We won’t declare the patient dead yet, even though the McMaster Marauders are currently in intensive care and will need a full-blown miracle to survive.
That said, after a devastating 33-19 loss to the previously winless University of Toronto on Saturday to fall to 1-5, having a priest on standby wouldn’t be a bad idea.
This was a football game the maroon should have won. More than that, this was a game they had to win.
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But things generally don’t go too well when you throw four interceptions. Even less often when two of those are run back for touchdowns. Nor when receivers drop a perfect pass on third down in desperation time, take a penalty that erases a 110-yard punt return for a touchdown (one of eight penalties for 154 yards), lose a fumble, have a punt blocked for a touchdown, and make a bunch more mistakes.
Worst of all, perhaps? The Blues hadn’t scored more than 10 points in a game all season. In this one they had more than that by halftime.
So now Mac is ahead of only York (which lost 87-0 to Queen’s on the weekend and has now been outscored by an absurd 298-7 in its past four games) in the standings which is like owning a steakhouse that’s ranked ahead of just Curly’s House of Horse.
Trying to sort out the scenario that might save the Marauders and squeeze them into the playoffs requires a PhD in astrophysics with a minor in acturial science. There appears to be a formula but it’s difficult to sort out. In the past eight non-COVID-reduced seasons, only one team has made it in with three wins, the most Mac could now get. That was way back in 2016.
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Of course, the whole thing becomes moot if they lose at home to Waterloo on Friday afternoon (1 p.m. kickoff at Ron Joyce Stadium) or the following Saturday in Ottawa. A loss in either contest mathematically eliminates them.
If that happens, there will be some painful questions asked about this program. Because joining York as the only team to miss the playoffs in each of the past three years would be humiliating.
Especially for a school with as proud a football tradition as Mac.
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