Frankly Speaking: Heed Zombieland Rules in Season Finale
October 29, 2009　
By Greg Urbanoski

There isn’t much of a difference to surviving in Canada West football or in the world of the movie Zombieland. The horror-comedy has a running gag of survival rules which easily translates into football success – cardio, double tap, enjoy the little things – that the University of Regina Rams should be able to apply in their season finale (Friday, 7 p.m.) at Mosaic Stadium.

In Zombieland, cardio is important to put distance between oneself and pursuing zombies. When it comes to Canada West cardio, the 2009 Rams are in good shape, and their off-season conditioning program has helped them balance the scales against other teams.

In the movie, a double tap refers to ensuring once a zombie is down, the zombie stays down. In Canada West, this applies to both offence and defence making sure once they are on top of their opponents, their opponents do not have a chance to get back into the game. Achieving this is possible due to the right mixture of talent, character and leadership.

The Rams started the 2009 season looking at a massive turnover in their defensive backfield, but Rams head coach Frank McCrystal said the Rams have placed their athletes in a position to succeed.

"I think we have stayed strong at defensive back because we have played consistently," said McCrystal. "Our linebackers have been playing great and our defensive line is getting better.

"Our offensive line is very much a work in progress. We lost Devin Hillier at the start of the season to injury and John Hashem has been out there on his own because the others are new. But they have come together and are getting that consistency they need. Our backfield is strong and solid.

"We are improving and solid at quarterback every game. Marc Mueller doesn’t make a lot of errors which is something given that he has not started a game in two years. Our receivers have been outstanding and even though we have had new people at various positions, we have been progressing and you can see that progress from the start of the season."

Many observers had written off the Rams at the start of the season, mostly because of the players they had lost to graduation and the Canadian Football League, among them record-setting quarterback Teale Orban. But Mueller has come in and provided the Rams with the ability to compete every week.

"We’re a good football team now," said McCrystal. "Are we a championship team? This is just a first step. We need to go into the playoffs and get leadership and good play from everyone.

"You look at a player like Perri Scarcelli. He has played fantastic for us all season and has been a great leader for us this year. I had hoped we would have been a little further along and playing with less errors on one hand, but on the other, we have done a lot of good things and it becomes a situation where you challenge the players to do the right things."

McCrystal said people who had written the Rams off prior to the start of the season were not seeing the whole picture. The Rams will have a change to split and possibly claim the season series with the Huskies following a 10-9 loss in Saskatoon earlier this season.

"I think we’ve been surprising people with our play at quarterback and by losing Teale I think people underestimated what we could do," said McCrystal. "On the other hand, we need to score points.

"We’ve been a consistent program and we’ve around the final, but other than one year, we haven’t gone through it. We have a chance to get ahead with this game so we’re going to go out and play and have some fun."

The Rams will be donating a portion of ticket sales to breast cancer research.