The Uteck Bowl is one of the two semifinal bowls of U Sports football, Canada's national competition for university teams that play Canadian football. It is held in the easternmost of the two semifinal venues. The Uteck Bowl champion moves on to face the Mitchell Bowl champion for the Vanier Cup. It was named for Larry Uteck, a former professional football player and university coach who died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2002.
History The Atlantic Bowl traditionally saw the Atlantic University Sport champions face a champion from another conference at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. However, in the interests of competitive fairness, the Atlantic Bowl was replaced by the Mitchell Bowl, its venue, like the Churchill Bowl that had paralleled it for so long, rotating among two of the conference champions.
Larry Uteck was a longtime football coach at Saint Mary's University and, at the time, the university's athletic director. It was decided that the Churchill Bowl would be retired, the Mitchell Bowl would take the place of the Churchill Bowl, and a new championship would be named in Uteck's memory. Thus, the Uteck Bowl formally replaced the Atlantic Bowl.
The inaugural Uteck Bowl was played at Huskies Stadium, where two-time defending Vanier Cup champions and home team Saint Mary's Huskies defeated the Simon Fraser Clan.
The 2020 game was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Uteck Bowl champions DateChampionScoreRunner upLocationUteck Bowl MVPNovember 15, 2003Saint Mary's60–9Simon FraserHuskies Stadium, HalifaxLes Mullings, Saint Mary'sNovember 20, 2004Laval30–11LaurierPEPS Stadium, Quebec CityJeronimo Huerta-Flores, LavalNovember 19, 2005Laurier31–10AcadiaHuskies Stadium, HalifaxRyan Pyear, LaurierNovember 18, 2006Laval57–10AcadiaPEPS Stadium, Quebec CityOlivier Turcotte-Létourneau, LavalNovember 17, 2007Saint Mary's24–2LavalHuskies Stadium, HalifaxTim St. Pierre, Saint Mary'sNovember 16, 2008Laval59–10CalgaryPEPS Stadium, Quebec CityBenoit Groulx, LavalNovember 21, 2009Calgary38–14Saint Mary'sHuskies Stadium, HalifaxMatt Walter, CalgaryNovember 20, 2010Laval13–11WesternPEPS Stadium, Quebec CityChristopher Milo, LavalNovember 18, 2011McMaster45–21AcadiaMoncton Stadium, MonctonKyle Quinlan, McMasterNovember 17, 2012Laval42–7AcadiaPEPS Stadium, Quebec CityMaxime Boutin, LavalNovember 16, 2013Laval48–21Mount AllisonMacAulay Field, SackvilleGuillaume Rioux, LavalNovember 22, 2014Montreal29–26ManitobaCEPSUM Stadium, Montreal Gabriel Cousineau, MontrealCIS football Uteck Bowl: Carabins survive Manitoba comeback, advance to first Vanier Cup from Canadian Interuniversity Sports, November 22, 2014November 21, 2015UBC36–9St. Francis XavierOland Stadium, AntigonishBrandon Deschamps, UBCNovember 19, 2016Laval36–6LaurierTelus Stadium, Quebec CityFélix Faubert-Lussier, LavalNovember 18, 2017Western81–3AcadiaRaymond Field, WolfvilleChris Merchant, WesternNovember 17, 2018Laval63–0St. Francis XavierTelus Stadium, Quebec CityHugo Richard, LavalNovember 16, 2019Montreal38–0AcadiaRaymond Field, WolfvilleReda Malki, MontrealNovember 21, 2020Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemicNovember 27, 2021Saskatchewan14–10MontrealCEPSUM Stadium, MontrealOffence: Adam Machart, SaskatchewanDefence: Riley Pickett, SaskatchewanNovember 19, 2022Saskatchewan36–19St. Francis XavierOland Stadium, AntigonishOffence: Mason Nyhus, SaskatchewanDefence: John Stoll, SaskatchewanNovember 18, 2023Montreal29–3WesternCEPSUM Stadium, MontrealOffence: Jonathan Sénécal, MontrealDefence: Nicolas Roy, MontrealNovember 16, 2024Laurier48–24Bishop'sCoulter Field, LennoxvilleNovember 15, 2025Montreal49–19Saint Mary'sHuskies Stadium, HalifaxOffence: Mathieu Barsalou, MontrealDefence: Mathis Bérubé, Montreal
Future participants The teams and host sites of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl rotate on a six-year cycle, so that in each cycle each of the four conferences hosts and visits every other conference once. With the 2020 game cancelled, the cycle was delayed by one year with the 2020 teams playing in 2021.
Future participants are:
DateVisiting conferenceHost conferenceNovember 21, 2026Canada WestRSEQNovember 20, 2027Canada WestAUSNovember 18, 2028OUAAUS
To date, the Uteck Bowl games hosted by Quebec have been played at the champion's home field, while the first four games hosted by Atlantic University Sport (AUS) were played at Huskies Stadium in Halifax. The 2011 game was held in Moncton at the newly built Moncton Stadium. All subsequent games were hosted by the Loney Bowl champion.AUS announces 2013 football schedule As of 2023, home teams have a record of 11–9.
Team win–loss records TeamWLWin %Laval Rouge et Or81.889Montreal Carabins41.800Saskatchewan Huskies201.000Saint Mary's Huskies22.500Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks22.500Western Mustangs12.333Calgary Dinos11.500McMaster Marauders101.000UBC Thunderbirds101.000Acadia Axemen06.000St. Francis Xavier X-Men03.000Manitoba Bisons01.000Mount Allison Mounties01.000Simon Fraser Clan01.000Bishop's Gaiters01.000
References