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For what it's worth, I don't think I've ever created a prediction poll thread for the Vanier Cup winner so here's one. Which Canadian university will capture the Vanier Cup in 2013? While I can only choose 10 teams, I'm sure the winner will be one of these Canadian universities.

While the attendance at the extremely exciting 2011 Vanier Cup in BC Place was acceptable at 24,935, it still wasn't even close to the record setting 37,098 at Rogers Centre last year.

It's a psychological and marketing debate as to whether a student who did very well in college will achieve great success in professional life, and I'd say such a claim is not extremely strong since there are exceptions left and right. And of course college vs. professional sports is no exception with perhaps the best example in the NFL are Heisman Trophy winners - some did well in the NFL, others were draft busts.

In the CIS, it's very obvious that Laval University has become a power house with their Rouge et Or, winning 7 out of the last 14 Vanier Cups since 1999. That said, do CFL teams make a point of drafting players from Laval? From what I see, the answer is no as only in 2002 with Alexandre Gauthier and 2005 Miguel Robede were Laval players selected as the first overall pick. And it looks like there's an even weaker link as to whether that drafted Laval player will achieve success in the CFL as there's only a handful of Laval alumni currently playing for CFL teams:

Pascal Baillargeon, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Luc Brodeur-Jourdain, Montreal Alouettes
Julian Feoli-Gudino, Toronto Argonauts
Seydou Junior Haidara, BC Lions
Marc-Antoine Fortin, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Arnaud Gascon-Nadon, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Patrick Lavoie, Montreal Alouettes
Étienne Légaré, Calgary Stampeders
Christopher Milo, Saskatchewan Roughriders
Yannick Morin-Plante, Calgary Stampeders
Dominic Picard, Saskatchewan Roughriders
Michel-Pierre Pontbriand, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Frédéric Plesius, Hamilton Tiger-Cats

But none of them ever won Most Outstanding Canadian.

So all that said, I'd say the best Laval Rouge et Or alumni who has made the biggest impact in the CFL is not a player but a coach and is one who, unfortunately, gets criticized often: Jacques Chapdelaine who was the head coach for Laval when he started the university's dynasty by guiding them to their first Vanier Cup in 1999.

Perhaps you should compare this to other CIS schools. They may not all be top flight blue-chippers, but 13 nonetheless sounds to me like a lot of players among CFL rosters to be all from one CIS school; I'm not sure but it might be tops in the country or not far from it.

I went with the Mustangs. I have to admit I do not catch CIS football too often. I have watched most Vanier Cups though over the past 15 years.

I was at the 2011 Vanier Cup and as far as entertaining football, it was the best football game I saw that weekend.

Did it compare with watching my favourite professional sports team WIN a Grey Cup on home turf after starting the season 1-5? No, but football wise, it was the better game, IMO.

Even though Calgary didn't make it championship game this year, if there's any consolation their boys certainly did. Who would have thought that the University of Calgary Dinos won the Canada West & Mitchell Bowl? What's not surprising is that the Laval Rouge et Or won the Uteck Bowl yet again this year. Because of logistical issues in that Regina can't hold the Vanier Cup this year, it will be held at Laval.

My total respect to the Calgary Dinos if they can pull off the biggest upset in CIS football history by beating Laval IN Laval.

And unlike their professional Canadian counterparts, these young men might be graduating soon and will not be playing in the CIS next year and in case they can't hoist the Vanier Cup, it would be an honour to celebrate a Vanier Cup appearance with their respective semi-final trophies.

I watched one CIS playoff game and the Western Mustangs LOOKED AWESOME but they failed hard in their next game.

I voted Laval. Probably would be the better team anyways but since they have home field advantage too......

Too bad the biggest CIS Vanier Cup upset did not occur as the Laval Rouge et Or won a 7th Vanier Cup with a 25-14 win over the Calgary Dinos.
Attendance was 18,543 in 19,500 Telus Field.

Telus Field seats 12,500.

It looks the evil empire of the CIS in the form of Laval Rouge et Or has resurrected by winning the 2016 Vanier Cup, albeit a narrow win and the Calgary Dinosaurs definitely put up a good fight and scare. Laval had deficits of 14-0, 20-10, and 26-24 with less than 6 minutes to play and threw an interception. That gave Calgary an opportunity to put the nail on the coffin. Unfortunately they gave Laval the momentum back by giving up a blocked punt. That was definitely the turning point as this time Laval wasted no time in making the eventual championship winning touchdown to make it 31-26 with 2:30 remaining.

Calgary had two more possessions to make a touchdown of their own. Unfortunately the first possession resulted in a turnover on downs with three incomplete passes. After forcing Laval to turnover on downs as well, Calgary had one last chance with 1:27 remaining and managed to get to the Laval 23-yard line. But three more incomplete passes sealed the win for Laval.

I wonder of this is a prelude for the city of Calgary for tomorrow's result.

Who watched the 2017 Vanier Cup? Congratulations to the Western Mustangs in defeating and upsetting the defending champions Laval Rouge et Or with a dominating and solid 39-20 win. The game was held for the second straight year in Hamilton with a lowly attendance of 10,524.

While it was Western's 7th Vanier Cup, it was the first time since 1994.

Are any of you alumni of University of Western Ontario?

The game is not over yet, but Laval has a sizable lead over Western and it appears they will avenge last year's loss. It looks like Laval will continue their dynasty.

University of Calgary Dinos vs University of Montreal Carabins in the 2019 Vanier Cup.

Praise to the Montreal Carabins for defeating Laval in the quarterfinals so that it will be a pleasant change to see Laval not in the game for a while.

Calgary Dinos win the 2019 Vanier Cup over the the Montreal Carabins 27-13 in the 55th Vanier Cup. Low attendance of 8,376 at TELUS-Université Laval Stadium in Quebec City, which is expected since Laval didn't make it to the big game this year.

I don't think I've seen a better illustration of the difference between Canada and the US in the two countries' relative interest in football than yesterday's Vanier Cup game. Here we had 8300 fans turn up for the Canadian college National Championship game. I was going back and forth between that game and the Ohio State vs Penn State game, a non-championship (albeit important) game in US college football, for which about 100,000 fans showed up in Columbus to see it. The huge Ohio State stadium crowd was rocking, whereas the small, forlorn crowd at Laval seemed almost disinterested. It's clear that Canada is essentially a hockey country....

Glad to see the Dinos win, however.

Yes, congrats to the Dinos! A reasonably enjoyable game. Personally I was not of course nearly so invested in the outcome as a couple years ago with the UBC Thunderbirds, but good to see a western team take the cup.

About game attendance; Thankfully I've recently heard/read that both the CFL and U Sports are working on getting back in sync re scheduling, so that the Vanier Cup and the Grey Cup are in the same city, Saturday & Sunday. This was the case for a while until a handful of years ago when the CFL and CIS went their separate ways again for some reason.

It made an enormous difference in attendance. I'm sorry I don't have the figures handy (can't track down that article I was reading) but for those few years when the two big games were in sync/in the same city, the crowds swelled significantly, drawing in so many of the Grey Cup revelers already in town for the weekend. What I don't get was why that was discontinued. But the powers that be are apparently talking. Seems a no-brainer.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/usports-cance ... 7s%20rugby.
Along with the cancellation of many other U Sports, the Vanier Cup will not be held for the first time since 1965.