If going on the road to play the traditional powers of the Texas-based Lone Star Conference represents the most challenging Div. 2 portion of Simon Fraser’s annual football schedule, then the locals faced one of the toughest teams on their 2021 schedule Saturday.Playing at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Tex., SFU (1-5, 0-2) was […]
University Football
More drama, more lessons learned, more proof, following 26-24 upset of No. 4 Manitoba, that UBC Thunderbirds football is once again a program on the rise!
VANCOUVER — The UBC Thunderbirds looked so good off the opening kick-off Saturday at home to the Manitoba Bisons that it appeared like the young team’s continued resurgence was going to be high-pointed with a blow-out victory.Alas, along the way to what was nonetheless a milestone 26-24 win over the No. 4 nationally-ranked Bisons (3-1), […]
UBC-Mantoba Football Notebook 10.21.21 edition: The skinny on rookie QB Rooker, the return of Gavin Cobb, ‘Birds rising WR Robert Lutman & much more!
VANCOUVER — Fans of UBC Thunderbirds football have delighted in the potentially season-changing fourth-quarter of last Saturday’s rally from 23-0 down to beat the Regina Rams on the road 31-30 in overtime and move to 1-2 on the season.Yet this week’s Saturday afternoon (1 p.m.) visitor to Thunderbird Stadium, the No. 4-ranked Manitoba Bisons, showed […]
A SUNDAY READ: After his young ‘Birds complete miracle rally from 23-0 down in fourth for a 31-30 OT win over Regina, UBC head coach Nill says “Maybe now the dam will break”
He is nearing a quarter of a century as a head coach in the U SPORTS football world, and along that journey, UBC’s Blake Nill has seen his share of comeback victories.Yet ask him to find something comparable to Saturday afternoon’s stunning rally from a 23-0 deficit in the fourth quarter to a 31-30 overtime […]
Simon Fraser’s 30-3 win at Montana State Northern ticks all the old-school football boxes from pick-sixes, to blocked punts to goal-line stands!
From the moment Jerrell Cummings and Dayton Ingenhaag combined on a touchdown-saving tackle to stuff a fourth-and-one on the Simon Fraser goal-line on the first drive of the game, you got the feeling Saturday might indeed be a special day for the dedicated but long-suffering fans of the football team from Burnaby Mountain.Turns out it […]
After red-zone & special teams struggles add up to home-opening loss to Huskies, UBC coach Nill resolute: “I am not ready to give up on the season, it’s a baptism by fire!”
VANCOUVER — On Friday, the calendar turned to October as the UBC Thunderbirds kicked off one of their latest home-openers on record.Yet in the aftermath of a 43-15 loss to the visiting, No. 9-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies before a sell-out crowd of 2,500 at the stadium, just the team’s second game of a shortened six-game Canada […]
Ahead of Friday’s UBC home opener, Saskatchewan head coach Scott Flory tips his cap to a gutsy debut by ‘Birds rookie QB Garrett Rooker!
VANCOUVER — Last Saturday, there was a moment when UBC rookie Garrett Rooker showed us all both the kind of quarterback he already is and the kind of leader he is surely set to become.Rooker, in what may well be one of the best-ever statistical debuts by a ‘Birds freshman quarterback, went 32-of-45 for 372 […]
UBC football home-opener 2021: Young ‘Birds to get physical test from Sask. Huskies, says coach Nill: “They’re a tough, old-school program that plays the game like it’s the 50s, 60s and 70’s”
VANCOUVER — The more you play the Saskatchewan Huskies, the more things stay the same.That tweak on a classic cliche was so apropos this week, because when Varsity Letters chatted mid-week with UBC Thunderbirds’ veteran head coach Blake Nill, you could almost feel the need to check your figurative chin strap.Looking ahead to the ‘Birds […]
A SUNDAY READ: In trying times for Simon Fraser football, an old school linebacker named Griffin Barrett defines legacy through his own actions on Seniors Night!!
BURNABY — He’s survived and thrived through three different coaching regimes with the Simon Fraser Football Team, but on Saturday night, at his home away from home atop Burnaby Mountain, you could say that for the first time, something actually caught up to Griffin Barrett: The pre-game Seniors Night festivities which marked the final home […]
UBC takes one on the chin in season-opening setback in Alberta, yet the freshman QB-to-WR duo of Rooker and Soriano keeps fires of hope burning!
Garrett Rooker and Jason Soriano are going to put up some big numbers over their five seasons together with the UBC Thunderbirds.It’s a fact which was borne out on the turf at the University of Alberta’s Foote Field Turf on Saturday, where the 1-2 freshman punch of the Texas-raised quarterback Rooker and the former Vancouver […]