By Howard Tsumura
Varsity Letters
VANCOUVER — It’s hard to believe that the 2026 Canada West football season is reaching its midway point this weekend.
It’s even harder to believe that a UBC Thunderbirds team looking to win its third straight game will reach the halfway juncture without having yet committed a balanced four-quarter performance to tape.
Can the passing game step up in concert with the running game?
Can the defence continue to play as well as it has the past two weeks in allowing an average of 15 points per game?
And can the most penalized team in the Canada West begin to cut down on the number of unforced errors which made last week’s 25-20 win over then No. 4-ranked Regina a true heart stopper?
If they show marked improvement in all three areas then the ‘Birds (2-1) are going to be a handful for the host and No. 10-ranked Manitoba Bisons (2-1) on Saturday (3 p.m., Canada West TV).
If they don’t?
All you have to do is turn the pages of recent history to know that there have not been too many tougher places for UBC football to play on the road over the past decade-plus than in Winnipeg.
“They’re a tough, very resilient, well-coached group,” ‘Birds head coach Blake Nill told UBC athletics of the Bisons prior to the team’s flight to the nation’s heartland. “They play the game with a little nastiness which I like to see, and they’re always very formidable, especially at home.”
That last part seems especially true.
Over the course of the Nill era, beginning in 2015 and now into its 12th season, the Thunderbirds own a combined 13-5 overall regular-season and playoff record against the Bisons.
Yet while UBC is 10-1 against Manitoba at home over that span, they are 3-4 against them on the road. The ‘Birds have returned home from their last four trips to Winnipeg on the short end of the score, and haven’t won there since the final day of the 2018 regular season.
Now, instead of hoping to improve its run game as it did after a Week 1 loss to Calgary, UBC owns the No. 1-ranked rushing attack in the Canada West (No. 3 nationally) at 233.7 yards per game.
Now, heading into Saturday, you can almost hear that ground game talking, imploring its passing game to join it in lockstep stride so that its full ceiling can begin to be realized.
“If we can just balance our attack, we’re going to be fine,” Nill said after last week’s win over Regina. “This is a talented young team.”
Of course UBC has been led by freshman running back Marvyn Larozar’s phenomenal rise to prominence, and he will line up against a tough Bisons’ defence as the nation’s leader in both total rushing yards (506) and yards-per-game (168.7).
While being asked about the 18-year-old phenom last Friday, Nill looked over at Larozar, who at the time happened to be fulfilling social media obligations.
“Here’s Marvyn’s challenge…” said Nill. “He’s got to understand that everyone’s going to start game-planning for him. And so that takes a team effort to overcome.”
If there was a litmus test to pass for Larozar it was last week.
His 285-yard rushing performance the week prior against Alberta was staring Regina’s blue-chip defence square in the chops, and he answered it with another 205 yards.
Now comes the crucible of the road, where careful consideration is so often laid to rest for the uninitiated.
So the logical question in the wake a big win over the Rams last Friday night, with an eye now cast to the Bisons, had to centre around the young star’s belief system and his pregame preparation.
“I’m always nervous before a game,” he said. “But I have my pregame rituals. I watch my high school highlight film to realize that I have to stay true to myself. I think my will is strong. It’s like, there’s no words for my will.”
He’s also revealed a pretty unique game-day choice when it comes to genre of music that best centres his focus.
“Actually, it’s gospel music,” said Larozar. “It calms me down because there’s much emotion going through the week and you have to be calm. Then, when you’re on the field, that’s when you let the kettle pot boil.”
With the rangy Larozar and compact teammate Josh Martin (a change-of-pace standout in the backfield and a solid force in the return game) making their mark as ‘Birds rookies, and with a talented receiving core seemingly set to burst out with quarterback Drew Viotto, Saturday’s game has the potential to send the story arc into true page-turning territory.
From the standpoint of the offensive line, one of its veterans reported some good news last Saturday from front lines.
“That’s just one of those things where you start feeling that trust and bond,” said fifth-year guard Riley Scheffer who set the key block on the delayed handoff play in which Larozar scored off a tackle-breaking 70-yard run. “You know, we should have been better. We left a lot of points on the board but we found a way to get it done. Everybody did their job and it came together.”
And what of that UBC defence?
It has allowed just eight points in the second half all season. And if you take away those points, all allowed against Calgary in the season opener, UBC’s ‘D’ has pitched a combined four quarters and counting of shutout second-half defence, an in-the-numbers stat that is as impressive as you’ll find anywhere in U SPORTS football.
And if that defensive shape manages to hold its form Saturday, UBC could well be headed into the second half of the conference season with the most momentum they have mustered since its 5-0 start as part of a 2023 campaign which saw them reach Vanier Cup national championship game.
Of course, nothing is going to be easy.
“We’re expecting another game like we just had this weekend where it’s toe-to-toe for 60 minutes and whoever makes the most plays or makes the fewest mistakes might have a chance to pull it off,” Nill told UBC’s own Jeff Sargeant this week.
If individual Bisons players aren’t scaling the upper reaches of the U SPORTS individual leaderboards don’t be fooled.
Their efficiency trumps so much other statistical noise, like the fact that they sit second nationally in red zone offence success, scoring touchdowns on nine of their 10 trips for a 90 per cent success rate.
Put it all together in a season in which No. 5 Saskatchewan, No. 7 Regina, No. 10 Manitoba and UBC all enter play this week with Canada West co-leading 2-1 records, and you indeed get the perfect ending to the first-half of the conference’s eight-game regular season.
And for UBC, the only unranked member of the quartet, it’s an opportunity to truly set its course over what will be an equally challenging final four games.
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