2017 U Sports football season

Conference changes On December 15, 2016, Bishop's University Athletics and Atlantic University Sport (AUS) announced that the Bishop's Gaiters would be joining the AUS conference beginning in 2017. The move increases the number of teams competing in the AUS from four to five, while reducing the teams in the Quebec Student Sport Federation (RSEQ) from six to five. It also marked the first time since 1990 that the AUS had more than four teams, when the University College of Cape Breton played for one season before disbanding. This change also brought an end to the scheduled interlocking play with the RSEQ that had been in place since 2002. Compared to the previous season, there were no major format changes. The OUA will begin play on August 26, 2017, with the Carleton Ravens visiting the Queen's Gaels at Richardson Memorial Stadium. Eight other OUA teams will play the following day. The regular season will conclude on October 21, 2017, with the Yates Cup championship game taking place three weeks later on November 11, 2017. On January 23, 2017, the schedule changes for the AUS were revealed, with the conference opening the season two weeks earlier than usual on Friday August 25 with the St. Francis Xavier X-Men visiting the Saint Mary's Huskies. All six teams will play on September 1, 2017, and conclude their seasons on October 28, 2017. As usual, all teams will have a bye week on Thanksgiving Day weekend. In total, eight regular season games will be played on Fridays and 16 will be played on Saturdays. Similar to the other conferences, the conference championship game, the Hardy Cup, will be played on November 11, 2017. Cancelled game On October 4, 2017, it was announced that the October 5 game between the Montreal Carabins and Concordia Stingers was cancelled due to Montreal players and coaching staff members exhibiting flu symptoms. Due to scheduling constraints, the game was outright cancelled and would not be rescheduled. Montreal and Concordia would only play sevens games as a result and winning percentage would be counted in the standings as opposed to point totals. If teams are tied in the standings based on win percentage, head-to-head results would be used as a second tie-breaker. The decision was met with controversy as a similar situation in 2006 had the St. Francis Xavier X-Men forfeit a game to the McGill Redmen due to illnesses on their team rather than the game count as a no-decision. Standings ==Post-season awards==

A. Nick Cross had originally won the Peter Gorman Trophy, but was stripped of the award following a cannabis violation and it was instead awarded to Tre Ford. All-Canadian team First team ;Offence : QB - Noah Picton - Regina : RB - Alex Taylor - Western : RB - Ed Ilnicki - Alberta : IR - Trivell Pinto - British Columbia : IR - Mitch Hillis - Saskatchewan : WR - Kurleigh Gittens Jr. - Laurier : WR - Kaion Julien-Grant - St. Francis Xavier : C - Zach Annen - Carleton : G - Justin Lawrence - Alberta : G - Andrew Pickett - Guelph : T - Mark Korte - Alberta : T - David Brown - Western ;Defence : DT - Vincent Desjardins - Laval : DT - Connor Griffiths - British Columbia : DE - Mathieu Betts - Laval : DE - Jadarius Ceasar - Saint Mary's : LB - Adam Auclair - Laval : LB - Nelkas Kwemo - Queen's : LB - Jean-Gabriel Poulin - Western : FS - Stavros Katsantonis - British Columbia : HB - Gabriel Ouellet - Laval : HB - Malcom Lee - British Columbia : CB - Jamie Harry - Ottawa : CB - Godfrey Onyeka - Laurier ;Special teams : P - TJ Morton - Toronto : K - Gabriel Ferraro - Guelph : RET - Johnny King - Saint Mary's Second team ;Offence : QB - Hugo Richard - Laval : RB - Nathan Carter - Carleton : RB - Jean-Guy Rimpel - Concordia : IR - Nathan Rowe - Alberta : IR - Guillaume Paquet - Montreal : WR - Jacob Scarfone - Guelph : WR - Jeremy Sauvageau - McGill : C - Francis Lapointe - Sherbrooke : G - Samuel Thomassin - Laval : G - Ryan Sceviour - Calgary : T - Gustave Sylvestre - Montreal : T - Maurice Simba - Concordia ;Defence : DT - Brett Wade - Calgary : DT - Adam Melanson - Acadia : DE - Kene Onyeka - Carleton : DE - Cory Robinson - Calgary : LB - Nick Cross - Regina : LB - Boston Rowe - Calgary : LB - Mickael Côté - Concordia : FS - François Hamel - Montreal : HB - Jackson Bennett - Ottawa : HB - Marc-Antoine Dequoy - Montreal : CB - Will Maxwell - British Columbia : CB - Khadeem Pierre - Concordia ;Special teams : P - Félix Ménard-Brière - Montreal : K - Marc Liegghio - Western : RET - Kurleigh Gittens Jr. - Laurier == Post-season ==

The Vanier Cup is played between the champions of the Mitchell Bowl and the Uteck Bowl, the national semi-final games. In 2017, according to the rotating schedule, the Canada West Hardy Trophy championship team will host the Québec conference Dunsmore Cup championship team for the Mitchell Bowl. The winners of the Atlantic conference's Loney Bowl will host the Yates Cup Ontario championship team for the Uteck Bowl. Conference Playoffs Atlantic University Sport On November 9, 2017, Atlantic University Sport announced that the Saint Mary's team had been disqualified due to an undisclosed eligibility violation, and that the Loney Bowl had been cancelled. The Acadia Axemen were declared conference champions by default. However, Saint Mary's took U Sports governing body to the Ontario Superior Court (where U Sports is headquartered) due to their interpretation of a player eligibility rule. Saint Mary's wide receiver Archelaus Jack had been on the practice roster of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders until October 11, 2016. The league rules state that if a player is on a professional team's roster past August 15, that player would have to sit out one year. The rules were not clear on whether this referred to an academic year or season, or a 365-day period. On November 12, one day after the game was originally scheduled, the Ontario judge ruled in favour of Saint Mary's and the Loney Bowl was rescheduled for November 14, with the Uteck Bowl still scheduled for the following Saturday, November 18, against the Western Mustangs. Acadia won the game in overtime 45–38. Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec Ontario University Athletics Canada West Universities Athletic Association National Semifinals National Championship ==References==