Knockout punch

With news coming out of Hamilton Thursday afternoon that star quarterback (and early Hec Crighton favourite) Kyle Quinlan had not only been charged with three counts of assault stemming from an incident  this past Saturday, but would be suspended immediately, the best I could do was channel  Ray Romano's dad from the show 'Everybody Loves Raymond' in uttering two words.

"HOLY CRAP!"

Details seem to be limited at best, but early reports from The Hamilton Spectator indicate that Quinlan was part of a scuffle at the campus pub TwelveEighty this past Saturday night and has been subsequently charged with one count of assault and two counts of assault of a police officer. While the quarterback was released from custoday that same evening, he now has a scheduled court appearance for October 6.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend.

With respect to the suspension, Director of Athletics & Recreation at Mac, Jeff Giles, commented that it will remain in place 'until the completion of an internal review'.

Taking a glance at the school's Athletic Code myself - being the document to which Giles pointed  as being the basis for his decision - it's pretty clear cut that Quinlan has a tough road ahead.

It states that, at all times, McMaster varsity athletes are to be 'committed to behaviour that will enhance the image of McMaster University and [their] teammates' as well as 'treat others with the utmost respect and dignity'.

As good as Quinlan's pass completion percentage was on the field, he's swinging an ugly oh-fer on the behavioural front off of it.

With that all being said, it had been a bad start of the week already; a  home-opener loss to hated rival Western compounded by having to rebound this coming Saturday against a newly ranked Windsor Lancer squad coming off a huge upset win over Laurier.

Now, positional experience would seem to dictate that second-year quarterback Marshall Ferguson will have to try to fill the void at the pivot spot. At 6'2, 200 lbs, the Kingston, ON native has only two passing touchdowns and just under 300 passing yards in the OUA to his credit.

I'm curious as to whether head coach Stefan Ptaszek is a praying man ...

It'll be how the remaining talent around the incoming passer perform that should be truly on the minds of OUA football fans, for we'll see whether this team was truly worth considering to be a championship contender - or a one trick, football-throwing pony.

From the pressbox:
- 2010 Yates Cup rematch: This time around, the #9 Gee-Gees travel south to London to face #2 Western, but this time around it'll be Aaron Colbon replacing Brad Sinopli as Donnie Marshall's opponent at quarterback. As good as Ottawa has looked so far, the Marshall experience factor, Mustangs running game already being in mid-season mode and the regularly large home crowd give the Mustangs the edge.

- Queen's is back at home facing the hard-luck Laurier Golden Hawks, who obviously want to remain within striking distance of the two-spot in the league. The Gaels are still looking for their first win and want to make sure 2011 won't be a lost season. Their front four on defence is something the Hawks O-line will have to contend with, but the large pool of talent on offence, plus the need for redemption on defence, will get the Hawks the needed road win.

- In one hand, we have quarterback Austin Kennedy making headlines for his amazing effort last week and has his Windsor team flying high, back home as a nationally-ranked team and wanting to prove that they're no fluke. On the other, you have a Mac squad simply looking for someone to throw the ball. Windsor in another upset.

- Guelph got the redemption win they were looking for against the Waterloo Warriors and figure to have another winnable game against the University of Toronto. The real question is, which Gryphons team will show up? My belief is that it'll be the one we saw in Week #2. Guelph goes to 2-1.

- It might be closer than games past this season - but York still pulls out the 'W'.