Use any cliche you want.
“Backs to the wall”, “there’s no tomorrow”, “a must -win.”
When the 1-4 Marauders take the field Friday night at Alumni Stadium against the 1-4 Guelph Gryphons, they’re playing for their playoff lives.
Coming off a 47-14 shellacking by Western last week, the Marauders now find themselves in the unenviable position of having to win their remaining three games to have any shot of getting a playoff berth.
Head coach Stefan Ptaszek didn’t mince words about playing the Gryphons.
“We know the bottom line is to control our destiny and get to four and four and I think we’re in 100 per cent so that’s where we’ll go one at a time. Guelph is talented as heck,” Ptaszek said.
“They’ve had a rough start like us, but they’ve got athletes everywhere. They are on the bye (week), so they get two weeks to prepare for us.”
“So we got to work hard to make sure that’s not an advantage to get six days on the short week because of Thanksgiving and we gotta get ready for that one. One of those teams is going to be one in five and then it’s going to be an uphill battle for either Guelph or us.”
As always, the running game will set the tone.
Mac averages 108 yards rushing per game, while the Gryphons allow 266 yards rushing per game. Guelph has eight sacks after five games, while the Marauders have allowed a whopping 22 sacks. More success over the ground means less passing, which negates the Gryphon pass rush.
McMaster currently holds a 33-19 all-time record against the Gryphons and last year edged them 27-22 in the final game of the regular season on Oct. 30, 2021.
The game can be heard online at 900chml.com at 6 p.m. Friday night.