GUELPH, ON - Fresh off of an impressive 41-22 victory over Toronto in their season opener, the No. 6-ranked Gryphons (1-0) now hit the road for a Labour Day matchup with the Windsor Lancers (0-1) on Monday. Kickoff is set for 1pm at Windsor's Alumni Field.

At first glance, this appears to be an uneven matchup.

The defending Yates Cup champion Gryphons looked sharp in Week 1.

The Windsor Lancers did not.

Windsor was thumped 78-6 by the Western Mustangs in London last Sunday and have lost each of their last five head-to-head matchups with the Gryphons. However, when taking a closer look at these two teams, Monday's matchup may not be as one-sided as the Week 1 results suggest. Last season, no team scored as many points on the Gryphons as the Windsor Lancers. Not Western. Not McMaster. Not even the Montreal Carabins. When the Lancers came to Guelph last October, they turned some heads by putting up 27 points on the Gryphons, the most allowed by U of G all season. The Gryphons still managed to win that game, 41-27, but it was Windsor that came out firing that day. The Lancers, who missed out on the playoffs last season after going 2-6, started that game with running back Tarrence Crawford rumbling 91-yards on the first offensive play of the game. The Lancers racked up 321 rushing yards that afternoon against a Guelph defence that, coming into the game, was ranked second in the country against the run, allowing just 88.3 yards rushing per game.

In 2016, the Gryphons will once again have to contend with Windsor's talented running back, Tarrence Crawford. The 6-1, 220 pound senior returns for his final season with the Lancers and finished with 162 all-purpose yards (55 rushing, 35 receiving, 72 kickoff return) in his team's opening week loss to the Mustangs. Although the Lancers failed to find the endzone last week against Western, they were able to total over 300 yards of offence while converting 23 first downs.

While Windsor was able to have some success running the ball the last time they played Guelph, moving the ball through the air against the Gryphon defence proved to be a near impossible task. The Gryphons held Windsor to just 58 yards passing in last season's matchup and recorded three interceptions on the day. Windsor used a pair of quarterbacks in their Week 1 matchup versus Western, with fourth year man Casey Wright getting the start and rookie Jalen Brady coming in in relief. The two combined to go 26 of 42 for 255 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT with Brady being sacked three times.

If there is one thing the Lancers will be looking to learn from following last year's loss to Guelph, it is that punting the ball out of bounds may be the better option than kicking it to #19 on the Gryphons. In last season's meeting, Ryan Nieuwesteeg torched the Lancers on special teams, setting career-highs with 12 punt returns for 242 yards and a touchdown. By Nieuwesteeg's standards, his 2016 season got off to a modest start with 8 punt returns for 66 yards.

Offensively, the keyword for the Gryphons in Week 1 was balance. Quarterback James Roberts spread the ball around to seven different recievers while four different running backs chipped in with significant contributions en route to a team total of 303 yards rushing. The Gryphons scored 36 of their 41 points in the first half of last week's game versus the Varsity Blues, and finished the day with 563 yards of total offence.

Following Monday's game with Windsor, the Gryphons will return home to host the Queen's Gaels (0-1) on Saturday, September 10.