Walter Tychnowicz/CFL.ca
TORONTO — We’ve reached the midway point of the season and that means the Mark’s Labour Day Weekend is here.
It all starts on Wednesday night when the BC Lions head to Toronto to take on the Argonauts. Ricky Ray will make his return for the Boatmen and just in the nick of time. The Argos have lost their last two contests with rookie Logan Kilgore under centre and are trying to hold off the Tiger-Cats and Alouettes in the East Division. The Lions are coming off their 29-23 victory over the Ottawa REDBLACKS and will be hungry for more, trying to gain ground on the Stampeders in the West.
Next is a Thursday night matchup between the Ottawa REDBLACKS and the Montreal Alouettes. Ottawa will need to turn things around – and fast – with both the Tiger-Cats and Argonauts chasing them down for the top spot in the East. Trevor Harris will be looking for his first win since returning from injury last week. Montreal will have to rely on a different receiver on Thursday night with Kevin Glenn’s favorite target Duron Carter out of the lineup serving his one game suspension.
The action then moves to Saskatchewan on Sunday where the Blue Bombers and the Roughriders square-off. The Blue Bombers have yet to lose a game since swapping out Drew Willy for Matt Nichols and have become a legitimate contender in the West Division. The Riders are hoping to snap Winnipeg’s four game winning streak and in turn grab their second win of the season.
Finally, we end Labour Day Weekend with a Monday CFL doubleheader.
It all starts in Calgary, where the league’s best quarterbacks clash for Monday matinee. Calgary holds the league’s best record at 7-1-1 and is riding a six game winning streak. But, if any team in the league can snap that streak, it’s Edmonton. Led by Mike Reilly, Adarius Bowman, Derel Walker, and more recently Shakir Bell, the Esks offence is as dangerous as it gets.
And last, but not least, the Argos head down the road to Hamilton to take on their rival Tiger-Cats on Monday night. Toronto will have the tough task of playing two games in one week, with just four days of rest in between. Zach Collaros’ Tiger-Cats are coming off a penalty-filled loss last week against the Stampeders, but if they can stay disciplined they will have a good chance of taking advantage of a tired Argonuats club. The battle for the top spot in the East is wide open with just one point separating the first place REDBLACKS from Toronto and Hamiton.
BUY WEEK 10 TICKETS
» Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. ET: BC at Toronto
» Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET: Ottawa at Montreal
» Sunday, 3:00 p.m. ET: Winnipeg at Saskatchewan
» Monday, 3:00 p.m. ET: Edmonton at Calgary
» Monday, 6:30 p.m. ET: Toronto at Hamilton
THIS WEEK IN THE CFL
Ottawa at Montreal
History lesson: Ottawa and Montreal have played 14-times on Labour Day Week dating back to 1946. The game on Thursday will be the rubber match as each club has seven wins each. This will be the first game in 11 years that the Ottawa and Montreal clubs meet during Labour Day Week. The last time they met was in 2005 with Montreal winning at home 41-18. Montreal has won the last two times they have played on Labour Day Weekend.
Beasts in the East: A Montreal victory would mean that all East Division teams would have four victories this season.
Four teams for Glenn: Kevin Glenn owns a record of 5-5 as a Labour Day Classic starting quarterback with four different teams (Saskatchewan 0-1, Winnipeg 1-4, Hamilton 2-0 and Calgary 2-0)
300+, 300+, 300+, 300+: Trevor Harris threw for 352 yards and a touchdown in his return to the starting lineup versus BC last week. That marked his fourth 300+ passing game this season.
Up and down: Greg Ellingson’s last three weeks: In Week 7 he recorded 121 receiving yards, Week 9 he didn’t register a reception and then followed that game with a 142 receiving yards performance.
Streaking Jackson: Ernest Jackson enters the game riding a four-game touchdown streak. He has a total of five this season.
1000 yards: Ottawa has four receivers on pace for 1,000 yards (Chris Williams 900 yards, Greg Ellingson 750 yards, Brad Sinopoli 588 yards and Ernest Jackson 517 yards).
Home field disadvantage: This will be the third meeting of the season between both clubs. In Week 2 Ottawa won in Montreal 28-13 and in Week 9 Montreal won in Ottawa 43-19.
Winnipeg at Saskatchewan
History lesson: This will be the 52nd time the Riders have hosted the Bombers on Labour Day Weekend dating back to 1949. One game was hosted in Winnipeg in 1952. During that span, Saskatchewan owns the edge going 34-18 (.654 winning percentage). Since 2000, Saskatchewan has a 13-3 (.813 winning percentage) record on Labour Day versus Winnipeg, including a current 11-game winning streak where the Riders average margin of victory has been 18.3 points. Last time the Bombers won on Labour Day in Regina was September 5, 2004 when Kevin Glenn led the Bombers to a 17-4 victory.
All he does is win: Riders quarterback, Darian Durant enters his seventh start in the Labour Day tilt and owns a remarkable 6-0 record.
All they do is win?: The Bombers are looking to win their 5th consecutive game for the first time since August 2011 when they got off to a 7-1 start. That’s the same year they went on to the Grey Cup game.
A dozen Nichols: Matt Nichols will make his 12th start for Winnipeg. He’s 6-5 in those games, including a 4-0 record this year. Nichols will get the nod for the Bombers becoming the sixth different quarterback to start the Labour Day game in the last six years (Brian Brohm (2015), Drew Willy (2014), Justin Goltz (2013), Joey Elliot (2012), and Buck Pierce (2011).
Just kick it: Justin Medlock is riding a streak of 20 consecutive made field goals, which is a Winnipeg club record and also the 17th longest streak in CFL history. 7 of those kicks have come from 40+ yards out.
And kick it some more: Tyler Crapigna returned from injury two games ago and is 3-for-3 on field goal attempts. He has made his last nine field goals, and his field goal success rate is now at 90.5% (19/21). That is the highest percentage recorded by a first-year kicker in CFL history. Crapigna is on pace to surpass Boris Bede’s record of 90.0% (36/40) set last year.
Is he bad? Naa, man: Naaman Roosevelt comes into this home-and-home match up with Winnipeg as the league’s number four receiver with 877 yards and he has been the most targeted receiver in the CFL with 92 intended passes. He’s second in receptions with 62.
Harris heating up: In Andrew Harris’ first five games with the Bombers he averaged 41 rushing yards a game, in his last four contests he has averaged 92 yards per game including 11 runs of 10+ yards and four touchdowns.
Edmonton at Calgary
History lesson: Monday will mark the 56th Labour Day Game between provincial rivals Calgary and Edmonton. It is also the 35th year in a row they meet on Labour Day and the 46th time in the last 48 years. Of the 55 games on Labour Day between the two clubs, Edmonton holds the advantage going 29-25-1 (.527 winning percentage). The lone tie occurred in 1978, with a score of 28-28. This will be the 51st time that Calgary has played Labour Day hosts since 1949.
Consecutive wins: Calgary with a 7-1-1 record this season enters the Labour Day Classic with a winning record for the 9th consecutive season and is looking for it’s 5th victory in a row on Labour Day versus the Eskimos.
Mitchell wins, then wins some more: This will be Bo Levi Mitchell’s third Labour Day start (2-0). He is riding a career record of 35-7-1 (.729) into this game, the highest winning percentage among all-time CFL quarterbacks.
Start number two: It will be Reilly’s second-career start in the Labour Day tilt. His first was in 2013 when he threw four touchdown passes in a 37-34 loss. Reilly is 2-4 in six starts against Calgary.
Labour Day rookies: This will be Dave Dickenson’s and Jason Maas’ first Labour Day Classic as a CFL head Coach.
He can be stopped: Edmonton is the only team to have ever beat Bo Levi Mitchell in consecutive games (Sept 12 and Oct 10 in the 2015 season).
Impressive start: Shakir Bell had a CFL season-high 138 yards rushing last week versus Saskatchewan in his first game of the season. He added four catches for 32 yards, totalling 170 yards from scrimmage.
And another impressive start: In two games DaVaris Daniels has nine catches for 174 yards including 97 yards after the catch. He added a punt block in his second game versus Hamilton.
Toronto at Hamilton
History lesson: This will be the 46th Labour Day Classic meeting between the Argonauts and Tiger-Cats. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats hold a convincing record in the contests going 31-13-1 (.689 winning percentage). Since joining the Tiger-Cats, Zach Collaros is 2-0 in the annual game while Ricky Ray is 1-1 for the Argonauts. The Tiger-Cats have not lost a Labour Day Classic at Tim Hortons Field, going 2-0 in that span. Since 2008, Hamilton owns a 4-2 record in the Labour Day Classic.
It’s been a while: The last time Toronto won a Labour Day Classic was on September 3, 2012 where they pulled off a 33-30 win at Ivor Wynne Stadium. In that win, the Argonauts scored 22 points in the fourth quarter including a final minute field goal by Swayze Waters to give the boatmen the victory.
Tasker up for the task: Over the last two Labour Day Classics in Hamilton, Tiger-Cats receiver Luke Tasker has 12 receptions for 167 yards.
Toliver all over the field: Terrence Toliver is continuing to heat up. With Collaros back, he has led all Ticats the last two weeks in receiving with 139 and 183 yards. He has racked up those yards on 14 combined receptions (six of them being 30+ yards) and three touchdowns.
Right back to form: In Collaros’ three games back, he has averaged 384 passing yards. In those three games he has 10 TD passes with only one interception and a passer rating of 119.7. He has 12 completions worth 30+ yards.
He’s goooood: In his first two games this season following a back injury, Diontae Spencer has recorded 17 receptions for 183 yards.
» THE WEEKLY SAY: A QUESTION FOR EACH TEAM IN WEEK 11
WEEK 10 GAME NOTES
Going back-to-back: BC Lions are playing back-to-back games in Ontario for the first time since 1992. That year the Lions were swept. With a 29-23 victory over Ottawa in Week 10, BC is looking to reverse that stat and go back out west with an Ontario sweep. In the last 63 seasons, the Lions have never swept both games of a road trip in Ontario.
And they’re back: From 2012-2015, the Argonauts are 6-1 coming off a bye week.
Road warriors continue: Away teams split last week’s games and now have an overall record of 24-15-1 (.631).
Crossover: If the playoffs were to begin ahead of Week 11 action, the West Division would take the third and final East Division spot via the Crossover Rule.
No trouble in Paredes: After hitting five field goals last week, Rene Paredes is on pace to record the most field goal attempts and most field goals made in a single season. Paul Osbaldiston currently holds the record for most field goal attempts in a season with 74 set in 1989 and Dave Ridgeway owns the record for most Field goals made in a season with 59 set in 1990.
They’ve been good, I mean really good: During Winnipeg’s four-game win streak, three have been wire-to-wire victories. The Bombers have trailed only once in the last 240 minutes. That was against Toronto, and it lasted for 14 minutes and 35 seconds. The Bombers have built a 17-point lead in each one of those games. The last time that feat was accomplished was in the 2003 season.
20. In. A. Row: Justin Medlock has hit 20 field goals in a row, which is a new Blue Bombers club record.
Home is where the heart is: Bo Levi Mitchell is 16-3 as a starter at McMahon Stadium.
The best in the biz?: Mike Reilly is the first quarterback since Doug Flutie in 1996 to eclipse the 3,000 passing yard mark after only nine games.
Reaching for milestones: Ricky Ray needs 279 passing yards to reach 54,000 in his CFL regular season career. This week marks his 197th start (103-92-1).
Down he goes: Bear Woods, Adam Bighill, Solomon Elimimian, Ian Wild, Deon Lacey and Simoni Lawrence are on pace to record 100+ tackle seasons. The most in any previous season came just last year with four players reaching that mark (Adam Bighill, Jeff Know Jr., Winston Venerable and Khalil Bass).
Close calls: 53% of CFL games this year have been decided in the final three minutes with nearly 25% of contests won by four points or less.
Coaches challenge updates: There has been an average of 2.43 Coaches Challenges per game this season with 42% of the calls being overturned. Week 10 saw seven challenges, tied for a season-low.
Penalties going down: Accepted penalties are down to 19.25 per game. That’s a 6% decrease from last year’s final numbers and 11% decrease from the same point last season.
Yards on yards on yards: Week 10 games averaged 754 net yards – the second highest weekly total this season.
Keeping it on the ground: Week 10 games averaged 111 rushing yards – the second-highest weekly total this season.
