Despite what some have said, it is this loyal fan's opinion that the Mustangs did not deserve to win this game. Yes, they scored more points and yes they played better during the last few minutes and yes that is all that really matters. Yes the players deserved to celebrate, yes Guelph deserved to be stunned, and yes the coaches deserved to have the right to say all proper things to the media. But in the the end, after all this stuff is peeled away, we are left with a football team that badly needs work.

If we were able to strip away the multitude of penalties that Western took during this game we would have been left with a comfortable win and a game that would best have been described as sloppy. But we can't do that. And we have to face the fact that Western had 24 points erased due to flags and gave their opponents 14 points as a direct result of turnovers. That's a swing of 38 points folks. And that's not something that can be ignored.

But it sure was exciting. Here's how it went.

After moving the ball backwards for most of the game - due to the penalties - Western found themselves down 29-14 with about 3:38 remaining in the game. Guelph, deep in their own end, chose to concede a safety and kick off rather than punt from their end zone. Considering the score and the way the Mustangs were playing it was sound thinking. But it also meant that two converted touchdowns would be enough for a win. As the London Free Press put it, it was a "crack in the door."

Quarterback Mike O'Brien then engineered a nice drive that ended with a 15 yard touchdown pass to Tim Hatfield. There was now 2:40 remaining. Rather than messing around with the onside kick, Mustang Head Coach Larry Haylor showed confidence in his defence and had Mike (kicker this time) O'Brien boot it away. After one Guelph first down, the defence held and Western had the ball back. A few good plays later, including key catches by tightend Jonus Kavaliauskas and at least one drive-saving 25 yard outlet pass to tailback Ron Shalit, it was 3rd and goal at the Guelph 6 yard line. The pass, to receiver James Prescott, was complete and so was the comeback. O'Brien made the convert and the win was secured.

Hidden in the win was the generally sloppy play of the Mustangs. The penalties notwithstanding, there were numerous perfectly thrown balls dropped for no good reason. Receiver Tim Hatfield, who had two touchdowns and five catches for 92 yards, could have had a lot more if he thought to catch the ball before running with it.

The running game was nonexistent which says a lot for the coaches confidence in the offensive line. And, as usual, Haylor's play calling left a lot to be desired. (Note to Larry Haylor - you only need 10 yards for a first down.)

But in the end it was a win. And an exciting one at that. I'll take it.

Notes:

• Fans, coaches and players alike were kept guessing all game. The scoreboard, recycled from the old stadium, wasn't working.

• The so-called opening ceremonies for the new stadium consisted of university president Paul Davenport reading the names of all the people that paid to have their names read by Paul Davenport, a ceremonial kick-off by Paul Davenport, a jump by the Labatt sky-divers (I don't think Paul Davenport was one of them,) and a fly-by by a Canadian Forces CF-18 Hornet (and I know Paul Davenport wasn't flying it.) All in all it was terribly anti-climactic considering the all build-up in the weeks prior to the game.

• The Mustangs running man, Professor Al "Albert" Philbrick, has run his last lap. Al chose the Mustangs first touchdown in their new stadium as his last run. He has been running after every touchdown since 1973, has run over 700 laps, and is 86 years old.

• The Mustangfootball.com player of the game - Frequent readers of this column will know that we strive to choose an unsung hero of the game for our player of the game. The official award went to Mike O'Brien - an obvious choice - and one with which we can't argue. However, we have chosen someone else. The mustangfootball.com player of the game for week one is tightend Jonas Kavaliauskas. He made a couple of critical catches during the late game comeback; catches that if missed, would have resulted in a Mustang loss.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good - Western's new stadium. After the first game, it's apparent, despite some deficiencies, that this will be a good football facility.

The Bad - All the "fans" that left before the end of the game. Granted, the score was 29-14, but these fair weather friends were clearly not real fans. If they were, they would have known that the game was far from over.

The Ugly - The officiating. In 20 years of being a Mustang season ticket holder, I have never seen anything like this. I'm not suggesting that the flags were not deserved - most were, some were not - but clearly the refs were interested in being a major factor in the game. Many of the infractions were marginal and could have been ignored. It really put a damper on the game.