Roughriders, Stampeders still battling for first in West Division standings

The Stampeders cap their regular season visiting B.C. (5-12) in the league’s final regular-season game Saturday night. They’d clinch first in the West for a fourth straight year and seventh time in 10 years with a win over the Lions and Saskatchewan loss.

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Even if Saskatchewan is victorious, Calgary must get a win or tie against B.C. to finish second and secure home-field advantage against Winnipeg in the West semifinal. A Calgary loss would give the Bombers second and the right to host the defending Grey Cup champions in the semifinal Nov. 10.

But wait, other potential scenarios exist:

— If the Riders lose and Stampeders win, Saskatchewan would take second and host Winnipeg in the West semifinal.

— Should both Saskatchewan and Calgary win, the Riders would finish first and host the West final. The Stampeders would be home to Winnipeg in the semifinal.

— If Saskatchewan and Calgary both lose, the Riders finish first. Winnipeg would take second and host Calgary in the semifinal.

— A Saskatchewan win and Calgary loss would give the Riders first in the West. Winnipeg would host Calgary in the semifinal.

The East Division standings are much clearer. Hamilton (league-best 14-3 record) will finish first and host the conference final. Montreal (9-8) will finish second and be home to Edmonton in the semifinal.

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MOP DEBATE: Brandon Banks should’ve effectively ended any debate regarding who’s the favourite for the CFL’s outstanding player award.

The Hamilton receiver had 11 catches for 201 yards and three TDs in the Tiger-Cats’ 38-26 win Saturday over Montreal. That gives Banks 112 catches for 1,550 yards and 13 TDs — all league-leading numbers while his receptions total is a club record.

Banks also tops in the CFL in yards after catch (YAC) with 657 and has scored TDs rushing (one) and on missed field goals (two).

Banks has remained a focal point of Hamilton’s offence despite the loss of starter Jeremiah Masoli to a season-ending knee injury in a 23-15 win over Winnipeg on July 26.

And with the absence of a 5,000-yard passer this season — Saskatchewan’s Cody Fajardo leads with 4,302 yards — Banks is a definite favourite to become the first receiver/kick-returner to win honour since Toronto’s Chad Owens in 2012.

Quarterbacks have won the award 15 times since 1999 and the last four years. Three receivers have done so (Owens, Winnipeg’s Milt Stegall in ’02 and B.C.’s Geroy Simon in 2006).

Calgary running back Jon Cornish (2013) and Lions linebacker Solomon Elimimian (2014) are the other non-quarterback winners.

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COLLAROS SHINES: Zach Collaros delivered more than just a come-from-behind win for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday night. He provided much-needed hope for a team heading into the CFL playoffs.

Collaros threw two second-half TD strikes to help rally Winnipeg to a 29-28 home win over the Calgary Stampeders. Collaros, appearing in his first CFL game since suffering a concussion in Saskatchewan’s season-opening loss in Hamilton, drove the Bombers 38 yards on eight plays to set up Justin Medlock’s game-winning 34-yard field goal.

It was hardly a gaudy statistical performance by Collaros — he completed 22-of-28 passes for 221 yards with the two TDs and an interception. But the 31-year-old Ohio native showed the calm and poise of a player in his eighth CFL season who has been on a Grey Cup-winning team (2012 with Toronto) and led another (Hamilton in 2014) to the big game.

Backup Chris Streveler went 3-5 after incumbent Matt Nichols suffered a season-ending knee injury. But Streveler was a more efficient runner (550 yards, seven TDs) than passer (1,482 yards, seven TDs and 11 interceptions while surpassing 200 passing yards in a game just twice) as the starter.

It’s hard to forget just how good Collaros was in 2015 when he guided Hamilton to an 8-3 record before suffering a season-ending knee injury. At the time, Collaros had thrown for 3,376 yards with 25 TDs against just eight interceptions and was the overwhelming favourite for the CFL’s outstanding player award.

Certainly, Collaros has battled through injuries since then. But his eight-yard TD strike to Darvin Adams in the fourth quarter to pull Winnipeg to within 28-26 in the fourth quarter was vintage Collaros: Scrambling back to the Bombers’s 25-yard line to evade pressure, then delivering a scoring strike to Adams while on the run.

Winnipeg will now wait to see who it’ll face in the West Division semifinal Nov. 10 and where. Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea hasn’t said who his playoff starter will be, but, really, is there much of a decision to be made?

If Streveler is healthy, use him in short-yardage situations and as Collaros’s insurance policy because Collaros not only gives Winnipeg’s offence a much-needed different element but the team as a whole its best chance to win.

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HOME DOMINATION: The Hamilton Tiger-Cats can put an exclamation mark on a dominant regular season Saturday night with a home victory over the arch-rival Toronto Argonauts.

Not only would a win give Hamilton a 3-0 sweep of the season series but improve its home record to 9-0. That would mark the first time since Tim Hortons Field opened in 2014 that the Ticats finished a regular season unbeaten there.

Hamilton would also earn a sixth straight win and improve to 7-1 within the East Division. Both would be very positive signs heading into the conference final Nov. 20 against either Montreal or Edmonton, teams the Ticats were 2-1 and 2-0 against, respectively, this year.

Hamilton hasn’t won the Grey Cup since 1999 and last played in the game in 2014.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2019.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Roughriders, Stampeders still battling for first in West Division standings

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