Frankly Speaking: Rams doing well on paper, but need to turn it on the field

By Greg Urbanoski

On paper, the University of Regina Rams are having a great week.

Fresh off their 55-28 win over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, the 2-1 Rams head to British Columbia this weekend to play the winless Simon Fraser Clan. The Rams have also cracked the CIS Top 10 for the first time this year, moving to 10th ranked position in Canada. Jordan Sisco and Steve Wilson were also named the Canada West Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week respectively.

On Tuesday night however, the Rams were all business as they prepared to face a team that is steadily improving under the watchful eyes of Rams Head Coach Frank McCrystal.

“SFU is a pretty darn good football team,” said McCrystal. “Any team in this league is good. In Can West there is a great deal of parity and everyone is competitive and there is not much difference between a 4-0 team and a 0-4 team.

“Every time you go and play a team in this league you got to show up and you got to play every down. SFU has got some young guys and they’ve got some junior guys. I recognize some of those names from guys we tried to recruit the last two to three years and they chose to stay in B.C.”

McCrystal said SFU has a good running game, receiving corps and quarterback. The combination makes SFU a team that will do damage if a defense takes them lightly.

The Rams will take 40 players to B.C. and while the team has been fortunate to avoid any season ending injuries, there will be some juggling in the Rams line-up. Mike Kerr, defensive back, will not be able to go and the Rams will replace him with Levi Clampett. Running back Taylor Kidby suffered a bit of an ankle injury and as of Tuesday night, it was still undecided if he would make the trip west or not.

“We’re taking that a day at a time and seeing how that goes,” said McCrystal.

“We’d really like to have him there because we are expecting he and Kolton Solomon (wide receiver) are going to have a breakout game similar to what Brenden Owens had a couple of weeks ago. If Kidby can’t make it we’ll have to juggle our roster around a bit and whom can take his spot on special teams will probably travel.”

McCrystal said SFU will likely bang away at the Rams on offense and if the score is close, then SFU will like to use their running game to try to control the game.

“They don’t do a whole lot of things, but the things they are doing they are getting better at all the time,” said McCrystal.

“We’re not expecting it to be run over pass or vice versa. I think they will try a balanced attack and use what works for them.”

On defense, McCrystal said SFU is very physical and has a good linebacking core that is mobile. McCrystal said the Rams will have to show up and play hard and get positive yardage on first down to get more choices for second down.

When UBC played the Rams, they enjoyed success going deep down the middle of the Rams defense. McCrystal said UBC caught them in the wrong defense and had some breakdowns that were corrected in the second half.

With the Rams being placed 10th in the CIS rankings, McCrystal said the rankings are a positive topic of conversation for the CIS and creates fan interest.

“I don’t think the rankings win you the Vanier Cup, you’ve got to play,” said McCrystal. “I think it’s nice to be recognized and it’s good and positive for the league and the university.

“Earlier this week I think we might have been a bit cocky to be honest with you. Some really good things have happened but we talked about it last night and recognized there are a number of things to improve on and we need to do better if we intend to be successful down the road.”

The recognition of Sisco and Wilson was good for the Rams and the players, but McCrystal said the team is using the positive reinforcement and getting more confident in themselves.

“I wouldn’t say we are hitting our stride,” said McCrystal. “I would say we are progressing. We are a long way from hitting any kind of peak and a long way from being a championship team but we are moving in that direction.

“We’ve been able to defend the run which is a positive step, we are able to run the ball which is positive. We’ve controlled the clock and are still able to throw the ball down the field. What we need to do is shore up our pass defense. We are playing some good man to man and getting good pressure on the quarterback but we are not playing as well defensively on our zone drops as we need to and we are working hard on that this week.”

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