LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs football team looks to set a single-season OUA modern-era regular season attendance record on Saturday when the host the Toronto Varsity Blues at 1 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium.

With a win, Western could put themselves in first place overall in the OUA - needing a road-win from the Guelph Gryphons in Ottawa on Saturday to help them in the process.

Either way, the Mustangs will be hosting an OUA semifinal game on Saturday Nov. 6 at either 1 or 4:30 p.m. against one of the winners of next Saturday's Oct. 30 OUA quarter-finals at TD Waterhouse, a place where Western has only surrendered 30 points this season.

The Mustangs have had great crowd support at home, as well, with 28,184 fans through three games, an average of 9,395 per game and verging on a new single-season mark in Ontario.

Western hopes the home crowd can provide them with an advantage once again on Saturday when they host a desperate Varsity Blues team - one that knocked off nationally ranked and first-place Ottawa earlier this year.

"We did look at some of the Ottawa-Toronto game on film," said Western Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall. "One thing that's obvious is that Greg (De Laval) and his coaching staff had their team well prepared."

"They did a great job scheming and a great job on special teams. And they did a lot of those things against McMaster."

The game against McMaster was one which Toronto led at the half and lost on a big Marauders comeback in the second half.

"We know they are going to come in here and play a game and they are in a spot where they have to win to make the playoffs," Marshall added. "They will not come in here and surprise us. They are a good football team."

The Mustangs have not lost in 26 regular season games dating back to 1983 against Toronto - winning 25 games and tying one over that period.

The last Toronto win over Western was in the 1993 Yates Cup by a score of 24-16.

"There's an opportunity and we certainly have not been in that situation before. We are not concentrating so much on that as we are on living in the present," De Laval said. "Let's not look back and let's not look too far forward and just take one play at a time."

De Laval said Toronto will have to find - and exploit - any mismatches they pick up in film.

"We cannot match up individual to individual with Western," he said. "So we need to do things to try to gain an advantage whether with special teams or other match-ups."

"It's a tough test for us. We have had a tough time showing up for 60 minutes. We played Ottawa like that for the first time in 13 years... It has not been a common occurrence here."

Marshall said his coaches and his players have been studying film this week, wary of Toronto's potential.

"I think there are some good things they do offensively," Marshall said. "They have a good, young running back, a quarterback who can make throws and who can also do some things with his feet."

Marshall is referring to fourth-year quarterback Andrew Gillis - who has over 1,000 yards this season and likes to look for favourite targets Michael Prempeh with 28 catches for 304 yards and three touchdowns and Alex Pierzchalski   - and freshman running back Aaron Milton who is nearing 300 yards on the ground this season.

In order to finish first overall Western will need to win and will require an Ottawa loss at home against Guelph
In other final week games, Queen's is in a must-win situation at home against winless York, while the Laurier Golden Hawks and Windsor Lancers also battle for a playoff spot.

NEXT HOME GAME
The Western Mustangs will host an OUA semifinal game on Saturday Nov. 6 at either 1 or 4:30 p.m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium. The opponent will be determined next Saturday, Oct. 30, in the two OUA quarter-final games.

Western will enter the OUA semifinals as either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed.

If Western defeats Toronto and Guelph defeats Ottawa today, the Mustangs will finish in first. If Ottawa defeats Guelph and/or Toronto defeats Western, the Mustangs will finish second.

Check www.westernmustangs.ca later today for a playoff ticket update and news on the entire post-season.