• Both teams come into the weekend at 2-1 after taking on ranked teams at home last Friday. The Rams are coming off a 19-17 win over No. 6 UBC, while Saskatchewan lost 37-28 to No. 3 Calgary.

• Noah Picton is now the second leading passer in U SPORTS history with 10,931 yards. He's now just 546 yards shy of former Sherbrooke quarterback Jérémi Roch, who holds the career record with 11,477 yards.

• The winner of Friday's game will move into second place in the Canada West standings at the halfway point of the conference schedule.

PICTON CLOSING IN ON PASSING RECORD: QB Noah Picton jumped from fourth to second on the U SPORTS passing yards list last week and now needs just 546 to tie former Sherbrooke quarterback Jérémi Roch for the all-time lead. He's also third all-time in career completions with 794, trailing only second-place Matt Connell (816) and Roch (866). As well, he's seventh in U SPORTS history and second in Canada West and school history with 69 career touchdown passes. Teale Orban had 76 during his Rams career, which spanned from 2004 to 2008.

DEFENCE CONTINUES TO ROLL: Steve Bryce called the defence the "heartbeat of the team so far" after the UBC win, and a quick look at the numbers shows why. After allowing a meagre 40 rushing yards in the Alberta win, the Rams limited UBC to just 37 last week. The Rams enjoyed a 583-244 advantage in yards of total offence against the Golden Bears and also had a 466-327 edge over UBC last Friday. The defence currently leads the league in fewest rushing yards allowed (88.3 per game) and fewest yards allowed (433 per game), and ranks second in Canada West in fewest points allowed (26.3 per game) and sacks (8).

INJURY WARD: RB Atlee Simon missed the UBC win after suffering an upper-body injury in the Alberta game. He's considered doubtful for Friday and RB Kyle Borsa is expected to start against the Huskies. DL Ryan Warner was off to a scintillating start for the Rams and ranks among the league leaders in sacks and tackles for loss, but was injured on Friday and will be out for Friday. DL Eric Wicijowski will move over to defensive end in place of Warner, DL Grey McKen will start at rush end, and redshirt freshman DL Austin Lund will dress for his first career game to give the Rams their usual six defensive linemen.

SCHIENBEIN MOVING UP: SB Ryan Schienbein, second in Canada West in both receptions (24) and touchdown catches (4) and fourth in receiving yards (301), is making his move up the U of R record book. He's eighth in the school record book in career receptions (121) and needs 11 to surpass Brenden Owens for seventh. Schienbein is seventh in touchdown receptions (15) with Owens (16), Chris Bauman (16), and Michael Thomas (17) in reach. And with 1605 career receiving yards, he only needs 59 more to overtake Addison Richards to move into the top ten in that category as well. Ninth-place Bauman (1705) and eighth-place Thomas (1759) are also in Schienbein's crosshairs.

RAMS SIGN FOUR TO LOI: We're only one game into the 2018 season, but the Rams have also added four new recruits for the 2019 campaign. Three of them signed their U SPORTS Letter of Intent on Saturday, the first day Grade 12 student-athletes could officially commit. The Rams welcomed DB Jaxon Fuchs (Michael A. Riffel HS), OL Colby Joyes (Clavet School), and DL Payton O'Connor (Riffel) on Saturday, then got a commitment from LB Hunter Morgan (Central Collegiate) on Sunday.

RAMS IN THE PROS: The Rams currently have six players on active professional rosters, including two in the NFL – Akiem Hicks (Chicago) and Brett Jones (Minnesota). Four U of R alumni are in the CFL, including Tevaughn Campbell (Montreal), Jorgen Hus (Saskatchewan), Brendon LaBatte (Saskatchewan), and Richard Sindani (Calgary). Mitchell Picton is on Saskatchewan's practice roster.