Who, What, When and Why to Watch: U SPORTS Football Week 2 Preview
Image via Saskatchewan Huskies
A new season brings new faces, new expectations, and plenty of questions.
This weekend, we get our first real answers.
Western begins a new era under Michael Faulds. Anton Amundrud makes his long-awaited return for Saskatchewan. Bishop’s steps back into the RSEQ for the first time in nearly a decade.
Here are three games to watch, where to find them, the players you need to know, and the storylines that matter.
Saskatchewan Huskies vs. Manitoba Bisons
Teams: Saskatchewan Huskies at Manitoba Bisons
Location: Princess Auto Stadium — Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date: Saturday, September 5
Time: 2:00 PM CDT
Players to Watch
Anton Amundrud — QB, Saskatchewan
2025: 5 GP, 1,641 passing yards, 14 passing TDs, 0 INTs, 69.3% completion rate.
Before his season was cut short, Amundrud was playing at an MVP-calibre level. In just five games, he averaged more than 320 passing yards per game without throwing a single interception. Now, Saskatchewan gets its QB1 back.
Nathan Udoh — REC, Manitoba
2025 cumulative: 44 receptions, 599 receiving yards, 3 receiving TDs.
Udoh led Manitoba’s receiving corps last season and enters 2026 as one of the veteran pieces the Bisons will lean on heavily as their offence goes through significant change.
Storylines
Welcome back, No. 11. 💚 Anton Amundrud was in the middle of the best season of his career when everything changed. After five games, the Saskatchewan quarterback stepped away from football and was eventually diagnosed with T-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Less than a year later, Amundrud is in remission, has been cleared to play and is back as Saskatchewan’s starting quarterback for his final season of eligibility. One of the best quarterbacks in the country gets another chance to finish the story he started.
The champs have a title to defend — but this isn’t the same team. Saskatchewan won the Hardy Cup in 2025 and reached the Vanier Cup, where the Huskies were within one point of Montreal during the third quarter before ultimately falling 30–16. Now comes the reload. U SPORTS Defensive Player of the Year Seth Hundeby, Canada West MVP Daniel Wiebe, Ryker Frank and several other major contributors are gone. Those are enormous shoes to fill on both sides of the ball. Still, expectations haven’t changed: Canada West coaches voted Saskatchewan No. 1 in the conference entering 2026.
What does the next version of Manitoba look like? The Bisons are going through a transition of their own after graduating 19 players from last year’s roster, including starting quarterback Jackson Tachinski. Cole Anseeuw now takes over under centre, while veterans like Udoh and a defence returning 10 players will be asked to provide stability. Manitoba was picked fifth in the preseason coaches poll, but Saturday gives us our first real look at whether this new group can outperform those expectations.
McGill Redbirds vs. Bishop’s Gaiters
Teams: McGill Redbirds at Bishop’s Gaiters
Location: Coulter Field — Lennoxville, Quebec
Date: Saturday, September 5
Time: 1:00 PM ET
Players to Watch
Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald — REC, McGill
2025 as QB: 1,590 passing yards, 9 passing TDs; 773 rushing yards, 6 rushing TDs.
Yes, you read that position correctly. After spending the past four seasons as McGill’s starting quarterback, Latendresse-Regimbald is moving to receiver. The Edmonton Elks selected him 58th overall in the 2026 CFL Draft and brought him to training camp, where the organization saw his professional future at receiver. He’s now back at McGill for his final season and making the position change full-time.
Justin Quirion — QB, Bishop’s
2025: 2,219 passing yards, 16 passing TDs, 62.1% completion rate.
If Bishop’s is going to prove it can immediately compete in the RSEQ, having an established quarterback certainly helps. Quirion enters the season after being named the AUS Most Outstanding Player in each of the past two years.
Storylines
Welcome back to the RSEQ, Bishop’s. Nine years after leaving Quebec football, the Gaiters are home. Bishop’s originally moved to the AUS because it believed the conference better aligned with the university’s size, resources and approach to varsity sport. Now, after eight seasons out east, rising travel costs and financial pressures ended that arrangement and sent the Gaiters back to the RSEQ. And that brings back the question that existed when they left: Can Bishop’s consistently compete in Quebec? Saturday is their first opportunity to begin answering it.
ELOA IS A RECEIVER. Arguably the most exciting quarterback in the RSEQ over the past several seasons is now catching passes instead of throwing them. Latendresse-Regimbald returns from Edmonton Elks training camp at a brand-new position Before the position change, there was real intrigue around what an experienced Eloa-led McGill team could become in 2026. Now? We have even more questions. New quarterback. New position for their former QB1. Same fascinating Redbirds team.
Don’t mistake these Gaiters for the team that left Quebec. Bishop’s didn't spend its time in the AUS standing still. The Gaiters went undefeated in conference play and won their first Loney Bowl in 2024, then reached another AUS semifinal in 2025. Quirion gives them an established star at quarterback, and the program returns to the RSEQ having already proven it can win. The question now is whether that growth translates against Laval, Montreal, Sherbrooke, Concordia and McGill. Saturday is the first measuring stick.
Western Mustangs vs. York Lions
Teams: York Lions at Western Mustangs
Location: Western Alumni Stadium — London, Ontario
Date: Sunday, September 6
Time: 7:00 PM
Who to Watch
Maurice Sodja — QB, York
Last week vs. Carleton: 19/31, 286 passing yards, 2 passing TDs; 66 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD.
Sodja was at the centre of everything York did offensively in its 35–34 season-opening win over Carleton, accounting for three touchdowns and 352 total yards. Now comes a significantly different test against Western.
Jayden Shallow — REC, York
Last week vs. Carleton: 7 receptions, 179 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD.
Shallow was Sodja’s biggest weapon in Week 1, averaging more than 25 yards per reception and finding the end zone once. If York is going to threaten Western downfield, the Sodja-to-Shallow connection could be a major reason why.
Western — Exact roster unknown at this time (SMH)
Storylines
The Michael Faulds era begins at Western. Sunday is more than just the Mustangs’ season opener — it’s the first game of a new era. After 13 seasons at Laurier, where he won two Yates Cups, Faulds returns to his alma mater as Western’s head coach. Before becoming one of the country’s top coaches, he built his own legacy in purple and white as one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in Mustangs history. Now, he gets to begin writing his next chapter at Western from the sideline.
Who are the 2026 Western Mustangs? That’s what makes Sunday fascinating. Western enters the season with a new head coach, a new starting quarterback following Evan Hillock’s departure, and plenty we simply haven’t seen yet. The expectation around Western is almost always that it will be among the OUA’s elite. But this time, we’ll have to watch the Mustangs take the field with fresh eyes and figure out who this version of Western is in real time.
York gets an immediate measuring stick. The Lions opened their season with a dramatic 35–34 win over Carleton. Now they go from surviving a one-point thriller to facing one of the conference’s benchmark programs on the road. Western has won all 14 recorded meetings between the programs dating back to 2005, so a York win would make a statement. But even beyond the result, a competitive performance would tell us plenty about whether this Lions team is ready to seriously push for a playoff spot in 2026.
