Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the men’s football team lost another game, this time falling in their home opener 42-17 against Waterloo. The Blues have been receiving headlines of late for all the wrong reasons with major publications like the Star, the Sun, and the Globe and Mail shooting zingers at the team’s expense. With Monday’s loss the team’s losing streak now stands at 42 games. Over a five year period, that’s 2,150 days, for those keeping score.
While the team may tire of being a punch line for more than a few campus one-liners, both coaches and players remain diplomatic towards their critics.
“We’re no joke,” said head coach Steve Howlett, “but at the same time we’re not aiming to prove anything to anybody. We have to focus on what we have to do and just stick with that.”
When asked about the infamous ‘streak’ of 42 losses, the coach suddenly became serious.
“The ‘streak’ has nothing to do with this team, and everything to do with external perceptions and expectations from people who aren’t close to the situation. I choose to live in the present and go from there.”
At present the Blues prepare for a Saturday showdown with the third ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees. Ottawa led the OUA with 7-1 record last season and defeated Toronto soundly in their only meeting, 59-23. The Gee-Gees will be a tough team to beat coming off a 31-23 win over the Guelph Gryphons in their season opener, but Coach Howlett remains optimistic
“They’re the team to beat in the conference,” said Howlett, “but we played very well against them last year. We were neck and neck with them for three quarters then let it get away from us in the fourth. I’ll be happy to get the same type of effort from our guys this time around, without the fourth quarter meltdown. If we can sustain our drives and the defense is good then we should be competitive.”
If the streak is going to end this weekend the team will need a more complete effort than the one they showed on Monday. Against the Warriors, the Blues had the edge in net offence (461-457), yards passing (398-349) and first downs (27- 17). But they also led in fumbles (4-0) and penalties (20-15). That careless play really cost them in the second quarter when Waterloo took a 24-0 lead due, in part, to two majors on UofT fumbles.
In the second half Andrew Gillis, coming in for injured quarterback Dave Hamilton, gave the team a bit of a spark. Gillis was the Blues player of the game registering 243 passing yards at a 15-29 completion rate. He also finished with 49 yards rushing and set up nicely both Mark Stintson’s touchdowns. Unfortunately, it was too little too late.
The Blues are fielding 19 new players including Gillis who is in his first year on the team. Not having been around for any of the five losing seasons, he remains positive and optimistic which can only help the process. Stintson said cheerfully, “I know the program will turn around because there’s nowhere to go but up. The wins will come and then people will have to find something else to make fun of other than Toronto.”
