VANCOUVER — Isn’t it amazing how the simplest play in football, when executed with precision and consistency, can shift a game’s entire equilibrium.
Yes, we’re talking about running the football the way it was meant to be run.. behind a wall of powerful push, snap after snap after soul-crushing snap.
And as on cue, as such syncopated actions normally do, the UBC Thunderbirds discovered Friday night before a sell-out crowd at Thunderbird Stadium in its Canada West season-opener against Alberta Golden Bears, that its defence simply couldn’t get off the field when it needed to most.
And just as fast, as per the dictates of the fourth-quarter football gods, came the reminder that tides simply can’t be turned when the ability to dictate terms and tempo has been lost.
In a rematch of the 2023 Hardy West conference championship game, won in walk-off fashion by UBC last November, Alberta emerged victorious by a whopping 42-28 score in a war of attrition by dominating the home team’s defence right were it hurt the most: In the trenches, at the point of first contact.
Afterwards, UBC head coach Blake Nill struggled to the find the words to describe why, on this night, that some aspects of an expansive, explosive quick-strike offence may actually have played into the hands of the opposition.
“We knew we had to keep the ball out of their hands,” said Nill. “We had to control the clock more, but we didn’t control the clock at all. We scored quickly. The only plays we had were big plays. So consequently our defence gets involved in a very physical football game, right? And they just couldn’t match up with those guys.”
Of course that doesn’t mean for a second that you don’t want your team to be able to score quickly, and that big plays are a bad thing.
But when that is the bulk of what your offence musters, and you couple it with a defence which was never able to consistently get off the field, you have to acknowledge that the balance has been lost. In UBC’s case, its defence allowed just 11 points in the first half, enough to send the home team into the half with a 13-11 lead. Alberta, to its credit, stuck to the run game, and proceeded to score 31 points in the second half.
“That was it,” said Nill. “We just we just couldn’t match the run game. We’re up at halftime and then we came out (in the second half) and they just controlled us.”
UBC’s offensive numbers on the night? Maybe not their best, but in a battle of conference heavyweights with everything else being equal, it could have gotten them a win.
There was still a lot to like.
Two 100-yard-plus pass catchers in Mark Webb, who had a career breakout night with five catches for 168 yards and score, all in the first half; and veteran star Sam Davenport, amongst the nation’s ultra-elite with six catches for 104 yards and a major, all in the second half.
Running back Isaiah Knight had 11 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown.
Quarterback Garrett Rooker going 25-of-34 for 375 yards, and two TD strikes against a late-game interception.
And receiver Shemar McBean returned six kickoffs for 151 yards.
You can win with that, especially with the supporting cast UBC brings.
But therein lies the rub.
When two talented teams clash (Alberta was No. 1 in the Canada West preseason coaches poll and UBC No. 2) and they are this evenly matched, then it matters a lot more how you score than the fact that you simply scored.
Friday’s game seemed to confirm as much.
And Nill was right about how just how fast and just how expansive his teams scoring plays were.
Consider: UBC had 53 total snaps on offence, yet on its three touchdown scoring drives combined, which covered 89, 68 and 72 yards respectively or 229 yards total, the Birds ran just 14 total plays and eat just 6:01 of total game clock.
And when UBC’s Knight scored on a four-yard run early in the fourth quarter to pull the Thunderbirds to within a score at 28-20, Alberta’s answer was back-to-back near-exclusive run-based scoring drives which would put the game out of reach at 42-20.
Those two drives came in near back-to-back fashion as after Ope Oshinubi of the Golden Bears rushed for a 13-yard score, the visitors got the ball right back after just one UBC play, a pass intercepted by Alberta free safety Jonathan Giustini which then led to a three-yard Erik Torhjelm rushing major.
Between the two drives, Alberta, at one stage, rushed nine straight times, often times in big 10-plus-yard chunks that kept the chains moving.
The Golden Bears’ second-half offence was near-perfect on offence as they dictated tempo by rushing 24 times for 165 yards (6.9 yards-per-carry) and three touchdowns, and went an economical but efficient 6-for-7 for 121 yards passing, including a 67-yard TD strike from quarterback Eli Hettlinger to receiver Chevy Thomas.
What’s next as the Manitoba Bisons come calling this coming Friday (6 p.m.) to face UBC in its second straight at Thunderbird Stadium to open the season?
“We look at the film, and we look at the effort of the players and I am sure we’re going to see players who maybe weren’t as invested in the game as the Alberta kids were,” said Nill.
“We were beat by a team effort,” he continued of an Alberta team that finally figured out UBC after losing to the blue and gold in all three of their 2023 meetings. “Their defence made plays when they had to and their special teams kept us in a hole early. Their offence was the toughest component but it was a great team effort by them and not the best response from us.”
Alberta’s one-two punch along the ground saw Matthew Peterson carry 19 times for 117 yards, while Ope Oshinubi punished UBC in the second half with eight carries for 73 yards, a touchdown and a gaudy 9.1 average per carry.
Hettlinger was 17-of-22 for 248 yards and two scores and in his last four games against UBC he’s thrown 108 passes without an interception.
Alberta out-gained UBC in total yardage 480 yards to 443.
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…such a well written summary of the game. Howard, you are unmatched as an incisive sports writer cutting to the core of the contest. Valuable Learning game for our Thunderbirds, but as a former player and coach in sports, I would rather learn lessons and win the last meeting of the year rather than the first! Go Birds Go.