Football (0-0 OUA, 0-1 overall)
At Windsor (0-0 OUA) Tuesday, August 31 at 7:00 p.m. (Rogers 22 - tape delayed to 8:00 p.m.)
New head coach Jean-Philippe Asselin will kick off his CIS head coaching career Tuesday evening when the Gee-Gees take on the Windsor Lancers in their season opening game at the University of Windsor's Alumni Field.
The game will be broadcasted on Rogers Cable 22, but delayed one hour to 8:00 p.m.
NOTES
The Gee-Gees closed out their regular season against Windsor at home last year, defeating the Lancers 24-9 in front of 1,116 fans at Frank Clair Stadium to move on to the OUA quarter finals.
The Gee-Gees are 10-1 all-time versus the Lancers. uOttawa is 1-0 in the playoffs against Windsor; their lone playoff victory dates back to the 1975 Central Bowl which they won 45-6.
The Gee-Gees are coming off a strong 6-2 regular season last year. Their season did finish early however, as they were defeated 27-15 by McMaster in the quarter finals.
uOttawa was voted fourth in the nation in the Football Fans Committee pre-season Top Ten compiled and published by The CIS Blog. The official CIS Top Ten will be released on game day Tuesday, August 31.
The Gee-Gees played the Sherbrooke Vert & Or last Wednesday in their only exhibition match of the pre-season and were defeated 41-0. They were without 11 starters and used this game to play several fresh faces.
This will be first-year DB Jordan Bortolotti's first game against his hometown university and his father's alma mater. Bortolotti's father played four years with the Windsor Lancers football program.
Freshmen LB Nick Lecour, Ottawa, Ont., and DB Randy Williams, Burlington, Ont., will be dressing for Tuesday's game and are expected to play an important role in the special teams unit.
Third year LB Samuel Leblanc-Robert, St-André-Avellin, Qué.,and third year Rec Alex Fortier-Labonté,, Gatineau, Qué., are recovering from injuries and will be game-day decisions.
KEYS TO SUCCESS
Thoughts from head coach JEAN-PHILIPPE ASSELIN
"We are very excited to start the 2010 football season against Windsor on Tuesday. We have worked a lot on being disciplined and limiting our number of penalties; if can succeed in doing this, everything else should fall into place."
"We have given the guys a lot of rest in the last few days of training camp so they should be ready to go on Tuesday. It's a long bus ride to Windsor, but we will make stops to make sure our players can stretch."
Notes on DEFENSE from assistant head coach and defensive coordinator SEAN HALL
"Coming into the first regular season game of the year, there is always a lot of unknown. We have to base ourselves on the results from last year. We are going to focus on running things soundly and fundamentally, as well as our ability to make adjustments on the fly."
Coach Hall adds that Windsor recently added new assistant coach Joe D'Amore to the coaching staff this season. D'Amore was the offensive coordinator for the Essex Ravens in the Ontario Varsity Football League since 2007, so there could quite possibly be changes in the Lancers offense this year which they will look to adjust to.
Notes on OFFENSE from offensive coordinator CHRIS COULSON
"On offense, everything starts with the quarterback, and we have an extremely talented quarterback. Bradley Sinopoli is an outstanding athlete; he has a very good understanding of the offense and is very coachable."
"As for the offensive group we have three things: an experienced receiving core, which is extremely reliable; a physical offensive line that allows us to run the ball and protect our quarterback; and an explosive backfield that can score at any time."
