# 58th Vanier Cup

The 2023 Vanier Cup, the 58th edition of the U Sports Football Championship, took place on November 25, 2023 at Richardson Memorial Stadium in Kingston, Ontario. The game determined the U Sports football national champion for the 2023 season.
The Montreal Carabins defeated the UBC Thunderbirds by a score of 16–9 to win the second Vanier Cup championship in program history.

## Host

This was the first time that Kingston hosted the Vanier Cup since its inception in 1965. However, it was the third time that the school had hosted the university final, with the others taking place in 1920 and 1929.

## Background
### Semi-final games

It was announced that according to the rotating schedule, the Québec conference Dunsmore Cup championship team would host the Yates Cup Ontario championship team for the Uteck Bowl. The winners of the Canada West Hardy Trophy would host the Atlantic conference's Loney Bowl championship team for the Mitchell Bowl. These games were scheduled to be played on November 18, 2023.
In the first semifinal, UBC defeated St. Francis Xavier 47–17. In the second semifinals, Montreal defeated Western 29–3. This was UBC's first finals since 2015, and Montreal's first since 2019, when they lost against Calgary.

#### Bracket

| November 18th Semi-finals | November 18th Semi-finals | November 25th Final | November 25th Final |
| Uteck Bowl – Montreal, QC | Uteck Bowl – Montreal, QC |
| Montreal | 29 |
| Montreal | 29 | Vanier Cup – Kingston, ON | Vanier Cup – Kingston, ON |
| Western | 3 | Vanier Cup – Kingston, ON | Vanier Cup – Kingston, ON |
| Western | 3 | Montreal | 16 |
| Mitchell Bowl – Vancouver, BC | Mitchell Bowl – Vancouver, BC | | Montreal | 16 |
| Mitchell Bowl – Vancouver, BC | Mitchell Bowl – Vancouver, BC | UBC | 9 |
| UBC | 47 | UBC | 9 |
| St. Francis Xavier | 17 | | |

## Teams

The championship game matched UBC from the Canada West Conference and Montreal from the RSEQ Conference. The programs previously met for the 51st Vanier Cup, when UBC captured their fourth national championship.

## Statistics

Team statistical comparison :
| Statistics | Montreal | UBC |
| First downs | 17 | 18 |
| First downs rushing | 10 | 6 |
| First downs passing | 7 | 12 |
| First downs penalty | 0 | 0 |
| Third down efficiency | 2–2 | 4–8 |
| Fourth down efficiency | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 20–163 | 21–84 |
| Yards per rush | 8.2 | 4.0 |
| Yards passing | 170 | 279 |
| Pass completions–attempts | 16–26 | 26–40 |
| Interceptions thrown | 1 | 0 |
| Punt returns–total yards | 9–348 | 4–111 |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 3–155 | 1–50 |
| Possession time | 27:43 | 32:17 |
Montreal statistics :
| Carabins passing ||||
| Name | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| Jonathan Senecal | 16–17 | 170 | 0–1 |
| Carabins rushing ||||
| Name | Car | Yds | TD |
| Jonathan Senecal | 6 | 53 | 1 |
| Globi Halafu | 5 | 47 | 0 |
| Iraghi Muganda | 2 | 24 | 1 |
| Lucas Bertet-Dembele | 3 | 18 | 0 |
| Carl Chabot | 3 | 18 | 0 |
| Redval Keita | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Carabins receiving ||||
| Name | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Iraghi Muganda | 4 | 68 | 0 |
| Carl Chabot | 4 | 41 | 0 |
| William Legault | 2 | 29 | 0 |
| Brandon Gourdon | 2 | 16 | 0 |
| Lucas Bertet-Dembele | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| D. Alexandre | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Simon Riopel | 1 | 3 | 0 |
UBC statistics :
| Thunderbirds passing ||||
| Name | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| Garrett Rooker | 26–40 | 279 | 0–0 |
| Thunderbirds rushing ||||
| Name | Car | Yds | TD |
| Isaiah Knight | 15 | 74 | 0 |
| Dane Kapler | 5 | 14 | 0 |
| Iraghi Muganda | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Thunderbirds receiving ||||
| Name | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Sam Davenport | 5 | 66 | 0 |
| Dane Kapler | 5 | 64 | 0 |
| Lucas Robertson | 5 | 34 | 0 |
| Jason Soriano | 1 | 30 | 0 |
| Ryan Baker | 1 | 25 | 0 |
| Isaiah Knight | 2 | 23 | 0 |
| Cesare Rednour-Bruc | 2 | 18 | 0 |
| Shemar McBean | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Eric Williams-Her | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Gavin Owen | 1 | 6 | 0 |