The math is simple for Bisons: defeat Dinos, make playoffs

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This article was published 26/10/2023 (717 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The University of Manitoba Bisons football team won’t be scoreboard watching or holding their collective breath for another result this weekend.

The math is simple when the Herd (3-4) travels to Calgary to clash with the Dinos (2-5) Saturday at 3 p.m. CT: win and they’re in.

It’s a fateful matchup for both programs, being the last game of the regular season and with the last spot in the Canada West playoffs at stake. Whoever emerges will face the winner of Saturday’s earlier tilt between the Alberta Golden Bears and the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

“It’s a playoff situation for us and for Calgary,” said head coach Brian Dobie.

The Bisons’ 34-21 victory over the Dinos on Oct. 1 has afforded the team some wiggle room on Saturday. They can still lose and get into the playoffs, so long as they don’t fall by more than 12 points.

Playing with a handicap is the exact trap Dobie wants his team to avoid.

“You can’t be afraid to lose,” Dobie said. “If I have a fear of Saturday’s game, it’s that we play carefully, that, ‘We have a 12-points advantage’ — that’s sitting in the back of everyone’s mind.

“If we’re defensive and just try to hold on — kiss of death. We got to go out and play football, we have to play to win, we can’t fear losing and letting that point spread get in our way.”

In many ways, neither team was supposed to be here. The Bisons looked to be dead in water a month ago at 0-3 and star quarterback Jackson Tachinski on the shelf with a shoulder injury.

Then Tachinski came back after a one-week absence leading Dobie to label the remaining five games ‘the second season.’

The Bisons’ offence has stampeded defences since that time, leading the program to wins in three of its last four contests while averaging 31 points per outing during that stretch.

“This isn’t new pressure for this team,” Dobie said. “It was there once we made that statement and got ourselves into that hole. Here we are now, finishing that so-called ‘second season’ with literally a must-win.”

Meanwhile, the Dinos had little hope left after an 0-5 start but have sewn together a pair of wins against UBC and the Saskatchewan Huskies to give themselves a chance at the post-season.

Ten players could be playing their last game in a Bisons uniform this weekend, including All-Canadian receiver AK Gassama.

“For me, the biggest thing is trying not to be too high or be too low,” said, Gassama, who has 30 catches, 376 yards and two touchdowns this year. “We’re just ready to go play our football. I feel like in these situations, if you’re too focused on getting the win or you’re too focused on what could happen then you kind of take away from that.

“In an emotional sense, it’s really trying to stay present through it all and being able to not ride the wave of everything that’s going on around us.”

Gassama conceded that he and other veterans have thought about time running out on their U Sports career, but that the locker room has rallied around playing to survive another week.

“It’s been really good vibes. Everybody’s been really positive, everybody’s been really present, I feel. Everybody’s having fun and enjoying the time that we do have together because (Thursday was) our last guaranteed practice of the year,” Gassama said.

“After this week, we have to earn the right to practice,” he continued. “We talked about that (Wednesday). Having that ability to earn the right to practice is a blessing so, of course, the weather is getting cold now but if you want to play playoff football in the prairies and the west, you have to know that the cold is here and to embrace that.

“We’re embracing everything that comes with this time of the year.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

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