The 2008 CIS football season began on August 23, 2008, and concluded with the 44th Vanier Cup national championship on November 22 at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, with the Laval Rouge et Or winning their fifth championship. Twenty-seven universities across Canada compete in CIS football, the highest level of amateur play in Canadian football, under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).
Schedule The regular-season schedule began early with a single Canada West Universities Athletic Association game in week one on Saturday, August 23, between the UBC Thunderbirds and the Simon Fraser Clan at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby. The Ontario University Athletics and remaining CWUAA teams got underway the following week during the Labour Day weekend and the Quebec and Atlantic conferences beginning their matches the week following that.
The regular-season concluded in Week 10 on the weekend of October 24/25 for all but the Ontario conference, who had concluded the previous week and held their conference quarter-finals. All conferences held their semi-finals the weekend of November 1/2, and conference championships the weekend of November 8/9. This year, the National Semi-Finals took place on November 16. The Calgary Dinos, the Hardy Trophy-winning Canada West team travelled to Quebec City to take on the Dunsmore Cup winning Laval Rouge-et-Or of the Quebec conference for the Uteck Bowl and the Atlantic conference's Saint Mary's Huskies Jewett Trophy winners visited the Western Ontario Mustangs, Ontario's Yates Cup winners, in London for the Mitchell Bowl. Finally the Bowl winners, Laval and Western, met for the Vanier Cup national championship on Saturday, November 22, in Hamilton, the day before the Canadian Football League's 96th Grey Cup in Montreal. Laval won the game 44-21 and became the just the twelfth CIS team to finish a season undefeated.
2007 marked the first year that the Vanier Cup and Grey Cup were played on the same weekend but they both took place in Toronto's Rogers Centre as part of the 95th Grey Cup celebrations. Dating back to 1973, previous Vanier Cups had always been played the week following the Grey Cup.
Awards and records
Awards Hec Crighton Trophy – Benoit Groulx, Laval Presidents' Trophy – Thaine Carter, Queen's Russ Jackson Award – David Hamilton, University of Toronto J. P. Metras Trophy – Étienne Légaré, Laval Peter Gorman Trophy – Jordan Verdone, Waterloo
All-Canadian Team
First Team Offence Benoit Groulx, QB, Laval Michael Giffin, RB, Queen's Jamall Lee, RB, Bishop's Julian Feoli Gudino, WR, Laval Scott Valberg, WR, Queen's Erik Galas, IR, McGill Gary Ross, IR, Mount Allison Louis-David Gagne, C, Laval Simeon Rottier, OT, Alberta Steve Myddelton, OT, St. Francis Xavier Vincent Turgeon, G, Laval Luc Brodeur-Jourdain, G, Laval Defence Étienne Légaré, DT, Laval Dedrick Sterling, DT, Queen's Scott McCuaig, DE, British Columbia Osie Ukwuoma, DE, Queen's Thaine Carter, LB, Queen's Andrea Bonaventura, LB, Calgary Joash Gesse, LB, Montreal Callan Exeter, FS, Mount Allison Maxime Bérubé, DB, Laval James Savoie, DB, Guelph Hamid Mahmoudi, CB, Montreal Jeff Zelinski, CB, Saint Mary's Special Teams Rob Maver, P, Guelph Christopher Milo, K, Laval Jim Allin, RET, Queen's Second Team Offence Danny Brannagan, QB, Queen's Matt Walter, RB, Calgary James Green, RB, St. Francis Xavier Jedd Gardner, WR, Guelph Nathan Coehoorn, WR, Calgary Mark Stinson, IR, Toronto Alain Dorval, IR, Sherbrooke Kurtis Stolth, C, Manitoba Scott Evans, OT, Laurier Bryan Jordan, OT, Saint Mary's Hubert Buydens, G, Saskatchewan Vincenzo De Civita, G, Queen's Defence Dan Schutte, DT, Saint Mary's Don Oramasionwu, DT, Manitoba Mathieu Brossard, DE, Montreal Marc-Antoine Beaudoin-Cloutier, DE, Laval John Surla, LB, Western Henoc Muamba, LB, St. Francis Xavier James Yurichuk, LB, Bishop's Matthew Carapella, FS, Western Corey McNair, DB, Western Joel Lipinski, DB, Saint Mary's Jon Krahenbil, CB, Saskatchewan Anthony DesLauriers, CB, Simon Fraser Special Teams Hugh O'Neill, P, Alberta Rob Maver, K, Guelph Gary Ross, RET, Mount Allison
The Laval Rouge-et-Or had a record eight first team all-Canadians on offence, defence and special teams.
Career records 27 new top-ten achievements were added to the all-time career record books in 2008 including five new records as running back Daryl Stephenson completed his record career at Windsor and several passing/receiving records were set at McGill.
All-purpose touchdowns Daryl Stephenson of Windsor completed his CIS career at eighth place all-time with 39 touchdowns. Mike Giffin of Queen's is close behind tied for ninth with 37 but both are well behind Paul Brule's 1964–1967 record of 51.
Rushing yards Daryl Stephenson set a new record of 5163 career rushing yards beating Dominic Zagari's 1991–1995 record of 4738. Jamall Lee of Bishop's reached 4296 yards for fourth place all-time Joseph Mroué set a mark of 3779 yards to take tenth place during his career at Montreal (2003–06) and Sherbrooke (2008).
Rushing touchdowns Daryl Stephenson ended his career tied for sixth place with 36 rushing touchdowns behind Paul Brule's record of 49. Jamall Lee reached eighth place with 35 rushing touchdowns so far since 2005.
Passing yards Matt Connell of McGill set a new record of 10455 passing yards beating Ben Chapdelaine's 1997–2001 record of 9974. Josh Sacobie of Ottawa ended up in third place overall with 9885 yards. Teale Orban of Regina reached fourth place all-time with 9449.
Passing touchdowns Josh Sacobie was unable to beat Chris Flynn's 1987–1990 all-time record of 87 but still managed to make second place with 79. Teale Orban made third place with 76. Matt Connell accomplished a tie for seventh overall with 63. Dan Brannagan of Queen's tied the eighth overall mark of 62 passing touchdowns.
Passing attempts Matt Connell set the new record of 1364 pass attempts as well in 2008 passing Greg Vavra's old record of 1200 set between 1979 and 1983. Teale Orban finished just shy of second place with 1198. Josh Sacobie made third place with 1111.
Passing completions The passing completions record book was completely re-written in 2008 as three players beat Greg Vavra's 25-year-old record of 611. Matt Connell finished in first place with 816 pass completions all-time. Teale Orban made second place with 685. Josh Sacobie's 637 completions puts him in third place overall. Michael Faulds of Western makes it up to eighth place so far with 561 completions since 2005.
Receptions Erik Galas of McGill helped with those pass completions by setting a new record of 194 receptions beating Andy Fantuz's mark of 189. Chad Goldie was able to tie for sixth place all-time by catching 173 in his career at Regina.
Receiving touchdowns Ivan Birungi finished his CIS career at second place all-time with 33 receiving touchdowns in his time split between Acadia and Ottawa missing Andy Fantuz's record of 41. Scott Valberg of Queen's is tied for eighth with 23.
Interceptions Matt Carapella of Western was able to steal a tie for second place in career interceptions with 21 missing Bob Coffin's 1970–1974 record of 24.
Field goals Shawn McIsaac of UBC kicked up to fourth place in the career record book with 63 field goals behind all-time record holder Frank Jagas's 70 set between 1990 and 1994.
Results
Regular season standings Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
Canada West Team GP W L PF PA PtsSaskatchewan 8 6 2 217 83 12Calgary 8 5 3 146 127 10Regina 8 5 3 163 179 10Simon Fraser 8 5 3 125 129 10 Manitoba 8 3 5 127 163 6 UBC 8 2 6 117 160 4 Alberta 8 2 6 140 194 4 Ontario Team GP W L PF PA PtsQueen's 8 8 0 374 116 16Western 8 7 1 363 133 14Laurier 8 6 2 235 191 12Guelph 8 4 4 239 167 8Ottawa 8 4 4 297 187 8McMaster 8 4 4 230 198 8 Windsor 8 3 5 189 254 6 Toronto 8 2 6 168 272 4 Waterloo 8 2 6 147 285 4 York 8 0 8 32 471 0 Quebec Team GP W L PF PA PtsLaval 8 8 0 337 60 16Concordia 8 5 3 228 180 10Sherbrooke 8 5 3 190 153 10Montreal 8 5 3 273 138 10 Bishop's 8 3 5 170 255 6 McGill 8 0 8 131 413 0 Atlantic Team GP W L PF PA PtsSaint Mary's 8 7 1 259 168 14StFX 8 4 4 186 205 8Mount Allison 8 2 6 189 272 4 Acadia 8 1 7 120 239 2
Teams in bold have earned playoff berths.
Top 10 + FRC-CIS Top 10 Rankings 01Top 10 Mitsubishi (#1): Laval débute en tête pour une 4e saison de suite 02Top 10 Mitsubishi (#2): Le Rouge et Or choix unanime 03Top 10 Mitsubishi (#3): Le Rouge et Or dominant dans les Maritimes 04Top 10 Mitsubishi (#4): Milo et le Rouge et Or parfaits 05Top 10 Mitsubishi (#5): Rouge et Or, Gaels et Huskies toujours invaincus 06Top 10 Mitsubishi (#6): Rouge et Or, Gaels et Huskies toujours parfaits 07Top 10 Mitsubishi (#7): Le Rouge et Or et Queen's ne ralentissent pas 08Top 10 Mitsubishi (#8): Le Rouge et Or assuré de la première place au Québec 09Top 10 Mitsubishi (#9): Le Rouge et Or domine le dernier scrutin Acadia Axemen NR 16 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Alberta Golden Bears 12 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Bishop's Gaiters 10 12 NR 14 9 NR NR 12 NR Calgary Dinos 14 9 9 10 6 6 4 4 6 Concordia Stingers 9 7 7 9 8 7 5 9 9 Guelph Gryphons NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Laurier Golden Hawks 6 10 NR NR 14 10 10 8 7 Laval Rouge et Or 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Manitoba Bisons 2 8 NR 13 NR NR 12 NR NR McGill Redmen NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR McMaster Marauders NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Montreal Carabins 13 11 10 NR 12 12 11 10 10 Mount Allison Mounties NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Ottawa Gee-Gees 8 6 5 5 7 13 NR NR NR Queen's Golden Gaels 7 5 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 Regina Rams 11 NR 13 NR 13 11 NR NR NR Saint Mary's Huskies 3 3 3 3 3 3 7 6 5 Saskatchewan Huskies 4 2 6 6 4 4 6 5 4 Sherbrooke Vert et Or NR 15 12 8 11 9 9 11 NR Simon Fraser Clan NR NR 8 7 10 8 8 7 8 St. Francis Xavier X-Men 15 NR NR 11 NR NR NR NR NR Toronto Varsity Blues NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR UBC Thunderbirds NR 14 11 12 NR NR NR NR NR Waterloo Warriors NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Western Mustangs 5 4 2 2 5 5 3 3 3 Windsor Lancers NR 13 NR NR 15 NR NR NR NR York Lions NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Ranks in italics are teams not ranked in the top 10 poll but received votes. NR = Not ranked, received no votes.
Championships The Vanier Cup is played between the champions of the Mitchell Bowl and the Uteck Bowl, the national semi-final games. In 2008, according to the rotating schedule, the winners of the Atlantic conference Loney Bowl meet the Ontario conference's Yates Cup champion for the Mitchell Bowl. The winners of the Canada West conference Hardy Trophy travel to the Dunsmore Cup Quebec championship team for the Uteck Bowl.
The Canada West play-offs start with the top four placed teams from the regular season, with the top placed team hosting the fourth place and the second place team hosting the third placed. The winners of those semi-finals then compete for the Hardy Cup championship who then travels to the Quebec champion for a national semi-final game.
The Quebec play-offs similarly play-off the top four placed teams with the Dunsmore Cup champions moving on to host the Uteck Bowl against the Canada West champions.
The Ontario conference started out with the top six placed teams from the regular season. The third placed team hosted the sixth place team and the fourth placed team hosted the team in fifth place. The winners then took on the top two placed teams in the conference semi-finals and the semi-final champions compete for the Yates Cup. According to the rotating CIS Bowl schedule, the Ontario champions, in 2008, host the Atlantic conference champions for the Mitchell Bowl national semi-final game.