The 2023 Vanier Cup, the 58th edition of the U Sports Football Championship, took place on November 25, 2023 at Richardson Memorial Stadium in Kingston, Ontario. The game determined the U Sports football national champion for the 2023 season.
The Montreal Carabins defeated the UBC Thunderbirds by a score of 16–9 to win the second Vanier Cup championship in program history.
Host This was the first time that Kingston hosted the Vanier Cup since its inception in 1965. However, it was the third time that the school had hosted the university final, with the others taking place in 1920 and 1929.
Background Semi-final games
It was announced that according to the rotating schedule, the Québec conference Dunsmore Cup championship team would host the Yates Cup Ontario championship team for the Uteck Bowl. The winners of the Canada West Hardy Trophy would host the Atlantic conference's Loney Bowl championship team for the Mitchell Bowl. These games were scheduled to be played on November 18, 2023.
In the first semifinal, UBC defeated St. Francis Xavier 47–17. In the second semifinals, Montreal defeated Western 29–3. This was UBC's first finals since 2015, and Montreal's first since 2019, when they lost against Calgary.
Bracket
Teams The championship game matched UBC from the Canada West Conference and Montreal from the RSEQ Conference. The programs previously met for the 51st Vanier Cup, when UBC captured their fourth national championship.
Statistics +Team statistical comparisonStatisticsMontrealUBCFirst downs1718First downs rushing106First downs passing712First downs penalty00Third down efficiency2–24–8Fourth down efficiency0–00–0Rushing attempts–net yards20–16321–84Yards per rush8.24.0Yards passing170279Pass completions–attempts16–2626–40Interceptions thrown10Punt returns–total yards9–3484–111Kickoff returns–total yards3–1551–50Possession time27:4332:17 +Montreal statisticsCarabins passingNameC–AYdsTD–INTJonathan Senecal16–171700–1Carabins rushingNameCarYdsTDJonathan Senecal6531Globi Halafu5470Iraghi Muganda2241Lucas Bertet-Dembele3180Carl Chabot3180Redval Keita130Carabins receivingNameRecYdsTDIraghi Muganda4680Carl Chabot4410William Legault2290Brandon Gourdon2160Lucas Bertet-Dembele270D. Alexandre160Simon Riopel130 + UBC statisticsThunderbirds passingNameC–AYdsTD–INTGarrett Rooker26–402790–0Thunderbirds rushingNameCarYdsTDIsaiah Knight15740Dane Kapler5140Iraghi Muganda121Thunderbirds receivingNameRecYdsTDSam Davenport5660Dane Kapler5640Lucas Robertson5340Jason Soriano1300Ryan Baker1250Isaiah Knight2230Cesare Rednour-Bruc2180Shemar McBean370Eric Williams-Her160Gavin Owen160
References
External links Official website