A tale of two early-season games

Nathan Udoh has been around long enough to know how quickly things can change in the Canada West conference.

The fifth-year Manitoba Bisons receiver is one of the oldest players in a youthful locker room that is experiencing the ebbs and flows of a U Sports season for the first time, and to say his experience if being leaned on would be an understatement.

“I try to lean on that and help guys who haven’t been in these situations just to keep their heads and how hard you have to play,” Udoh said Wednesday. “I think that’s the biggest thing that there is no snap that you take off, and playing with that intensity is really where it starts.”

The Bisons have already endured a roller-coaster two games into the season. After shocking the country by steamrolling the reigning conference champion Saskatchewan Huskies 40-22 in their season-opener, the Bisons fell back to earth in a 22-8 road loss to the Regina Rams last weekend.

It was the first time that many of the team’s starters travelled for a university contest, and to a hostile environment nonetheless.

“I wouldn’t say we were too high going into Regina. I think we just learned a lesson, and that’s OK,” Udoh said.

“At the end of the day, Regina is a good football team. They got a good offence, they got good defence, and those guys are experienced. I think that we’re a good football team, but we have a decent amount of guys being thrown into the fire, so to speak, getting their true first taste of Can West football.”

Udoh’s words are apt for a player who returned for his final university season with a renewed mindset.

A third-round selection of the Montreal Alouettes in the 2026 CFL Draft, the six-foot, 215-pounder participated in Alouettes training camp this summer, where he practised in a backup role to star receiver Tyson Philpot and was able to pick the brain of one of the league’s best pass-catchers.

“It was the hardest ever organized football event that I’ve ever been a part of. Credit to that team and the mentality and the team philosophy over there — it’s intense,” Udoh said.

“For those three weeks that I was there, I learned a lot about mentally how intense I can push my game, how physical I can be on the field, and then also the speed of play.”

That’s to say the university game has slowed down even more for Udoh, who emigrated to Winnipeg from his birthplace of Ireland with his siblings and Nigerian-born parents in 2013, and has become one of the most important weapons in the Bisons offence across the last two years.

Udoh is hopeful that the game will continue to slow down for some of the team’s younger players, including third-year quarterback Cole Anseeuw, who is in his first season as the program’s starter.

“I’ve seen a lot of poise, I’ve seen a lot of passion,” Udoh, who was on the receiving end of an 11-yard touchdown pass from Anseeuw in the season-opener, said of the young pivot.

“The guy is clearly a leader and wants to lead this offence. Being a younger guy, of course there’s going to be some growing pains here and there, but he has the full trust of the offence and our coaching staff. We know he’s our guy and he’ll pull through for us.”

Youth will continue to be a theme for the Bisons as injuries have piled up on the more-veteran defensive side of the ball, including in the trenches after third-year lineman Jerome Fouillard broke his leg last weekend in Regina.

Fouillard has been an early-season standout for the Herd, amassing 12 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks in the opener against Saskatchewan.

“It’s kind of like the next man up. And as a veteran, I try to help every rookie D-lineman we have,” Fouillard said. I try to teach them how to stay level-headed or just to stay calm and teach them through techniques and whatnot, but yeah, it’s mostly just helping the young guys be ready. The team, the young guys, are all ready to step up and ready to go.”

The returns from the Bisons defence have been promising but far from perfect. The unit is allowing the most yards per game (484) in the conference but has limited the opposition’s points, allowing 22.5 points per contest (third-fewest).

“We’re getting thin. We’re getting really banged up back there, so I’m concerned,” said head coach Stan Pierre. “I’m concerned in general.”

Another new experience awaits the entire roster this weekend. The Bisons are hosting the Calgary Dinos (1-1) at Dakota Collegiate on Saturday (2 p.m.), a game they will need to bus to as Princess Auto Stadium is preparing to host AC/DC’s Power Up Tour on Sunday.

“It is what it is. I’m happy that they’re able to host us,” Pierre said about a process that kept the game’s date and location in flux longer than he preferred.

“I’m not going to spend much time worrying about the rest of it. We all come from grassroots, and we’ve all experienced this, and I don’t think anybody is too good to rough it a little bit and take the bus to a home game. It’ll be fine.”

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