The 2023 Vanier Cup, the 58th edition of the U Sports Football Championship, took place on November 25, 2023 at Richardson Memorial Stadium in Kingston, Ontario.[3][4] The game determined the U Sports football national champion for the 2023 season.
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| Date | November 25, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Richardson Memorial Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Kingston, Ontario | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ted Morris Memorial Trophy | Jonathan Sénécal | ||||||||||||||||||
| Bruce Coulter Award | Nicky Farinaccio | ||||||||||||||||||
| National anthem | All the Queen's Men | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Brent Young | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 7109 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Broadcasters | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | English: CBC Sports[1] French: TVA Sports[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mark Lee (play-by-play) Dashawn Stephens (analyst) Signa Butler (sideline reporter) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Montreal Carabins defeated the UBC Thunderbirds by a score of 16–9 to win the second Vanier Cup championship in program history.[5]
Host
editThis was the first time that Kingston hosted the Vanier Cup since its inception in 1965.[6] However, it was the third time that the school had hosted the university final, with the others taking place in 1920 and 1929.[6]
Background
editSemi-final games
editIt was announced that according to the rotating schedule, the Québec conference Dunsmore Cup championship team would host the Yates Cup Ontario championship team for the Uteck Bowl. The winners of the Canada West Hardy Trophy would host the Atlantic conference's Loney Bowl championship team for the Mitchell Bowl.[3] These games were scheduled to be played on November 18, 2023.[3]
In the first semifinal, UBC defeated St. Francis Xavier 47–17. In the second semifinals, Montreal defeated Western 29–3.[7] This was UBC's first finals since 2015, and Montreal's first since 2019, when they lost against Calgary.
Bracket
edit| November 18th Semi-finals | November 25th Final | |||||
| Uteck Bowl – Montreal, QC | ||||||
| Montreal | 29 | |||||
| Vanier Cup – Kingston, ON | ||||||
| Western | 3 | |||||
| Montreal | 16 | |||||
| Mitchell Bowl – Vancouver, BC | ||||||
| UBC | 9 | |||||
| UBC | 47 | |||||
| St. Francis Xavier | 17 | |||||
Teams
editThe championship game matched UBC from the Canada West Conference and Montreal from the RSEQ Conference. The programs previously met for the 51st Vanier Cup, when UBC captured their fourth national championship.[8]
Statistics
edit| Statistics | Montreal | UBC |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 17 | 18 |
| First downs rushing | 10 | 6 |
| First downs passing | 7 | 12 |
| First downs penalty | 0 | 0 |
| Third down efficiency | 2–2 | 4–8 |
| Fourth down efficiency | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 20–163 | 21–84 |
| Yards per rush | 8.2 | 4.0 |
| Yards passing | 170 | 279 |
| Pass completions–attempts | 16–26 | 26–40 |
| Interceptions thrown | 1 | 0 |
| Punt returns–total yards | 9–348 | 4–111 |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 3–155 | 1–50 |
| Possession time | 27:43 | 32:17 |
| Carabins passing | |||
| Name | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Senecal | 16–17 | 170 | 0–1 |
| Carabins rushing | |||
| Name | Car | Yds | TD |
| Jonathan Senecal | 6 | 53 | 1 |
| Globi Halafu | 5 | 47 | 0 |
| Iraghi Muganda | 2 | 24 | 1 |
| Lucas Bertet-Dembele | 3 | 18 | 0 |
| Carl Chabot | 3 | 18 | 0 |
| Redval Keita | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Carabins receiving | |||
| Name | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Iraghi Muganda | 4 | 68 | 0 |
| Carl Chabot | 4 | 41 | 0 |
| William Legault | 2 | 29 | 0 |
| Brandon Gourdon | 2 | 16 | 0 |
| Lucas Bertet-Dembele | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| D. Alexandre | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Simon Riopel | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Thunderbirds passing | |||
| Name | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garrett Rooker | 26–40 | 279 | 0–0 |
| Thunderbirds rushing | |||
| Name | Car | Yds | TD |
| Isaiah Knight | 15 | 74 | 0 |
| Dane Kapler | 5 | 14 | 0 |
| Iraghi Muganda | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Thunderbirds receiving | |||
| Name | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Sam Davenport | 5 | 66 | 0 |
| Dane Kapler | 5 | 64 | 0 |
| Lucas Robertson | 5 | 34 | 0 |
| Jason Soriano | 1 | 30 | 0 |
| Ryan Baker | 1 | 25 | 0 |
| Isaiah Knight | 2 | 23 | 0 |
| Cesare Rednour-Bruc | 2 | 18 | 0 |
| Shemar McBean | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Eric Williams-Her | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Gavin Owen | 1 | 6 | 0 |
References
edit- ^ "CBC Sports to broadcast U Sports national championships for next 4 years". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. September 20, 2021.
- ^ "Carabins and Rouge et Or to launch the 2020 university football season at TVA Sports". U Sports. February 28, 2020. Archived from the original on February 28, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
- ^ a b c "U Sports Championship Information". U Sports. September 13, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
- ^ "Queen's University to host the 2023 and 2024 Vanier Cup". U Sports. March 30, 2023.
- ^ "Football boxscore". U Sports. November 25, 2023.
- ^ a b "Queen's University to host the 2023 and 2024 U Sports Vanier Cup". Queen's Gaels. March 30, 2023.
- ^ "Montreal Carabins dominate Western Mustangs to advance to Vanier Cup". TSN. The Canadian Press. 2023-11-18. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
- ^ "UBC Thunderbirds beat Montreal to win Vanier Cup". www.sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 2023-11-22.