game), but haven’t been able to turn that into points.

Linebacker Jared Beeksma led the team with 45 tackles and had his best game of the season against Carleton, returning an interception for a momentum-shifting touchdown, while adding a sack, a forced fumble, and three tackles for loss.

Robinson, Job Reinhart, and Alain Cimankinda each had 8.5 tackles for loss, while Dotun Aketepe had four interceptions, one off the OUA high.

Eric Stranz handles both the placekicking and punting duties for Guelph. He was one of the conference’s better kickers, hitting 82% of his FG attempts, including a long of 47 yards. His punting average was just 35.4 yards, tied for last in the conference, but he was able to hurt opponents by getting 15 out of bounds inside the 20, a very nice number.

The return game is outstanding. The Gryphons led the OUA with an average kickoff return of 26.4 yards, while their average punt return was 9.1 yards. Maine transfer Clark Barnes set the league on fire early with three kickoff returns for TDs, averaging a ridiculous 37.4 yards on 13 returns. Kiondre Smith is their primary punt returner.

Only Ottawa averages more than Guelph’s 105.9 penalty yards per game, but Carleton is only two yards per game less. The Gryphons were 2-2 at home this season. They easily defeated Ottawa and York in the friendly confines of Varsity Stadium, while their two losses came to Western and McMaster, the two teams who earned byes this weekend.

No. 5 Waterloo Warriors (4-4) at No. 4 Ottawa Gee-Gees (5-3)

WATERLOO

The Warriors are an incredibly interesting team because of how good they are on one side of the ball, and how much they struggle on the other.

Quarterback Tre Ford drives the offensive machine and does so at an exceptionally high level. That said, his passing numbers decreased from 2,822 to 2,158, his TD passes dropped from 27 to 13, while he threw seven interceptions this year as opposed to just two in 2018. He rushed for 634 yards, down seven from a year ago, but scored six touchdowns on the ground. His scrambling ability will drive an opposing team crazy at times.

A gigantic reason why the passing numbers are down is because the attack has become much more balanced. Dion Pellerin averaged 122 yards per game, third best in the country. His 11 rushing TDs leads U SPORTS and is five more than Ford and Western QB Chris Merchant in Ontario. He fell 23 yards shy of 1,000 on the season. Pellerin finished with five games of more than 100 yards, including a 200-yard effort against Windsor.

There’s been less reliance on Tyler Ternowski at receiver, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He led the country in virtually every category last year, highlighted by 1,495 receiving yards with 14 touchdowns. That dropped way off this year, as he recorded 695 yards – still good for fifth in the conference – with five majors.

Gordon Lam’s yardage also decreased, just not as substantially. He finished right behind Ternowski in sixth spot in the OUA.

Blocking for Ford can be easy and difficult at the same time. His scrambling ability can erase some mistakes made, but he can prolong plays so much that linemen must be able to sustain blocks a lot longer than they would for a straight drop back, quick release QB. Ford was sacked five times by Guelph, and four times last week by McMaster, but aside from that he was brought down just eight times in the other six games. The line has been a nice surprise after losing their starting left tackle and guard to graduation. 

As proficient as the offence has been, the defence has been equally worrisome. Allowing a whopping 35.4 points per game, the goal at Waterloo is to hold opponents to 30 points or less and take their chances on offence. They’re 3-0 in games they accomplish that, 1-4 when they don’t.

The pass-rush is lacking, as they only recorded nine sacks this season, five fewer than anyone else in the OUA. They surrendered 497.8 yards a game, including 209.6 on the ground.   

That doesn’t mean all is lost. The Warriors intercepted 13 passes, just one fewer than conference-leading McMaster, while they recovered seven fumbles. Creating turnovers goes a long way for this team. It gets the defence some much needed rest and gets the ball back into the hands of the offence, which averages an even 36 points per game. Tyrell Ford is a talented cornerback who is their best player on that side of the ball.

The Warriors kicking game is in fine hands with Jonah Zlatinszky, who averaged 40.1 yards per punt, second-best in the conference, while going 14/18 in field-goal attempts.

Only Western takes fewer penalty yards than Waterloo, who was flagged for 71.8 yards per game. Nobody is better in the red zone, as the Warriors converted an impressive 76 percent of chances inside the opponent’s 20-yard line into touchdowns.

The Warriors may have to play well early to remain positive, as they finished with consecutive losses to Western, Laurier, and McMaster to finish the regular season.

OTTAWA

The Gee-Gees held their breath during their season opener in Hamilton, hoping for the best. Quarterback Sawyer Buettner suffered a scary upper body injury in their game at McMaster and hasn’t played since.

Freshman Ben Maracle was the first to take the reins. He struggled for the most part, throwing 12 interceptions against just eight touchdowns, while completing less than 50 percent of his passes. Then, last week against Western, Matt Mahler, another freshman, became the Gee-Gees’ third starting QB this season. He didn’t disappoint either, finishing with 245 yards and a pair of touchdown passes against just one interception.

Jordan Burgher is the starting running back, finishing the regular season with 541 yards and averaging 5.2 yards per carry. His 161-yard effort against Windsor was by far his best game of the season. He only caught seven passes all year.

The Gee-Gees’ leading receiver is Carter Matheson. He hauled in 42 passes for 698 yards and four TDs. Matheson had three 100-yard games, including the finale against Western where he racked up 154 yards and a touchdown. The Warriors can’t sleep on Kalem Beaver either, although he only caught 21 passes this season. He did, however, average 13.8 yards per reception.

In the season opener, McMaster got to the Ottawa quarterbacks seven times.  Since then, they’ve allowed 16 sacks in seven games, including none against Western last week. Somehow the Warriors will have to establish some sort of pass rush, because if this line gives, Mahler, Maracle, or even Buettner time to throw, it could be a long afternoon for the Waterloo D.

If there was one word to describe the Gee-Gees defence it would likely be “opportunistic.” They intercepted 11 passes and recovered a remarkable 16 fumbles, a half-dozen more than anyone else in the conference. Cody Cranston led the team with three picks and one fumble recovery. Réshaan Davis is a force off the edge, finishing fourth in the OUA with seven sacks and second with 11.5 tackles for loss.

As a punter, Loic Legendre had a respectable 38.3-yard average. Aside from one game, placekicker Campbell Fair had a spectacular season. The bad day was an 0/4 in the Panda Game, but aside from that he was an outstanding 11/12 with a long kick of 43 yards.

If there’s a potential Achilles heel for the Gee-Gees it’s their penchant for taking penalties. They’re the most-penalized team in the conference, racking up 111.8 yards per game, 40 yards more than the Warriors averaged. Giving the Warriors more chances on offence, or helping a struggling Warrior defence, could prove to be costly.