The University of Regina Rams are getting some encouragement from their most famous graduate.
Entering Saturday’s showdown with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, the 2-4 Rams don’t look much like a championship contender but neither did the Rams squad in 2000 who had the same record through six games and ended up playing in a classic Vanier Cup game that November. Eventual Super Bowl winner Jon Ryan played on that Regina team and offers encouraging words for the 2024 Rams.
“Don't stop believing,” Ryan said from his Los Angeles home where he’s enjoying the offseason from both minor league baseball teams that he has ownership stakes in.
Ryan remembers finishing the season with back-to-back wins to sneak into the Canada West playoffs and go on a run.
“The league had everyone's flights scheduled to go to the playoff games and they cancelled our flights. They didn't believe in us. They thought we were done. When we eventually won the Hardy Cup, we actually had to take a bus to Winnipeg to take the University of Manitoba's flight to Toronto. It's a 2-4 year so far but you're not even close to being out of it.”
The Rams could use the good feels in a season that started with so much promise, back-to-back wins in Calgary and at home to the Huskies but four straight losses since.
Starting quarterback Owen Sieben is still out from his opening night concussion but still isn’t ruling out a return before season’s end, according to head coach Mark McConkey. Meanwhile, Noah Pelletier starts at quarterback against the same Huskies defence he set a school record against by completing nearly 84 percent of his passes in a Week 2 victory that saw the Rams score a season-high 33 points.
That 33-28 final was a high-scoring affair and since Saskatchewan has scored more points than anyone else in Canada West this season and given up the most, there’s every reason to think this game will be a repeat of that early season shootout. That would suit the Rams just fine as they try to recover that early season feel-good story that feels like an eternity ago.
“It doesn’t matter how you get there, you’ve just got to get there,” McConkey said.
“If we can win two straight going into the playoffs, that’s a scary team and a team that’s peaking at the right time. There is a lot of opportunity and optimism within our locker room. Our coaching staff knows that if we can win these two games versus two very good football teams, we’re rolling into the playoffs and we can beat anyone.”
A win could put the Rams in third place, ahead of the Huskies, while a loss, depending on what happens in the Manitoba-Alberta game at the same time, could all but end their playoff chances.
The Rams-Huskies game can be heard live on 620 CKRM with the pre-game show at 12:45 p.m and kickoff at 1:00 p.m. You can hear the full Jon Ryan interview at halftime.
