FRC – CIS Football Top 10 (#5): Montreal No. 1 for fourth straight week, Regina on the rise

Canadian Interuniversity Sport – TORONTO (CIS) – Thanks to a third consecutive near-perfect performance, the University of Montreal Carabins top the CIS football national rankings for the fourth straight week and were a unanimous No. 1 selection for the second week in a row.

Montreal (4-0) once again received all 30 first-place votes and 300 points from the Football Reporters of Canada panel to easily distance the Laval Rouge et Or (3-1), who move up one spot to a season-high No. 2 thanks to a 264-point tally.

Rounding out the fifth Top 10 of the campaign are the No. 3 Western Mustangs (4-1 / 219 points / up one position), No. 4 Regina Rams (3-1 / 188 / up five), No. 5 Calgary Dinos (3-1 / 171 / down three), No. 6 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (4-0 / 153 / down one), No. 7 Ottawa Gee-Gees (4-0 / 148 / down one), No. 8 McMaster Marauders (3-1 / 79 / down one), No. 9 Manitoba Bisons (2-2 / 54 / unranked last week) and No. 10 Carleton Ravens (3-2 / 45 / no change).

The top-ranked Carabins travelled to Wolfville, N.S., last Saturday and crushed Acadia 63-1 as part of a 4-0 sweep by Quebec teams in the annual RSEQ-AUS interlock weekend. Montreal held a lopsided 632-96 advantage in total yards and racked up 33 first downs compared to eight for the Axemen. Since opening league play with a 24-21 win at Laval, the reigning two-time RSEQ conference champions have dominated their last three opponents – Concordia, Bishop’s and Acadia – by a combined score of 183-4.

Laval was equally dominant against AUS opposition on Saturday with a 49-4 road win over Mount Allison in Sackville, N.B. The Rouge et Or are trying to keep pace with archrival Montreal in the Quebec standings, three weeks away from a crucial head-to-head rematch on Oct. 15.

In the lone Top 10 matchup of the past weekend, last Friday night in Regina, the Rams and star quarterback Noah Picton (452 yards, 4 TD passes) edged visiting Calgary 32-27 to put an end to the Dinos’ 11-game regular season winning streak and join them atop the Canada West standings. The No. 4 national ranking is the Rams’ best since they reached No. 3 in the eighth poll of the 2010 campaign (Oct. 19).

Other Week 5 results involving Top 10 teams included Western 50, Guelph 16 (at Guelph); Laurier 68, Waterloo 7 (at Laurier); Ottawa 41, Windsor 18 (at Windsor); Manitoba 38, Saskatchewan 17 (at Manitoba); Carleton 50, York 7 (at York).

This week’s schedule is highlighted by a pair of Top 10 confrontations on Saturday afternoon, including No. 6 Laurier at No. 3 Western at TD Stadium in London, Ont. (1 p.m., Rogers TV London & OUA.TV) and No. 7 Ottawa at No. 10 Carleton in the annual Panda Game at TD Place Stadium in the nation’s capital (1 p.m., CIS Football Game of the Week on City & OUA.TV).

Laurier and Ottawa are the only remaining undefeated teams across the country along with top-seeded Montreal, which hopes to improve to 5-0 on Saturday at Sherbrooke (2 p.m., TVA Sports).

NOTES: Sportsnet and TVA Sports are once again the official broadcasters of the CIS football semifinals and final in 2016… The ArcelorMittal Dofasco Mitchell Bowl (AUS at Canada West) and the Uteck Bowl (OUA at RSEQ) are set for Saturday, Nov. 19, while the ArcelorMittal Dofasco Vanier Cup follows on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 1 p.m. ET at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont…. For all the information on the 52nd Vanier Cup (including tickets) visit vaniercup.com.

FRC – CIS FOOTBALL TOP 10 (#5)