LONDON, Ont. - For the second straight season, the Western Mustangs football team visits Guelph at the Gryphons' Homecoming. The Mustangs won the 2009 game on a last-second Darryl Wheeler field goal to edge Guelph, 41-39, in front of a raucous crowd.
No. 5 ranked Western will look to quiet the No. 10 Guelph fans at Alumni Stadium again at 1 p.m. on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd.
The game will be televised nationally on The Score television network. Two radio stations - CHRW 94.9 FM (online http://www.chrwradio.com/listen/) and Newstalk 1290, CJBK on the AM dial (http://www.cjbk.com) - will also carry the action. A live blog is available here.
GAME NOTES
Western and Guelph are both tied for second place in the OUA with three wins apiece. However, Western is 3-1 as Guelph remains unbeaten at 3-0 having already had their bye week. The schedules of each team have been fairly different to date with Western having played three of their four games against nationally ranked opponents. Guelph, on the other hand, faced their first true test last week beating Queen's after getting wins over Toronto and York.
While Western beat Windsor last week 30-15 many people, including head coach Greg Marshall, were not completely impressed by the victory. The Mustangs had 16 penalties for 205 yards in that game, as well as five fumbles, including two that were lost. Marshall stressed about learning from those errors as the season progresses.
"We took too many penalties, all at inopportune times, we've got to be more disciplined," Marshall stated. "We're growing as a team, there's going to be some ups and downs, but that game is behind us and we will move on to the game this week."
The game this week is historically one that favours Western as the Mustangs have won 14 of the 15 games against Guelph. The last Gryphons victory came in 2007, also their homecoming game, as Guelph won 31-17. Because of that loss the Mustangs had to return to face the Gryphons in Guelph for the Yates Cup that year, but won the first of back-to-back OUA championships, 34-21.
First-year Guelph head coach Stu Lang is well aware of the Gryphons track record against Western.
"Each game is a test, We're trying to build sustained success at Guelph, something that Greg has there at Western," Lang said."I hate going through the facilities at Western, you're reminded of all their success constantly around every corner."
The Gryphons are in the midst of a rebuilding process after losing pivot Justin Dunk to graduation. However, Lang said he has been proud of his team's improvement over the course of this season.
"We have a senior defence that has played together, so there is some good experience there," Lang said. "The offence has not dones as well as I'd hoped, but they are playing a steady brand of football, scoring points and not turning the ball over."
Tale of the Tape vs. Guelph
Overall Record
40 - 10 - 2 in favour of Western
Coach Greg Marshall is 4-1 against Guelph as head coach of the Mustangs
Last 10 Meetings
Western is 9-1 in the last ten meetings
2009 - Western 41 Guelph 39 / Western 37 - Guelph 18 (OUA QF)
2008 - Western 47 Guelph 16
2007 - Guelph 31 Western 17 / Western 34 Guelph 21 (Yates Cup)
2006 - Western 25 Guelph 23
2005 - Western 29 Guelph 10
2004 - Western 33 Guelph 11
2003 - Western 42 Guelph 29
2002 - Western 50 Guelph 9
