Stampeders now need a victory over Lions to finish 1st in West
What seemed a mere formality months ago will come down to the final week of the CFL regular season to decide.
The Calgary Stampeders head into their regular-season finale against the B.C. Lions on Saturday night needing a victory or tie to cement top spot in the West Division. But that’s been the case the last three weeks and each time the club has been unable to seal the deal.
Winnipeg (10-7) clinched third in the West with a 29-21 home win over Calgary (12-5) on Friday night. The Blue Bombers are the CFL’s hottest team, having won five straight as Matt Nichols had a season-high 358 yards passing with two TDs while Darvin Adams registered five catches for 126 yards and a touchdown.
With that win, the Bombers eliminated Edmonton (8-9) — who were on a bye week — from playoff contention for the first time since 2013.
The Eskimos, at one time, had the CFL’s second-best record but enter their regularseason finale against Winnipeg having lost six of their last eight contests.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders (12-6) did their part by downing the B.C. Lions 35-16 on Saturday night. The Riders clinched a home playoff game — their first since 2013 — with the win but would finish first in the West if Calgary loses its final game of the year.
In that scenario, Calgary would host Winnipeg in the conference semifinal on Nov. 11, with the winner facing Saskatchewan in the West final at Mosaic Stadium on Nov. 18.
Should Calgary prevail in Vancouver, Saskatchewan would host Winnipeg in the West semifinal and the winner would travel to McMahon Stadium on Nov. 18.
The loss to Saskatchewan relegated B.C. to fourth in the West Division, but the Lions are still playoff bound as a crossover squad.
The East Division is set after Ottawa (10-7) clinched first with a 30-13 road win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (8-9) on Saturday night. The Redblacks swept the season series 3-0 and will host the conference final for the third time in four years.
Hamilton will finish second and host B.C. in the East Division semifinal Nov. 11. The Ticats have asked their fans to wear all black attire to that game and will provide 24,000 black rally towels and cloaks to those entering Tim Hortons Field.
The East semifinal winner will visit Ottawa on Nov. 18.
The Grey Cup game will be held Nov. 25 at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.
CFL commissioner admits Willis hit on Collaros warranted penalty
Commissioner Randy Ambrosie admitted Monday the CFL dropped the ball regarding how it handled defensive lineman Odell Willis’s helmet-to-helmet hit on quarterback Zach Collaros on Saturday.
Willis delivered the hit on Collaros in the first quarter of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 35-16 win over the B.C. Lions. There was no flag thrown on the play, and only after the Riders challenged was an unnecessary roughness penalty called.
What’s more, Collaros, who has a history of concussions, was allowed to remain in the game despite twice having to squat down to compose himself. He later left for precautionary reasons and didn’t return.
The CFL admitted in a statement released over the weekend that Willis should’ve been flagged for the hit and the Riders shouldn’t have had to use a challenge. It also added its injury spotter shouldn’t have allowed Collaros to remain in the contest and Willis could face league discipline as a result of the incident.
Ambrosie reiterated all of those points Monday, saying the league’s response to the hit “was clearly inadequate.”
“I am committed to removing reckless and dangerous play from our game. The fact that we did not respond adequately is not acceptable to me,” he said. “I have made that very clear to our personnel today. We are reviewing our processes, protocols and rules to ensure this chain of events is not repeated.”