The 50^th edition of the Red & Blue Bowl is on Friday night when the York University Lions football team welcomes the University of Toronto Varsity Blues for the annual battle for bragging rights in the City of Toronto.
 
The two teams will meet under the lights at Alumni Field, with festivities set to begin at 7pm and the Lions' 13 graduating players will be honoured before kick-off. Fans can also watch live online on OUA.tv.
 
The Lions are looking to win their third straight Argo Cup after a pair of lopsided wins in the last two meetings. The most recent match-up at Alumni Field resulted in a 41-16 triumph for the Lions two years ago, and last season the Lions rolled into Varsity Centre for the season finale and defeated the Blues 31-15. Before that the Varsity Blues won four straight and hold the overall head-to-head advantage 31-18.
 
The season has not gone the way the Lions would have hoped and they are still looking for their first victory of the year. They've played some close contests and held second-half leads against both the Laurier Golden Hawks and McMaster Marauders in previous home games but could not stay ahead down the stretch. The Lions were on the road two weeks ago, falling to the Waterloo Warriors by a score of 57-19, and are coming off their bye week.
 
The home team will get a boost from the return of fifth-year starting quarterback Brett Hunchak, who left the Week 4 game against the Marauders with an injury and has yet to play since. He is the program's all-time passing leader and will get to start the final home game of his career on Friday night.
 
His counterpart on the other side of the field, Clay Sequeira, is having a monster season for the Varsity Blues and currently leads the OUA with 358.2 passing yards per game and 20 touchdowns. He has been instrumental in helping his team to a 2-4 record after a winless season one year ago.
 
Overall, the Blues have had a solid season thus far with a number of thrilling games. In addition to their two victories, by scores of 54-26 and 38-34 over the Windsor Lancers and Golden Hawks, respectively, they lost by just three points to the Warriors and by four to the Queen's Gaels earlier this year. The last time they posted two wins in a season was 2016, and they had three the year before that.
 
Just one game remains for both teams after the Red & Blue Bowl as the OUA regular season winds down. The Lions will head to Kingston, Ont., next Saturday to face the Gaels while the Blues will return home to host the Guelph Gryphons that same day.