The Mustangs are looking to rebound from their first regular season loss since October 14, 2014 this week as they host the Waterloo Warriors at TD Stadium for Western's annual Orientation Week game.
 
The purple and white were felled on the road last week by an explosive Carleton Ravens team that scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to snatch back the win.
 
It was Carleton's quarterback Jesse Mills who led the way for the Ravens, completing 28 of 35 pass attempts for 341 yards and two touchdowns. Mills was a key factor in his team's victory, leading the Ravens on two fourth quarter touchdown drives that pulled Carleton back into the lead after Western launched a 31-point comeback.  
 
Western turned to All-Canadian running back Alex Taylor to be the engine for the offence, who racked up 147 yards and two touchdowns on 18 touches.
 
Quarterback Stevenson Bone received the lion's share of the touches behind centre, and he went 16 for 25 with 141 yards and one touchdown. Chris Merchant went 4 of 7 for 70 yards. The leading receiver for the Mustangs was Harry McMaster, who had two catches for 56 yards.
 
Western will aim to regroup this weekend when they take on the Warriors for the first time since former Mustangs offensive line coach Chris Bertoia took over the Waterloo program as head coach.
 
"They're not the most skilled team that we're going to play this year, but coach Bert will have them ready to play. And I can guarantee that the first game we played since he left to go to Waterloo – he'll have his guys fired up and they will play hard. The one thing about them is that they'll play physical so we need to match their physical intensity throughout the game."
 
The Warriors are 0-2 to start the season after losing their first two contests to York and Ottawa. In last week's matchup with the Gee-Gees the Warriors suffered a 65-1 loss with only 72 passing yards.
 
To have a shot at competing with the Mustangs, the Warriors need to improve their passing attack. Coming in against an experienced purple and white secondary featuring All-Canadian Jesse McNair and All-Star Malcolm Brown, the Warriors have a massive challenge on their hands. Quarterback Lucas McConnell is completing just 38 percent of his pass attempts, with one touchdown and four interceptions.
 
Dion Pellerin, who is averaging 72 yards a game this year, leads the Waterloo ground attack and may be relied upon heavily if the passing game can't find any holes in the Mustang secondary.
 
Saturday's game will be important for the Mustangs as they look to regroup and produce a team win that will get their momentum rolling again in the regular season. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at TD Stadium, and can be seen live on Rogers Cable 13 in London and on OUA.tv. Fans can also tune in to CHRW Radio 94.9 FM and Newstalk 1290 CJBK.