The CFL's cellar dwellers fell further to the bottom, their playoff aspirations growing weaker with each passing week of the schedule. On the other side of the playoff hunt, week fourteen provided a sample of some of the excitement to come in the final stretch, as the surging Lions continue on their winning ways and the Tiger Cats and Alouettes served notice that the CFL East is still up for grabs.
For CFL fans outside of Toronto and Saskatchewan, the next month should provide for much anticipation, for those that support the Riders and Argos, it is indeed wait til next year time.
A review of the week that was is below.
Hamilton at Toronto
It was the Labour Day Classic delayed, an October meeting between the two Ontario rivals that provided a slight attendance boost for the Argo book keepers, thanks to the light traffic we imagine on the QEW, a small legion of Ti Cat fans in among the 21,000 ready to celebrate their teams destruction of any thoughts that the Argos may have had for a playoff spot run.
Hamilton helped their own cause for a possible first place finish with their win, that combined with Montreal's last stand against the Bombers, tightens up the CFL East significantly making the final weeks of the season ones that could feature lead changes and high drama through to the last game.
Their efforts in Toronto were best summed up by the Hamilton Spectator's Drew Edwards, who quite succinctly put the game into perspective with his blog headline of "Argos guarantee win, Ticats deliver one".
That in a nutshell defines Saturdays wrap on the week fourteen schedule, the Argos had been full of bluster for the week leading up to the game, but once on the field it was the TiCats that did all the talking, defensively they shut down the Argos quite nicely, holding Steven Jyles to just 142 yards in the air, the few opportunities provided to the double blue squandered for the most part on the way to the 27-12 decision in favour of Hamilton, all of Toronto's points coming from the foot of Noel Prefontaine.
The Cats made good use of the run, one spectacular trot by Terry Grant rambled for 89 yards and a touchdown, the Argos defence seemingly incapable of plugging the holes and slowing down the Tiger Cat attack.
For good measure Hamilton provides some entertainment for their travelling band of fans, with a fake punt toss from Justin Medlock who connected with Darcy Brown, who took the ball down field setting up Medlock for a field goal.
Kevin Glenn's numbers provide a sample of the course of the Cats domination on the day, 21 for 30 in passing for 301 yards, including one touchdown pass. However, it was the work of the TiCat defence that told the tale of the game, as head coach Marcel Bellefeuille pointed out post game, "you're not going to get beat keeping teams out of the end zone", something the Cats accomplished quite nicely on Saturday night.
Toronto Sun-- Argos down one... before kickoff
Hamilton Spectator-- Cats win 27-12 over arch-rival Argos
Globe and Mail-- Ticats shut down Argonauts
Toronto Star-- Punchless Argonauts sinking out of sight
Saskatchewan at Calgary
While Greg Marshall continues on to the bank every two weeks to cash a cheque from the Saskatchewan Roughriders, he can probably take some solace that the last few weeks have provided a sense of vindication that perhaps all was not his fault in Riderland.
The Riders have reverted to their early season form, in fact in the last two weeks they have surrendered points by the century mark, never a good sign if you're hoping to collect wins in the CFL.
After the boost of the return of Ken Miller, the actual cracks in the Riders foundation have once again begun to appear, offensively they have become anemic, defensively porous, a combination that leaves them all but eliminated from the playoffs for 2011, the prospect that the remaining six teams in the playoff hunt are going to have a meltdown rather remote, making the final weeks of this season evaluation time for the Riders upper brass.
The only good news for RiderNation as the 2011 schedule winds down is the report that the 2013 Grey Cup is destined for the home of the melon heads.
The Stampeders hammered home the message that the season is lost for the Riders with ferocity through Saturday's match up at McMahon Stadium, the 40-3 victory a much needed boost for the Red and White who have had struggles of consistency of their own over the last few weeks, but on Saturday the Stamps looked more like the Grey Cup favourite that many had them pencilled in as, rather than the slumping, staggering squad that has shown up on occasion this season.
A week ago coach Hufnagel outlined that he had some doubts about the commitment that some of his players were showing to the game, a message that seems to have finally resonated across the Stamps lineup, Saturday's dominating performance against the Riders provided a number of signs that the Stamps were back on message, securing their hold on first in the West for another week, holding off the surging Lions and setting the stage for a showdown with BC over the weekend to come.
Calgary Sun-- Stamps hear coach's message loud and clear
Calgary Herald-- Stampeders strike gold versus hapless Roughriders
Regina Leader Post-- Riders flat out of hope
Globe and Mail-- Stampeders dismantle Riders
Edmonton at British Columbia
It was the grand re-opening of BC Place, a 500 million plus investment by British Columbia in a state of the art showpiece stadium, one described as the jewel of Canadian stadiums, leaving the arriving fans in awe at the many changes to the ole Mushroom at False Creek of the past.
Among those seemingly in awe for a short period of time anyways, were the BC Lions who took a little bit of time getting back to the focus of football.
The Eskimos the guests on re-opening night had early thoughts of being the party crashers, taking control of the first six minutes of play, gobbling up yards, eating up time and keeping the Lions offence off the field.
It was a rather low scoring first half, Kerry Joseph proving to be the only fellow on the field inclined to score a touchdown, running one in just before the half expired, sending the Eskimos into the dressing room with 13-12 lead, signalling for the crowd of 50,213 to head off in search of a line up at the concession stands (seemingly a few kinks to work out at the new and improved BC Place, corporate licensing name pending).
Whatever half time discussion Wally Buono engaged in proved effective however, as the second half belonged to the Lions as they launched a stellar second half on the way to a 33-22 victory, with Travis Lulay finally getting on track, scoring a touchdown of his own on the run and then making fine use of his offensive weapons such as Arland Bruce III and Geroy Simon.
The game deteriorated a bit at the end, as the Eskimos frustrations with the Lions boiled over, Jerome Messam, a former Lion seemingly not popular with his ex team mates snapped, resulting in a mini brawl late in the game, resulting in a number of ejections from the game following all the scraps.
The bottom line for the Lions however was two points on the score board and a boat load of people in the stands, the 50,000 plus proving to be their largest home crowd in years, the win perhaps providing enough entertainment to bring just as many back through the final weeks of the CFL season and into the playoffs.
Vancouver Sun-- Lions provide interior finish at palace
Vancouver Province-- No. 250 no milestone for Buono
Edmonton Sun-- Lions roll over Eskimos
Edmonton Journal-- Joseph continues doing solid work in backup role
Montreal at Winnipeg
The space at the top of the CFL East became a little more crowded by the time Friday night came to an end, as the Montreal Alouettes made the trek into Winnipeg and grabbed two points from the injury depleted Bombers on the strength of a 32 to 26 victory.
It was a game that featured a number of strange happenings, from a blow call by a now former CFL official to a goal line stand by the Alouettes that secured the victory and most likely kept Marc Trestman from losing money from his wallet for any potential post game ruminations on the state of CFL officiating.
Trestman remained remarkably composed on the Als sidelines as the Bombers made a stunning late game march down the field, aided by a pair of pass interference calls, one of which was so bad that in the end it resulted in the firing of a CFL official.
In a post game review by Tom Higgins, the CFL's Director of Officiating found that of the seven interference calls during the course of the game, three were incorrect, a ratio that proved to be unacceptable.
As it is, Trestman probably has company on the eye roll of officiating, Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice had a few questions of his own post game, including a desire to have the CFL review the counting skills of those at the time keepers bench, at the heart of LaPolice's concerns a rather quick expiration of the final five seconds of the game.
Yet the Bombers who clawed their way back into the game after surrendering an early lead to the Als, in the end can perhaps turn their attention to their inability to score on two chances from the one yard line, the lack of a significant surge into the end zone more than anything else was responsible for their position on the scoreboard at the end of the game.
That and a tendency to turn over the ball handed the Alouettes the two points, making the CFL East race a most interesting thing to watch through October.
Winnipeg Sun-- Bombers can't score from one
Winnipeg Free Press-- LaPo wants CFL review of Friday's final play
Canada.com-- CFL's Higgins admits ref made bad call
Globe and Mail-- Als hang on to beat Bombers
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