Rob Vanstone predicts who will be in the big game
No logic to pick of Hamilton in the East, but many reasons to call Calgary in the West
The Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-cats will meet in the 2018 Grey Cup game. Now, on to the division finals ...
EAST DIVISION
Sunday’s CFL slate begins with the Ottawa Redblacks playing host to Hamilton at noon.
Ottawa finished first in the East — not the ultimate achievement — and is favoured to win, but something tells me that Hamilton will walk away with this one. What is that “something ”?
The prognosticative skills that led one to assure the readership (names of those three individuals available upon request) that the Saskatchewan Roughriders would defeat the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the West semifinal?
The good sense that prompted this fashion plate to wear a 10-year-old red shirt for Wednesday’s recording of the Rider Rumblings video podcast? Moments before ace technician Mark Melnychuk began rolling, or whatever it is that ace technicians do, I noticed a curling rock-sized stain just below the collar. It then occurred to me that video is, you know, built around visuals. I proceeded to zip up a blue hoodie, only to discover stains on that article of (phew!) clothing. It’s all about having The Look.
Anyway, I am going with Hamilton. The Tiger-cats will win, 35-31, or my name isn’t Poop Johnson.
Logic, whatever that is, should point toward an Ottawa victory.
The Redblacks won all three regular-season matchups with the Tiger-cats.
Ottawa’s Rick Campbell has been a head coach in two Grey Cups, winning one of them, so he clearly knows how to get a team past a mere division final.
The Redblacks have a healthier arsenal of playmakers — namely running back William Powell, and receivers Brad Sinopoli, Greg Ellingson and Diontae Spencer.
And Hamilton is an 8-10 team going against an 11-7 foe.
So what? I am picking Hamilton — and therefore advising you to choose Ottawa.
“Something ” tells me that Tiger-cats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli is poised for a signature game.
Masoli can influence the proceedings with his arm or his legs. Ottawa’s Trevor Harris is capable of lighting it up through the air — he threw for 457 yards in last year’s playoff loss to Saskatchewan — but he is one-dimensional.
Another factor to consider is the presence of Tiger-cats receiver Luke Tasker, who possesses the ability to take over a game, even when the opposition has every reason to suspect that the football is about to be directed his way.
Plus, Tasker wears No. 17 — as did Roughriders legend Joey Walters, so there is “something ” about that number.
This really is an intricate process. Onward ...
WEST DIVISION
The Calgary Stampeders, having finished first for the third successive season, are to collide with the visiting Blue Bombers at 3:30 p.m.
Calgary, like Hamilton, has an injury-ravaged receiving corps.
But Calgary, like Hamilton, also has a quarterback who happens to bea most-outstanding player finalist.
Bet against the Stampeders’ Bo Levi Mitchell at your own peril.
I know, I know ... Calgary has somehow frittered away the last two Grey Cup games in the waning stages. But how, exactly, is that Mitchell’s fault?
Mitchell had the Stampeders in position to win both games, only to have those efforts undermined by a boneheaded shortyardage call (he was strangely welded to the sideline for that one) and a fumble (which was returned for a 109-yard, gamechanging touchdown).
Mitchell is incontestably the best of the 176 players who will dress for the division finals on Sunday.
What about Winnipeg, you ask? Aren’t the Bombers the hottest team in the league?
Well, maybe, but they barely got past a Saskatchewan team that was without its No. 1 quarterback, Zach Collaros, in the West semifinal. So now, having just faced Brandon Bridge, the Bombers get to go up against Mitchell.
Andrew Harris was the Bombers’ offensive catalyst last Sunday, rushing for 153 yards. Congratulations. Good luck trying to enjoy comparable success against the likes of Micah Johnson and Alex Singleton.
Make the final: Calgary 33, Winnipeg 24.
Most impressively, the Stampeders will be resplendent in red, without those annoying stains.