By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersYou can think you’re ready for the toughest test in Canada West football, but as the UBC Thunderbirds found out Saturday night in Saskatoon, exorcising the gridiron demons which reside in Saskatoon require an almost maniacal focus on stretch-drive moments.No. 5-ranked Saskatchewan (4-1) rallied back from deficits in the late stages of […]
Tag: Saskatchewan Huskies
Blueprint for mettle shown on back-to-back snaps last week, now No. 7 UBC hunt fourth straight win at No. 5 Saskatchewan! Alert: Griffiths Stadium dryspell into ninth year for blue-and-gold!
By Howard TsumuraVarsity LettersVANCOUVER —OK, quick… which sounds shorter: 3,274 days or eight years, 11 months and 17 days?If you had a feeling they were exactly the same, you’re right. But by now, you must be wondering what in the wacky world of UBC football could possibly have lasted that long?Well, that’s the length of […]
UBC Football: ‘Birds surrender 17 points in final 93 seconds of opening half en route to 24-10 loss to No. 5 Huskies in 2025’s final home game! Playoff lives now hang in the balance with road finale at Regina!
By Howard TsumuraVarsityLetters.caVANCOUVER — A team of the world’s best surgeons, each armed with golden scalpels, could have dissected the box score of Friday’s Canada West football game at Thunderbird Stadium until all that remained were ribbons and been no closer to explaining how the hometown Thunderbirds dropped a near must-win 24-10 decision to the […]
Tracing the football journey of W.J. Mouat Hawks grad Ercy Avul: From Abbotsford to Saskatoon, his late heroics help Sask Huskies grab Hardy Cup finals berth!
VANCOUVER — How long had Ercy Avul worked and waited for what was about as glorious a 108-second span a football player can experience?Last Saturday, Saskatchewan receiver and Abbotsford-W.J. Mouat grad Avul, who prior to the current campaign had missed three of his last four seasons, announced himself with two brilliant plays over the final […]
Late rally by Saskatchewan stuns UBC 38-33 in opening playoff round! Thunderbirds head coach Nill: “I don’t know what to say. I have never been a part of anything that drastic before”
VANCOUVER — When it comes to a post-mortem discussion of the 2024 UBC Thunderbirds football season, one which ended with a stunning 38-33 Hardy Cup semifinal home field loss to the Saskatchewan Huskies, you must first determine the focal length at which the conversation must begin.So do you want to take the macro view of […]
Tracing the route tree of UBC’s dynamic ‘Sudden Sam’ Davenport! Big-play receiver’s healthy gains coincide with ‘Birds rise as locals head to Calgary looking to extend conference win streak!
VANCOUVER — Take a stroll inside UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium in the hours ahead of Friday’s countdown to kick-off and chances are you’ll bump into the Thunderbirds’ star receiver Sam Davenport.Maybe he’s catching up with friends on the concourse level of one of the province’s most tradition-laden football churches.Or, perhaps he’s testing out one of those […]
Switch to slotback imbues UBC’s power-train running back Dane Kapler with a double-dose of on-field danger! McCaffrey-like moments vindicate coaching staff’s gutsy off-season switch!
VANCOUVER — If you spent any amount of time sniffing around UBC’s fall camp in August, it didn’t take any time at all to realize just how deep and talented the 2023 ‘Birds looked on paper.That, of course, is the net effect of ringing the bell from top to bottom for what looks like four […]
A SUNDAY READ: UBC’s Keijaun Johnson reminds us all of the heart-stopping power of playoff football! Road underdog ‘Birds shock Regina for Hardy Cup title game berth!
Playoff football’s most defining moments have a way of coming out of the shadows and taking our breath away.Yet beyond the most obvious ways in which they dole equal parts joy and despair to their most loyal fans, they also seem to deliver, with barometric precision, a universal truth about their victors.That’s what I was […]
UBC and the Hardy Cup playoffs: Despite its role as big road underdogs vs. No. 4 Saskatchewan Huskies, opportunity knocks Saturday for these young, untethered Thunderbirds!
VANCOUVER — With the ink still just five days dry on a what has been for them a revelatory regular season, the UBC Thunderbirds are being talked about in Canada West football circles as a team of tomorrow.Yet for a 3-3 team which was a fourth-quarter away from opening its six-game conference slate at 0-3, […]
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 […]