The York University Lions football team returns to the gridiron on Friday night (Oct. 7) with a road game against the No. 9 nationally-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees at Gee-Gees Field.
 
Kick-off is set for 7pm and the game can also be seen live online on OUA.tv.
 
The Lions have been off since Sept. 24 after their bye week last week and will look to use that extra rest to knock off a talented Gee-Gees squad that is coming off its first loss of the season to cross-town rival Carleton. The Lions were also defeated by the Ravens in their most recent outing, at home by a score of 50-7.
 
The Lions are 2-3 on the year and are in the hunt for their first road win. They were taken down by Laurier and Toronto in each of their first two contests away from Alumni Field, and earned their two victories at home over Waterloo and Windsor.
 
Their strength this year has been their offence and it will have to be clicking on all cylinders against a tough Ottawa defence that leads the OUA in fewest yards allowed per game, with only 342.2. The contest has the potential to be a high-scoring one as both squads are in the conference's top half in points per game and yards per game. The Lions rank sixth (28.2) and fifth (474.4) respectively, while the Gee-Gees are third in points per game (38.3) and second in yards per game (545.6).
 
The offences are led by quarterbacks who rank first and second in the OUA in passing yards per game. Ottawa's Derek Wendel leads the conference and is third in the CIS with 371.4 per game, while York's Brett Hunchak (Calgary) is right behind him with an average of 290.8.
 
The two squads also feature two of the best receivers in the OUA in Ottawa's Mitchell Baines and York's Colton Hunchak (Calgary), who are first and third in receiving yards per game with 111 and 95.4, respectively.
 
The Gee-Gees had their bye in Week 1 and then proceeded to start the year with four straight victories, including upset wins over nationally-ranked McMaster and the defending Yates Cup champion Guelph Gryphons. Their winning streak was snapped last week in the annual Panda Game, however, with a 43-23 loss to the Ravens.
 
York and Ottawa did not face off last year and the Gee-Gees won the two previous meetings before that. The Lions' last win came in 2012, a 47-36 result on home turf.
 
After Friday's contest, the Lions will return to Alumni Field for their regular season home finale on Saturday, Oct. 15 against the No. 8 McMaster Marauders beginning at 1pm.