{"id":874265,"date":"2026-08-28T07:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/874265\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T07:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T07:16:16","slug":"defending-vanier-cup-champion-montreal-carabins-top-u-sports-preseason-top-10-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/874265\/","title":{"rendered":"Defending Vanier Cup champion Montreal Carabins top U Sports preseason top 10 rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Vanier\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto courtesy: Piper Sports Photography\/U Sports<\/p>\n

The Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al Carabins will begin the 2026 season atop the U Sports top 10 rankings, as they look to defend their Vanier Cup title.<\/a><\/p>\n

Led by first-year quarterback Pepe Gonzalez<\/a>, Montr\u00e9al defeated the University of Saskatchewan 30-16 last November to win their third-ever national championship<\/a>. As a result, the Carabins received all seven first-place votes in the media poll to begin this year and also lead the Elo ratings, giving them the maximum 140 ranking points.<\/p>\n

The RSEQ dominates the top of the table, as arch-rivals Universit\u00e9 Laval sit just one spot back at No. 2 with 107 points. Saskatchewan is the top Canada West team at No. 3, Wilfrid Laurier University leads the OUA in the No. 4 slot, while Saint Mary\u2019s University is the top AUS program at No. 8.<\/p>\n

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The football rankings combine the media poll and the Elo ranking, with each component accounting for 50 percent of the total. The Elo model adjusts a team\u2019s rating after each game based on the result, the strength of the opponent and the expected outcome. An upset win produces a larger gain than a victory over a lower-rated opponent, while an unexpected loss results in a larger decline.<\/p>\n

The full rankings can be read below. OUA teams will begin their regular season on Friday, August 28, while the three other conferences will take to the field for the first time on Friday, September 4.<\/p>\n

U Sports Top 10 Rankings<\/p>\n

1. Montreal Carabins \u2014 140 points (70 media\/70 ELO)<\/p>\n

2. Laval Rouge et Or \u2014 107 points (51 media\/56 ELO)<\/p>\n

3. Saskatchewan Huskies \u2014 106 points (57 media\/49 ELO)<\/p>\n

4. Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks \u2014 102 points (39 media\/63 ELO)<\/p>\n

5. Queen\u2019s Gaels \u2014 86 points (51 media\/36 ELO)<\/p>\n

6. Western Mustangs \u2014 78 points (36 media\/42 ELO)<\/p>\n

7. Regina Rams \u2014 46 points (25 media\/21 ELO)<\/p>\n

8. Saint Mary\u2019s Huskies \u2014 43 points (15 media\/43 ELO)<\/p>\n

9. Windsor Lancers \u2014 21 points (7 media\/14 ELO)<\/p>\n

10. St. Francis Xavier X-Men \u2014 8 points (1 media\/7 ELO)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Piper Sports Photography\/U Sports The Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al Carabins will begin the 2026 season atop the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[166835,166836,182541,49,48,71164,7028,185866,520,527,168666,10878,168670,168671,12694,2002,2338,6398,55638,235574,13279,10599,168680,226182,173381,24373,168681,50407,168682,38058,33175,21785],"class_list":["post-874265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-aus","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-west","tag-canadian","tag-carabins","tag-cfl","tag-football","tag-golden-hawks","tag-huskies","tag-lancers","tag-laurier","tag-laval","tag-league","tag-montreal","tag-mustangs","tag-oua","tag-queens-gaels","tag-rams","tag-regina","tag-rouge-et-or","tag-rseq","tag-saint-marys","tag-saskatchewan","tag-st-fx","tag-top-10","tag-u-sports","tag-western","tag-windsor","tag-x-men"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}