On paper, the Rouge et Or should have no trouble at all beating the Vert et Or for the Dunsmore Cup.

But Andre Bolduc, head coach of the University of Sherbooke Vert et Or, isn't about to mail the Quebec university football conference title to the heavily favoured Laval Rouge et Or.

The No. 1 and No. 10-ranked teams in Canadian Interuniversity Sport meet Saturday at Laval's home field in Quebec City, which will also be the venue for the Vanier Cup final Nov. 27.

"To read the papers, it isn't even worth it to play the game," Bolduc said this week. "But the tight group we have believe in themselves.

"They're willing to go there and pay the price to knock them down."

Other conference finals Saturday have Western at Ottawa in Ontario, Alberta at Calgary in Canada West and Acadia at St. Mary's in Atlantic Canada.

Laval went 9-0 this season, scoring 411 points and allowing only 58, and are considered a virtual shoo-in for an eighth consecutive Dunsmore Cup. They have won a CIS-record 41 consecutive home games.

They beat the Vert et Or twice early in the season -- 36-6 at Sherbooke on Sept. 11 and 23-7 at Laval on Sept. 26. But Bolduc said the second loss was not as bad as the score would indicate.

"We had a touchdown called back, we had a punt blocked, and we got to their five and then took 25 yards in penalties," said Bolduc, a former Montreal Alouettes special teams captain. "Those are great examples of what not to do against Laval.

"If you make mistakes, they'll make you pay. But I really think the pressure is on them if we can keep it tight. Their crowd cheers for them, but they want them to be in the Vanier Cup and if there's a chance of that not happening, maybe they won't be happy."

Sherbrooke finished third in the conference but ousted the second-place University of Montreal 33-26 to reach the conference final, while Laval swamped Bishop's 56-1.

The Vert et Or's main weapon is third-year receiver Simon Charbonneau Campeau, who was named most valuable player in the conference this week and Sherbrooke's first candidate for the Hec Crighton Trophy as the top university player in Canada.

Charbonneau Campeau led the CIS with a Quebec-record 1,121 receiving yards.

"He's a great example of what we're trying to do here -- get young players and develop them," said Bolduc. "He practises hard every day. He stays after practice to work with the quarterbacks. And he's big -- six foot four."

Beside their standout quarterback Bruno Prud'homme, Laval responds with defensive player of the year Frederick Plesius and lineman of the year Arnaud Gascon-Nadon.

And for a third year in a row, Glen Constantin has been named coach of the year.

Constantin has coached four of Laval's five Vanier Cup teams, including their last one in 2008, but he has not forgotten his team's 33-30 loss to Queen's in the national semifinals a year ago. And he's not taking Sherbrooke lightly.

"They're a good, balanced team," he said this week.

No. 2 Western at No. 4 Ottawa -- The Yates Cup final at Frank Clair Stadium should be close as both teams survived scares just to get to the Ontario championship. Ottawa edged Laurier 32-31 on a late field goal by Matthew Falvo, while Western scored 21 unanswered points to top No. 6 McMaster 32-28. The Gee Gees are led by the OUA Hec Crighton candidate, quarterback Brad Sinopoli. A plus for the Gee Gees is that they handed Western its only loss this season -- 20-19 in Ottawa. The same two teams met in the 2008 Yates Cup, with Western winning 31-17.

Unranked Alberta at No. 5 Calgary -- The Cinderella team of the season is the 4-5 Alberta Golden Bears. Trailing 30-3 in the third quarter, the Bears pulled off a 28-point comeback on four TD drives led by quarterback Julian Marchand to upset No. 3 Saskatchewan in the semifinals last week. Now they'll try to do it again for their first Hardy Cup since 1981. Calgary beat Alberta twice this season, including 37-5 two weeks ago. The Dinos, who are seeking a third straight conference title, beat No. 8 Regina last week on 380 passing yards from Erik Glavic and 162 on the ground from Matt Walker.

Unranked Acadia at No. 9 Saint Mary's -- The Huskies and their quarterback Micah Brown defeated the Axemen 21-0 in their final regular-season game to win a bye to the Atlantic final. That put Acadia into the semifinals last week, where they scored a touchdown and a two-point convert in the fourth round of overtime to defeat Mount Allison 22-14.