CFL: Edmonton starts title defence

The Edmonton Eskimos will have to be road warriors to successfully defend their Grey Cup title.

Edmonton (10-8) begins its title defence Sunday afternoon visiting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East Division semifinal.

The Eskimos earned the CFL crossover by compiling a better record than the third-place Montreal Alouettes (7-11).

Hamilton also had a 7-11 record but cemented second — and home field for the East semifinal — by winning the season series with Montreal.

A win Sunday will earn Edmonton a trip to Ottawa on Nov. 20 to face the Redblacks in the East Division final. The winner will advance to the Grey Cup game Nov. 27 at BMO Field in Toronto.

“There’s no easy path to the Grey Cup but I think we’ve got a pretty damn good team so I like our chances,” quarterback Mike Reilly said this week.

“We’re going to have a challenge, there’s no question about it.

“But (the last two years) we’ve been pretty good on the road so, again, I like our chances. I think we’ve got a lot of momentum going into the playoffs.”

Edmonton comes in having won five of its last six games. Hamilton has dropped two straight and its last four home contests to stand 3-6 overall at Tim Hortons Field this season.

Hamilton is also 2-8 versus West Division teams. Edmonton was 5-4 on the road and 5-3 against East rivals.

This will mark the first-ever division playoff meeting between the two clubs although they’ve split their two Grey Cup appearances.

The Eskimos make their third crossover appearance.

In 2008, they became the first CFL team to win a crossover game, beating Winnipeg 29-21 in the conference semifinal but lost 42-26 to Toronto in 2012.

Eight times West Division teams have crossed over to the East, but not one has ever reached the Grey Cup.

Edmonton and Hamilton split the season series 1-1.