The University of Regina Rams open the 2024 season Friday in Calgary ranked at the bottom of the U Sports Canada West football rankings.
Coming off a 1-and-7 last place finish a year ago, head coach Mark McConkey isn’t surprised at being ranked 24th nationally out of 27 programs in the country. “There’s no reason for them to put us first”, McConkey said.
“It helps encourage us. It puts a little gasoline on the fire to show this is what everyone thinks of us so let’s go do what we do and play Rams football and shock the world, so we’re excited about that.”
The coach cites an older and bigger defensive line among the reasons for his newfound optimism. The University of Calgary Dinos, the one team the Rams managed to beat last year, is ranked 4th in Canada West and 13th nationally.
The Rams head coach, entering his 4th season, admits there is a heightened sense of urgency to get back to the playoffs with the national spotlight coming toward the program ahead of Regina hosting the 2025 Vanier Cup.
“We went after a few more older junior players to try and speed that (re-building process) up in some areas and I think it’s going to pay off this year for us”, McConkey said.
“A little bit more pressure but there’s always pressure to win in Saskatchewan football. There’s Rams alumni who when you go 1-and-7 are like ‘What’s going on and why aren’t we better?’ and that’s good. That’s what we want. You’d rather have people care than not care.”
The Rams have had great success against the Dinos in the McConkey era since the pandemic going 4-and-0 including a win at McMahon Stadium in 2022 which snapped a 19-year-drought for the U of R in that park.
The game will be broadcast live on 620 CKRM with an early 5:15 pregame show and kickoff at 5:30.
