USD Football 1997

~OOffiU[l]~[l]~ ~m~rn~rnrn~ CON TIN UED Then there is the unavoidable fact that football in Canada competes head– to-head for the best young athletes with the national passion: hockey. "The best athletes here still grow up with skates on their feet," Towriss said. "They're going to play hockey until they're 15 or 16, when Midget hock– ey ends. They find out by then if they have a shot at going pro. Some of them who don't then will gravitate toward football. We get a lot of those kids." To understand just how great the differences between the CIAU and NCAA are, it's helpful to keep a few facts in mind. The biggest source of disparity undoubtedly lies in sheer numbers: Pop– ulation-wise, Canada is but a tenth the size of the U.S. (29,857,369 in 1996, com– pared to the States' 1990 Census total of 265,089,998). That's a staggering differ– ence in size of talent pool. Football also evolved differently and more slowly in Canada than in the U.S. Prior to World War II, most Canadian teams were still playing a hybrid of football and rugby. The forward pass wasn't adopted until 1931 (35 years later than in the U.S.) and a touchdown was not set at six points until 1956. American college football in the 1920s, playing with virtually the same rules as today, was already drawing crowds in excess of 100,000, when Cana– dian football was still in its infancy. The record crowd for the CIAU cham– pionship game, the Vanier Cup, is 32,877, set in 1989 - the first year the game was played at Toronto's Sky- "All we see are the huge programs, like Notre Dame with 80,000 fans or Michigan with 100,000.

The comparisons between CIAU and lower-divi– sion U.S. football also extend to the NFL. Players mak– ing the pros from Canadian schools are rare , but they do exist. Former Eagles lineman Mike Shad (Queen's), Bills fullback Tim Tindale (Western Ontario) and Chargers defensive back Mike Montreuil (Concordia) are some of the recent notables who made the jump. "It'saremarkable story when a CIAU player can make ii in the NFL," Mount Allison University coach Gordon Grace said. "II you have the talent, there'sa way to get there. But it's not like hockey. Here every– one knows someone who'smade ii in the NHL. Almost nobody knows anyone who's made it in the NFL. " Perhaps the biggest CIAU success story in the NFL has been wide receiver Tyrone Williams, aHalifax native and Western Ontario grad who won two Super Bowl rings with the Dallas Cowboys in 1992 and '93. After astint in the CFL, Williams is back in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins. An All-Canada pick in his junior and senior sea– sons and Most Valuable Player of the 1989 Vanier Cup, Williams was selected by the Phoenix Cardinals in the ninth round of the '92 NFL Oraft...and that was just the start of his rough adjustment. Dome. The game usually draws around 25,000. On the whole, CIAU schools have attendance figures that fit some– where between Division II a nd III pro– grams: in the neighborhood of 4,000 to 5,000 fans per game. "You don 't have the same kind of thing [in Canada] where people live and breathe for weekend sports," Towriss said. "People are more interested in the outdoor things , like going to the lake and things like that. "All we see for [U.S.] college football is what's on TV on Saturday after– noons...the huge programs, like Notre Dame with 80,000 fans or Michigan with 100,000. We see that and say, 'Holy cow."' Saskatchewan's 10,000-fan games are definitely on the high end of the CIAU's attendance chart. Schools in the Eastern and Pacific parts of the country, Towriss said, have to compete for fans with CFL, NFL and Division I teams. Western Ontario is full of Buffalo Bills fans, along with Michigan, Ohio State and Syracuse fans. Vancouver– area fans gravitate toward Washington and Oregon college teams a nd the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. In Saskatoon, a two-day drive from Minneapolis, home of the closest major U.S. teams, the CFL's Roughriders and Towriss'

"I was nine days late to camp because I was having visa problems," he said. "That put me back even further. But it was a blessing in disguise, because the Cardinals released me and I was signed to Dallas' practice squad. Spending ayear on the practice squad was the best thing for me. I definitely needed that time to make the adjust– ment to U.S. football. " His story can be an example for other CIAU players casting an eye on the longshot prize of playing in the NFL. "I tell them to practice diligently, get in as much preparation as possible and to be ready when that chance comes. Because when it does, it can come and go very quickly. You have to be ready."

Huskies are the only game in town . But the competition is there, as are the rivalries. Western Ontario - the "Michi– gan of the North," as it is called by some Canadian fans - is more like the Notre Dame of the North. Western is the stan– dard-bearer of football success in Cana– da, much like the Fighting Irish are in the States. Everyone, it seems, wants a piece of Western. Acadia and St. Mary's have the biggest grudge in the Maritimes, and Calgary and defending Vanier Cup cham– pion Saskatchewan have been Western Canada's version of Florida and Florida State in the 1990s. "When you strip it all down, it's the same: 18- and 19-year-old athletes, meeting challenges in the classroom and 5 on the field," Grace said. "There are a ~ ::; lot of similarities. You're still coach- ~ ing young a thletes and dealing with ! personalities and all that. * "But down in the States it's a busi- fu Q ness. When you have that level of com- ~ mitment and that much money involved, 5 z it means the expectations are that ~ much higher. Here it varies from pro- ~ gram to program. You won't get fired if i:; w you go 2-6 one year, where in the States ~ you just may." a 8

We see that and say, 'Holy cow.'" Saskatchewan head coach Brian Towriss

MIKE FAZIOLI isthecopyeditorfor Touchdown Illustrated.

toummJ