The Manitoba Bisons football team represents the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...

. The program was the first of four

U Sports football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic confer ...

teams to have won back-to-back

Vanier Cup The Vanier Cup (french: Coupe Vanier) is the championship of Canadian university football. It is organized by U Sports football and is currently played between the winners of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl. It is named after Georges Vanier, ...

championships, having won in 1969 and

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. In total, the Bisons have won three Vanier Cup national championships and 11

Hardy Trophy The Hardy Trophy is a Canadian sport trophy, presented annually to the winner of the Canada West Universities Athletic Association Football Conference of U Sports, the country's governing body for university athletics. It is named for Evan Hard ...

conference championships. The Bisons are led by

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Brian Dobie Brian Dobie (born February 16, 1953) is a former Canadian football wide receiver and the current head coach for the University of Manitoba's football team, the Manitoba Bisons. Brian became Manitoba's head coach in 1996 after serving as head coac ...

, who has been the head coach since 1996.

Recent Vanier Cup

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, the Bisons' football team won the Vanier Cup as the national champions in Canadian Interuniversity football, the first for the school in 37 years. Pat Gill, the manager, has been the manager for 40 years and was with the team during the 1969 and 1970 Vanier Cup teams. A big factor in the 2007 Vanier Cup was the injury to

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

Matt Henry, who suffered and a broken

femur The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...

in three places and severe muscle damage. However, in the end,

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

and punter Scott Dixon converted on all but one of his field goals and pinned the Saint Mary's Huskies deep several times. Dixon, in his rookie year, is tied for second all-time for most field goals in a game.

Recent season results

A. Manitoba forfeited two wins for using an ineligible player. Simon Fraser also used an ineligible player in a Manitoba loss, so the game was declared "no contest".

Manitoba Bisons in professional football

As of the end of the 2022 CFL season, eight former Bisons players are on CFL teams' rosters: * Gavin Cobb,

Edmonton Elks The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

* Nic Demski,

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

Brock Gowanlock Brock Gowanlock (born July 11, 1996) is a Canadian football defensive end for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Junior career Gowanlock played for the Langley Rams of the Canadian Junior Football League from 2014 to ...

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

Geoff Gray Geoff Gray (born November 8, 1994) is a professional Canadian football offensive lineman for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted eighth overall in the 2017 CFL Draft by the Blue Bombers. He played U Spo ...

, Winnipeg Blue Bombers * Kienan Lafrance,

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

Landon Rice Landon Rice (born February 28, 1988) is a professional Canadian football offensive lineman for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played CIS football at the University of Manitoba and attended Crocus Plains Regional ...

, Montreal Alouettes * Shai Ross,

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

* Zack Williams,

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

In the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

David Onyemata David Onyemata (born November 13, 1992) is a Nigerian-Canadian professional American football defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Manitoba. Early years Onyemata is a nativ ...

became the first Bison to be drafted into the NFL, being selected in the 4th round, 120th overall by the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. As of the

2021 NFL season The 2021 NFL season was the 102nd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season was the first to feature a 17-game regular season schedule as the league expanded the season from 16 games. The regular season started on September 9, ...

, he is on the Saints' active roster.David Onyemata NFL profile
/ref>

References

External links

* {{U Sports football U Sports football teams Canadian football teams in Winnipeg 1920 establishments in Manitoba Sports clubs established in 1920