CIS football kicks off this weekend; 5 stories to follow in 2014

Neither poor media coverage, the specter of the Vanier Cup becoming yet another Laval-a-palooza or serious questions about competitive balance can douse enthusiasm for the start of CIS football season.

University football cannot be spelled without f-u-n for a reason. To the initiated who make time amid the NFL, NCAA and CFL seasons, the university game offers its own cast of characters. No one likes Laval, but they do respect how the Quebec City colossus has titled the playing field.  

With the season getting underway on Monday with five games in Ontario, here's an idea of what to look for.

Greg Marshall and the Western Mustangs look for their white whale — Quarterback Will Finch has been hailed as the best passer in the country after throwing for an OUA-record 3,047 yards; both he and much of the Mustangs' skill-position talent will still have a couple years together. Marshall arguably has a Western team that looms over the rest of the province just as much as his early-2000s McMaster teams, which went a mind-bending 41-1-1 over his final four seasons.

Of course, the only record anyone remembers with those Mac teams was an 0-4 mark in national semifinals. Marshall, now in his eighth year in charge at Western, is still seeking his first Vanier Cup as a head coach, while the traditional powerhouse it seeking its first since 1994.

Finch and friends might be untouchable again within Ontario, although Western does have holes to fill in the front seven. Dominating Ontario again but being unable to win the big prize could look dubious.

How high the Ravens soar in Year 2 — You might not know the name J.R. Edwards, but you should. (He will be the only one on Carleton's sideline wearing a suit.) The executive director of Carleton University's well-bankrolled second-year team is not only trying to build a winner, but alert the rest of the country that they will have to start playing a new game for survival; programs will have to continue to be more self-sustaining, rather than relying on chronically underfunded by the universities.

"Our reality is that football is not a revenue generator for schools," Edwards recently told the Waterloo Record. "I am completely confident [Carleton's] model can and will work at a lot of other places."

The Steve Sumarah-steered Ravens' first win will likely come on Monday against none other than Waterloo. Quarterback Jesse Mills fine-tuned his touch this spring by training with the Ottawa Redblacks. Wideout Nathaniel Behar, recruited out from under Marshall's nose in London, Ont., is a potential game-breaker.

Fielding an essentially all-rookie team, the 2013 Ravens also scored more points (95) than the last two CIS debutantes, the 2002 Montreal Carabins and '03 Sherbrooke Vert et Or.

Laval maybe betraying a tiny dent in its armor — A suspension to Alex Skinner means the Rouge et Or will open the season with a frosh, Hugo Richard, as QB1 for the first time in its history. Laval had a mass exodus from its latest Vanier-hoisting team, but so did several other challengers in the Quebec conference. Archrival Montreal has to find four new starters along its offensive line; the plucky purpled ones, the Bishop's Gaiters, also bid adieu to Hec Crighton Trophy-winning quarterback Jordan Heather, the pride of Oromocto, N.B.

The recent CIS rule changes that give a football player a seven-year window from the time he finishes high school are expected to eventually whittle away at the depth and experience Laval has cultivated over the years. It is going to affect their provincial competition too, so coach Glen Constantin's Rouge et Or might be able to squeak through and host the Uteck Bowl in November.

The Quebec winner draws Canada West's best in the Uteck Bowl. Speaking of which...

The 'repatriation rule' possibly helping UBC dethrone the Dinos — The future is now for a UBC Thunderbirds team whose long-term existence was in question very recently. (The Vancouver university probably wasn't ever serious about discontinuing football, but we've got a narrative going.) Running back Terrell Davis, who in 2011 was merely the best running back in the province since a certain Jon Cornish, took advantage of the 'repatriation rule' that removes the one-year sitout for NCAA transfers and came to UBC from Arizona State. Landing the elder Davis allowed UBC coach Shawn Olson to add the other Davis, running back/receiver Marcus Davis, who was also British Columbia's player of the year.

With a few more breaks, the T-Birds might have upset Calgary at McMahon Stadium during the Canada West semifinal in November. The Dinos will be formidable again, but those desirous of change for change's sake might want to take an interest in UBC or Manitoba, led by CIS touchdown passes leader Jordan Yantz.

The TV ratings for the Vanier Cup outside Quebec — It is all about build-up. The loss of an OUA game of the week on Sportsnet 360, let's not gild the lily, represents some disastrous fallout from the network's overbid for the national NHL rights. The 2012 Laval-McMaster rematch at Rogers Centre drew an average of 975,000 viewers on TSN with a peak of 3 million. Last November's Calgary-Laval tilt in Quebec City garnered only about 365,000 while being aired on all four Sportsnet feeds.

There is some precedent for Vanier interest being tied to season-long coverage. The contest drew crowds in the 25,000-30,000 range in the early 1990s when holding the game at Skydome was a novelty and Southern Ontario schools such as Laurier, Queen's, Western and the University of Toronto were involved. By the end of that decade, when TV coverage had been scaled back, Vanier crowds dropped by more than half.

With the Montreal Alouettes operating the Vanier Cup, there should be a full-ish house on Nov. 29. Count on that much. The fact more people in Quebec than outside of it will watch our national championship last November should be seen as a challenge, not as a catastrophe.

The OUA kicks off its season on Monday. The Canada West, Quebec and Atlantic conferences get underway on the Sept. 5-6 weekend.