CFL Week 12 Preview

Article by Duncan Gray

This week we have the rematches of the three big rivalry games from Labour Day weekend. The three home teams were all successful last week, setting this week's games up nicely.

BT Sport are only showing two live games although the Toronto game is on first thing on the following morning and that's just about as good.

 

In the News This Week

 

The venues for the next two championship games have been decided. In 2016 the Grey Cup will be hosted by Toronto. The 2017 game will be played in Ottawa as part of the nation's capital's year-long celebration of Canada's 150^th birthday.

 

With the final cuts having been made to NFL pre-season rosters it's the time of year when CFL teams pick up some of the Canadian players who've been released. The first big signing has been the Eskimo's taking offensive lineman Matthew O'Donnell from Cincinatti Bengals.

 

There were more coaching changes at the Montreal Alouettes this week after the loss to BC. Offensive coordinator Turk Schonert was fired. This was the move that was expected before head coach Tom Higgins got the push last month. Former star QB but rookie coach Anthony Calvillo is obviously a favourite of Jim Popp. Along with Ryan Dinwiddie, Calvillo is now co-offensive co-ordinator and will be doing the play calling.
Another coach to lose his job this week was the Winnipeg Blue Bombers special teams co-ordinator Pat Tracey. Head Coach Mike O'Shea plans to cover those duties himself for the rest of the season.

 

 

The Roughriders first win of the season was enough to leapfrog them over the Blue Bombers at the bottom of the Nissan Titan Power Rankings. Hamilton have been given the top spot ahead of Calgary, that must have been a tricky choice.

 

1	Hamilton Tiger-Cats	Last week 2
2	Calgary Stampeders	1
3	Edmonton Eskimos	3
4	Toronto Argonauts	4
5	Ottawa REDBLACKS	5
6	BC Lions	6
7	Montreal Alouettes	7
8	Saskatchewan Roughriders	9
9	Winnipeg Blue Bombers	8

 

 

 

This week's TV Schedule   Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Toronto Argonauts – recorded Saturday morning September 12, 07:30 hrs – BT Sport ESPN Saskatchewan Roughriders at Winnipeg Blue Bombers - LIVE Saturday night, September 12, 23:30 hrs – BT Sport 1 repeat: Tuesday morning 06:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Ottawa Redblacks at BC Lions - LIVE Sunday evening September 13, 21:00 hrs – BT Sport 2 repeat: Thursday morning 06:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Calgary Stampeders at Edmonton Eskimos – recorded Wednesday morning September 16, 0630 hrs – BT Sport ESPN repeat: Wednesday evening 19:30 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN

 

Game of the Week

Even though it's being played between the worst two teams in the league we'll go with the Banjo Bowl as this week's choice. The Prairie rivalry between Saskatchewan Roughriders (1 & 9 ) and Winnipeg Blue Bombers ( 3 & 7 ) is as fierce as any and this game is the most established of the post Labour Day rematches.

The game got the “Banjo Bowl“ title in 2004 after the Blue Bombers kicker Troy Westwood stirred things up by describing the people of Regina as "a bunch of banjo-pickin' inbreds". Later he didn't really apologise, saying “the vast majority of the people in Saskatchewan have no idea how to play the banjo”.

The Riders  were clearly the better team last week, they won easily on the surge of confidence that comes from a change of head coach. But that one win hasn't proved much. The return game, in front of the Winnipeg fans rather than their own, may well be a different matter. History tells us that this series usually ends up tied.
On the other hand, the Blue Bombers need to improve dramatically. If they lose this then they'll only be one game ahead of Saskatchewan. In the continuing absence of their no.1 quarterback Drew Willy, newly signed Matt Nichols is expected to start behind centre. Even on little more than a week's preparation Nichols ought to be an improvement on Brian Brohm.

The result might be decided by which team manages to cut down on the number of penalties they give away. Both were bad last week, the Riders in particular had two touchdowns called back. In the atmosphere of the Banjo Bowl though, restraint won't be easy.

 

The other games

Looking at the standings it appears that four teams, the four whose games are further down this page, should qualify for the play-offs. The two mentioned up the page don't look likely to make it so that leaves three teams chasing the last two places. Ottawa Redblacks ( 5 & 4 ) are visiting BC Lions ( 4 & 5 ) on Sunday. The Redblacks beat BC 27-16 with a big last quarter comeback earlier in the season and they hammered the Roughriders on their last outing. However four of their five wins have been at home. They don't travel well and Vancouver's as far from home as they can get.

The Lions levelled their series with the Alouettes, the third team in this race, on the road last weekend in Montreal. That was a fine result considering quarterback Travis Lulay came out of the game in the first quarter. Their home form hasn't been great though and John Beck will be playing in place of Lulay again. Their star running back Andrew Harris has been kept quiet by big defences recently, BC need him to step up now.

 

Calgary Stampeders ( 8 & 2 ) are on a huge run of form. They've won five straight and last weekend's result has given them a two game lead in the West Division. Edmonton Eskimos ( 6 & 4 ) need to take advantage of their home field to stay in touch. The omens aren't good, Calgary have won the last 12 meetings between these two and their last nine straight games at Commonwealth Stadium.  The Eskimos have been bringing in players to strengthen the O line this week and the reappearance of Mike Reilly at quarterback late in the game brought a bit of confidence. There's been no news out of Calgary except that it will be another week before Jon Cornish is ready to return. With both defences playing so strongly expect this one to be close again.

 

The other return rivalry game features the top two in the East Division. Hamilton Tiger-Cats ( 7 & 3 ) completely overran the Toronto Argonauts (6 & 4 ) on Labour day. This is very much a local derby so expect masses of Ticats fans to travel to the Rogers Centre on Friday night and heap more pressure on the home team. The short preparation period between the games won't help the Argos either. They'll need to improve in just about every aspect of the game.