It wasn't pretty but a win is a win. After an awful first half the offence finally got it together and was able to move the ball. But if it wasn't for a couple of key mistakes by the Mac secondary, the result could have been-would have been-very different.

The largely inexperienced defensive front played better than expected against the Mac running game but the veteran secondary took a while to get going. They finally firmed up but not before allowing Mac quarterback Ben Chapdelaine to complete 20 of 35 pass attempts for 345 yards and 3 touchdowns.

On the offence, the line looked good in the second half but got manhandled in the first. The running backs played well. Quarterback Mike O'Brien had good numbers completing 15 of 26 pass attempts for 386 yards. These stats, however, were padded by a couple long pass-run plays. These two plays accounted for 168 yards. On one of these two receiver Dan Disley had to make a circus catch. It is as though O'Brien was constantly under throwing the ball. If Western is to go places this year, he will have to sharpen up.

A few interesting items. Western ran the option play a few times. This is highly unusual. The punt return team had two men back to receive-a departure from last seasons policy of only one man back. Late in the first half, with 7 seconds remaining on the clock McMaster scored. Rather than receive a kick, as happens in 99.9 percent of the cases, Western chose to kick off. The idea was to try an onside kick, get the ball back and, maybe, run a play for a score. It didn't work but there was no downside risk since the clock had run out when Mac got the ball.