Bowl Season: Chris O’Leary’s Canadians to watch in NCAA
Even though they aren’t played in Canada, college football bowl games are a big part of the Christmas sports-watching tradition up here. This year, college bowl games have a high Canadian content, so there’s more reason to watch than ever.
Teams with redshirt players with no stats this season were skipped over. Hat tip to the folks at CanadaFootballChat, who filled in some blanks that I had putting this together.
A Canadian quarterback gets things rolling this year. Nineteen-year-old Oakville, Ont. native Nathan Rourke leads the Ohio Bobcats into the Bahamas Bowl on Dec. 22 against the University of Alabama at Birmingham at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Rourke looks like he’ll be more than ready to play on Friday. He spent his freshman year at Fort Scott Community College before transferring to the Bobcats for 2017. He started immediately for the Bobcats, steering the team to an 8-4 record while throwing for 2,018 yards, 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions. At six-foot-two and 209 pounds, he rushed for 882 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Rourke should have some familiarity with UAB. The program tried to recruit him two years ago, but was coming back from just being reinstated — it was shut down in 2014 — and Rourke chose Fort Scott instead. UAB won four of its last five games to punch its ticket to the Bahamas.
Ohio has two other Canadian players, both from B.C. Receiver Matt Seymour, from New Westminster is a redshirt freshman and running back Maleek Irons is a redshirt junior from Chilliwack.
Montreal’s J.J. Molson gets onto the bowl game stage on Boxing Day, when he and his UCLA Bruin teammates face Kansas State in the Cactus Bowl, from Phoenix at 9:30 p.m. The Bruins went 6-6 overall this year and Kansas State was 7-5.
The sophomore kicker and his teammates have had to endure a tumultuous season and a difficult couple of weeks leading into the game. The Bruins fired head coach Jim Mora on Nov. 19 and let go of its linebackers and defensive backs coach as well. The team took its normal break for final exams, but also had to deal with the wildfires that are ravaging California this month. The team reconvened on Monday and will get a week together to prep for a Kansas State team that won four of its last five games to close out the regular-season.
Molson made 16 of 20 field goal attempts this year and only missed one of his 48 extra point attempts. He handled 80 kickoffs this season, racking up 5,025 yards.
Terrell Jana, a freshman receiver from Victoria, B.C., has had one start and two catches this year for the Virginia Cavaliers. He’ll take part in the Military Bowl on Dec. 28 (1:30 p.m. ET), when the Cavaliers face Navy.
The Camping World Bowl kicks off at 5:15 p.m. ET on Dec. 28 and has three Canadian players with Oklahoma State, who face Virginia Tech. Calgary native Amen Ogbongbemiga is a redshirt freshman linebacker that worked his way into the lineup, getting 16 total tackles in 12 games. Chuba Hubbard didn’t record any stats at running back in his freshman year, coming out of Sherwood Park, Alberta. Shane Richards, also from Calgary, is a senior and is listed as a backup offensive lineman.
Welland, Ont.’s Sage Doxater is a sophomore left tackle with New Mexico State and he’ll be on the field Dec. 29 at 5:30 p.m. ET, as the Aggies play Utah State in the Arizona Bowl. Both teams were 6-6 this season. Doxater, six-foot-seven and 343 pounds, was named to the Sun Belt All-Newcomer team a year ago. He’s likely to start in Tuscon, where the Aggies are playing their first bowl game in 57 years.
The Fiesta Bowl, on Dec. 30 at 4 p.m. ET has Canadian talent on both sides of the field. For Washington, receiver Brayden Lenius played in all 12 games with one start in his junior season. The North Vancouver product had nine catches for 89 yards this year.
For Penn State, Brampton’s Daniel Joseph was a redshirt freshman that played in six games as a defensive end. Ottawa’s Jonathan Sutherland didn’t get into the lineup as a defensive back in his freshman year with the Nittany Lions.
On New Year’s Day, you can watch freshman DB Benjamin St-Juste suit up for the Michigan Wolverines, as they face South Carolina in the Outback Bowl at noon ET. St-Juste, from Rosemere, Que., played in all 12 games for Michigan as a special teamer, with one solo tackle while getting some time at cornerback against Maryland on Nov. 11. Ottawa’s Luiji Vilain is also on the team, listed as a defensive end, but didn’t see the field this year.
In the Citrus Bowl (Jan. 1, 1 p.m.) Notre Dame will go up against LSU without the services of sophomore receiver Chase Claypool. While he won’t be on the field, his accomplishments this year are worth mentioning. The Abbotsford, B.C. native started in eight of the Irish’s 12 games and had 29 catches for 402 yards (second on the team) with two touchdowns. He injured his shoulder in practice last week and won’t play.
In the biggest game of them all, Oklahoma faces Georgia in the Rose Bowl at 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 1. Defensive tackle Neville Gallimore (St. Catherine’s, Ont.) had 28 total tackles and a fumble recovery playing in nine games in his sophomore year for the Sooners. The six-foot-two, 310-pounder played a big part in his team’s 12-1 season.
