Scott Radley: Marauders shut out at home, reeling in last place

There are some things you just never expect to see. A dog driving a car. A Green Party leader being sworn in as prime minister. Adam Sandler giving an Academy Award acceptance speech.

And the McMaster Marauder in last place in the Ontario university football standings.

Yet, with two weeks remaining in the regular season, that's where they are. At the very bottom of the West Division. Right in the basement.

This just doesn't happen. Except it is in 2021.

After a 22-0 shutout loss to the Wilfid Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday - McMaster's first shutout loss at home since 1997 - the defending Yates Cup champions are now 1-3 and staring at the possibility of missing the playoffs, which is just stunning from a program that's been among the best in Canadian university football for years now.

More surprising? This is exactly where they deserve to be.

A week after an overtime loss to the Windsor Lancers (who were then eviscerated 54-4 by Western on Saturday), Mac's defence was really good against the Hawks. Don't blame that group for the 22 points against. One touchdown came on a special teams' fumble. Another came on an interception that was run back for a score. Two more points came on a safety. Meaning the D surrendered just six points.

The offence, on the other hand, was entirely ineffective.

Mac had just 223 total yards - a mere 124 passing yards or a decent quarter's worth in many recent years - and gave up nine sacks. There were fumbles. There were interceptions. There were few deep pass attempts. At almost no point did the attack look threatening.

We've got things to fix," head coach Stef Ptaszek says. We're running out of time to fix them."

He's correct. On both counts.

There are clearly a bunch of things not working as they usually have. And there are only two weeks remaining in the season.

It doesn't look good. Yet in spite of all this, Mac isn't done yet.

Four teams make the playoffs in each division. If the Marauders win its remaining two games (at York next weekend and then at home to Guelph) and gets some help from other teams in other games, it could still find its way in. So there's still reason to work at getting things right.

Still, it's been a long time since we've had to talk about the Marauders watching the scoreboard. Or looking up at every other team in their division

A long, long time.

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com