Universite de Montreal Carabins celebrate their win over Universite Laval Rouge et Or, Saturday, November 15, 2014 at the Dunsmore Cup, in Quebec City.The Canadian Press
Coach Danny Maciocia insists that he never fully understood the magnitude of his University of Montreal Carabins knocking off perennial powerhouse Laval Rouge et Or until the congratulatory texts and e-mails started flooding in – including one from Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre.
"Obviously there are a lot of people who are excited," Maciocia said over the telephone from Montreal on Tuesday, still trying to come to terms with a result that continues to reverberate through the football ranks of Canadian Interuniversity Sport.
The Carabins stunned Laval, the country's No. 1-ranked team, 12-9 in overtime last Saturday to capture the Quebec conference championship, which the Rouge et Or have dominated for more than a decade.
The stunning upset ended Laval's impressive streak of 11 conference championships, its run of four consecutive Vanier Cup appearances and its hopes of a third straight national title when the Cup is played later this month.
The Carabins' victory also came on the home turf of the Quebec City institution, where the Rouge et Or had won an incredible 70 straight games dating back to 2004.
The winds of change also blew through Calgary on the same day, when the upstart Manitoba Bisons took advantage of 10 turnovers by the Calgary Dinos for a 27-15 victory to win the championship of the Canada West conference.
That win ended a streak of six consecutive conference championships for the Dinos.
The Bisons will play the Carabins in the Uteck Bowl in Montreal, while the Mount Allison Mounties will make the trek to Hamilton to play in the Mitchell Bowl against the McMaster Marauders, the champs from the Ontario conference.
The winners will then advance to the 50th Vanier Cup in Montreal at Molson Stadium on Nov. 29.
Maciocia, the former coach and general manager of the Edmonton Eskimos who led his team to the Canadian Football League's Grey Cup in 2005, is in his fourth season directing the fortunes of the Carabins.
He suggests that perhaps Montreal's win should not have been that much of a surprise given that, just two weeks earlier, the Carabins defeated Laval 13-9 in the final game of the regular season.
But the Rouge et Or have always been clutch in the post-season, as evidenced by their record eight national titles since 1999, so nobody was expecting Montreal to pull off the upset.
What has been surprising, Maciocia said, has been the groundswell of support for the Carabin's accomplishment since Saturday's big win.
"It seems like there's been a lot of years of frustration here, and just in the whole province in general," he said. "I feel like the province has been supporting, maybe change, you know. So I think I'm beginning to understand it since Saturday night a little bit better."
Maciocia said that, with all due respect to Laval, having fresh blood representing Quebec in the national semi-finals will be good for the university game.
"I don't want anybody to think there's parity now, because I don't think we're there yet," Maciocia said. "I think there's still a lot of work to be done. But I think it's good for football, I think it's healthy that there's someone else representing the province of Quebec. And it does instill some hope."
Maciocia said his biggest task right now will be to bring his team back down to earth to face a Manitoba outfit that has been battle-tested all season.
Manitoba managed to slip into the Canada West playoffs after a 4-4 regular season, and then overcame a 19-point disadvantage against Saskatchewan on its way to a 47-39 win in the conference semi-finals.