This weekend, the Vanier Cup provided a sobering experience for new Ravens football fans.
There hasn’t been a lack of positive coverage in the Charlatan and elsewhere on the reborn Ravens football program in the past year.
The team hired two-time Vanier Cup winner and 2006 Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) coach of the year award winner Steve Sumarah as head coach. It got two top-tier quarterbacks, Jesse Mills and Nick Gorgichuck. Ravens fans must have been smirking when it scooped up some of the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees’ top brass, including their head coach. Then, in the week prior to the Vanier Cup, Nate Behar — one of the top wide receiver prospects in the country – committed to Carleton.
Surprisingly, talent flocked to a program with no recent history of winning and no guarantee of success for players that are used to it. For that, the coaches, coordinators, and front office should be commended.
However, on Nov. 23, Laval and McMaster took to the field in front of more than 35,000 people to display the best that CIS football has to offer. This should serve as a reminder that fans need to manage their expectations.
We need to realize that Carleton, in all likelihood, isn’t going to win it all. Instead, we should aim smaller. At the beginning of this year, Sumarah said his goal was to beat the Gee-Gees in the annual Panda Game. This is a realistic and achievable goal that would legitimize the program’s efforts and provide enough fan support to allow for both the growth of the program and the team’s chemistry on the field.
Expecting the team to do more is setting them up for failure. We need to be realistic, even when considering the most exciting sporting event Carleton has had in decades.
