EDMONTON -- For the second time in the 2024 Canada West football season, the No. 9 nationally ranked Manitoba Bisons came out on top on the final play against Alberta. This time, a successful two-point convert in overtime gave Manitoba a come-from-behind 38-37 win on the road at Foote Field, a month after denying the Golden Bears on the same attempt during a 24-23 homecoming victory.

Manitoba trailed by 26 points with less than five minutes to go in the third quarter, scoring 26 unanswered in 15:48 to take the game to OT tied at 30. A Carter Kettyle touchdown reception, one of four passing majors thrown by Golden Bears pivot Cade Labrecque, gave the hosts a seven-point lead, but Manitoba responded.

As they'd done all game, the Herd commanded the line of scrimmage, allowing quarterback Jackson Tachinski and running back Breydon Stubbs to chunk up yards quickly. Beginning at Alberta's 35, Manitoba ran five straight running plays, including a 15-yard dash to the one yard line from Tachinski, allowing Stubbs to crack into the end zone for his Canada West-leading tenth rushing score of the season.

Instead of going for the tie, 29-year veteran head coach Brian Dobie went for the win. With the game on the line, Tachinski threw up a dart to fifth-year veteran AK Gassama, who beat his man in single coverage and made the play in the corner of the end zone from five yards out.

"We knew we were playing three down football. We had to score and got aggressive quick," said Tachinski.

"We ran the ball pretty much down them, because we knew they were worn out, and Stubbs punched it in to close out the drive. The o-line was punishing people and we were out looking for the kill. AK made an amazing play on the convert, and the rest is history."

The comeback win was the largest in school history against Alberta, and improves Manitoba's record to 6-1, guaranteeing the team a home playoff date at the start of November.

Their home game this Saturday at 2 pm against 5-2 UBC will decide who earns home field advantage throughout the playoffs. A Manitoba win, or UBC win by 22 or less, gives that honour to the Bisons, something they haven't had the right to do since winning the Vanier Cup in 2007.

It's the second time in three seasons as starting quarterback that Tachinski has helped lead his team to a home playoff date, after going 4-2 in 2021. He now has 14 wins as starting quarterback for the program, and is 7-3 in one-score games in his career.

"We just stuck to the script and we all stayed calm, and knew we were going to make a comeback for a shot to win," added Tachinski, who rushed for a career-high 146 yards to lead all players, while throwing for 267 with a score.

"We just made the plays we had to. I've played in a lot of tight games with comebacks, so I love the moment and I've got plenty of experience in that department, and that helps keep belief."

Tachinski's 146 yards were supplemented by 127 on the ground from fourth-year running back Breydon Stubbs. He now has 1852 career regular season rushing yards, while his 18 rushing scores are the fourth most in school history.

It's the fourth time this year Stubbs has gone over 100 yards, a career high, while Manitoba's starting offensive line of Sean Rowe (left tackle), Giordano Vaccaro (left guard), Mark Rauhaus (centre), Matt Stokman (right guard) and Victor Olaniran (right tackle) paved the way for 352 yards on the day, the sixth-most rushing yards Manitoba's put up in a game in program history. It's the eighth time this group of five has helped Manitoba rush for over 200 yards in a game, and the second time going over 300.

Interestingly, four of their six most successful games on the ground have come against the U of A, including a school record of 470 in 1995. 

The Golden Bears had a ton of success for three quarters containing Tachinski. Defensive coordinator A.J Gass often deployed a "spy" to mark Tachinski whenever he tried to roll out of the pocket. In essence, Alberta was trying to force Tachinski to beat them with his arm, instead of with his legs, something he'd done many times in the past to the tune of 512 rushing yards this season, and 17 career rushing scores.

The Golden Bears sacked Tachinski three times, and forced two interceptions, one of which was particularly costly. Down 15-3 with 5:30 to go in the first half, Owen Miller recovered a fumble, and Manitoba quickly moved to midfield on multiple chunk plays from Gassama. Tachinski looked for Gassama against from the Alberta 31, but his pass was intercepted by Romeo Nash. Alberta drove the field for a major on the following possesion, entering the break up 22-4.

An early Carter Kettyle major in the third gave the hosts a 26-point lead that seemed insurmountable, but not for a veteran Bisons side.

Just three weeks prior, Manitoba came back from nine points down in the fourth on the road against Calgary, and they did so by running the football, their bread and butter all year.

Down by five with 4:16 to play, the Herd ran the ball six straight times against the Dinos, amassing 36 yards for the game-winning score. In their thrilling second half comeback this week, they adopted the same philosophy.

On countless drives in the fourth, Tachinski and Stubbs gashed up yards. Tachinski took multiple quarterback keepers deep into Alberta territory, with centre Mark Rauhaus serving as the lead blocker on a variety of occasions.

A two-yard major from Stubbs, and a 14-yard rushing score from Tachinski highlighted the Herd's commitment to the ground game in the fourth quarter. In the latter, Vaccaro pushed his player five yards back, allowing Tachinski an enormous lane on second and short from under centre. The 6'4", 215-pound pivot -- did the rest, out-muscling multiple defenders on the way to the end zone.

Maya Turner added the game-tying field goal from 23 yards out, one of two on the day, while Gassama got the comeback started with a late third quarter major.

"[Alberta] forced me to make plays with my arm, they dropped deep a lot and forced me into check-downs," acknowledged Tachinski.

"Once I got my arm into the game and we started to move the ball passing, the flood gates opened and that opened up a lot for our offence. Specifically late in the third and fourth, I think we wore down the other team. They started to get a lot of injuries, and we were just the tougher team today."