THIS WEEK IN THE CFL – WEEK 12

THIS WEEK IN THE CFL – WEEK 12

Week 12 begins with Friday Night Football in Vancouver. Montreal will be trying to end a three-game slide while BC will start Travis Lulay as they come off a bye also looking to snap a similar three-game slide. Kickoff is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET at BC Place.

Saturday features a rare triple header. The Banjo Bowl kicks off Saturday’s coverage at 3 p.m. ET when Saskatchewan travels to Winnipeg in a rematch of last week’s Mark’s Labour Day Weekend Classic. Saskatchewan will be looking to extend their four-game winning streak while Winnipeg looks to split the home-and-home series.

Beginning at 6 p.m. ET Hamilton, coming off their Labour Day victory over Toronto, will travel to Ottawa to take on the surging REDBLACKS at TD Place.

And to cap off the triple header, Edmonton plays host to Calgary. Edmonton will attempt to snap a three-game losing streak against their provincial rivals while Calgary will be looking to pad their first-place seeding in the West Division. The game is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET.

LABOUR DAY REMATCHES

BANJO BOWL

  • Saturday will be the 14th annual Banjo Bowl between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
  • Saskatchewan took care of business in the front end of the home-and-home set. The Riders will be attempting to record their seventh sweep. Winnipeg has swept the pivotal Labour Day/Banjo Bowl series twice (including last year) and there have been five splits.
  • Winnipeg is looking to win their third straight Banjo Bowl in a row. Winnipeg holds the slight edge in the historical record (7-6).
  • This will be Kevin Glenn’s sixth start in the annual game, but his first in Rider colours. In his five starts he is 3-2 and has passed for 1,287 yards, six TDs and four interceptions.
  • Matt Nichols starts for the Blue Bombers for the third consecutive season and has won the previous two games. He has passed for 530 yards, one TD and one interception.
  • This will be the fifth time Investors Group Field has hosted the game; the Blue Bombers have gone 3-1 in Banjo Bowls since it opened.
  • Each of the last 12 Banjo Bowls have been sold out. In that span, the attendance has totaled 374,337.
  • Kevin Glenn will be looking to get his 100th victory as a starter. In 200 career starts Glenn is 99-100-1.

BATTLE OF ALBERTA 2.0

  • This marks the 58th time that Edmonton and Calgary have engaged in back-to-back sets since 1949.
  • This also marks the 29th consecutive back-to-back set following Mark’s Labour Day Weekend.
  • Calgary has nine sweeps, Edmonton has five and there are 14 splits. Calgary will be looking to make it two sweeps in a row.
  • Calgary has been dominate as of late in the home-and-home series. They have swept the two-game sets four of the last five years and seven of the last 10.
  • Reilly has put up number in the last two games following Labour Day versus Calgary. He has passed for 432 yards and 352 yards (784 yards in total) while passing for five touchdowns and zero interceptions.
  • One of Reilly’s favourite targets in those two prior games was Adarius Bowman. Bowman has caught 16 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns.
  • Newly-signed receiver Derel Walker recorded seven receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown in last year’s game.
  • Calgary’s DaVaris Daniels has compiled 13 receptions for 268 yards and two touchdowns in his three career games against Edmonton.
  • In last week’s contest, Calgary’s Alex Singleton set a career-high 13 tackles in a single game.
  • 115,036 have attended the game in the past three years for an average of 38,345.

1,000 RECEIVING YARDS

  • Ottawa’s Greg Ellingson and Toronto’s SJ Green both eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in their respective 11th games.
  • Ellingson (1,033) has reached the benchmark for the third straight season and is on pace for 1,690 yards. This would set a new personal best, eclipsing last year’s 1,260.
  • Green (1,002) reached the milestone for the fifth time in his career. Green is on pace for 1,640 yards which would smash his personal best of 1,197, set in 2013.
  • The next three closest receivers are Brad Sinopoli (810), Naaman Roosevelt (738) and Brandon Zylstra (729).
  • Last season there were 15 receivers who surpassed 1,000 yards: Adarius Bowman (1,761), Derel Walker (1,589), Emmanuel Arceneaux (1,566), Bryan Burnham (1,392), Ellingson (1,260), Chris Williams (1,246), Ernest Jackson (1,225), Nik Lewis (1,136), Roosevelt (1,095), Marquay McDaniel (1,074), Andy Fantuz (1,059), Sinopoli (1,036), Terrence Toliver (1,036), Kenny Shaw (1,004) and Weston Dressler (1,003).
  • Emmanuel Arceneaux has made 17 catches in the last two games for 190 yards; four of those were for crucial second down conversions. Those 17 receptions in a two-game set are a career high for Arceneaux.
  • The Montreal trio of BJ Cunningham, Ernest Jackson, and Nik Lewis have accounted for 135 receptions, or 61% of Montreal’s completed passes. They also account for 67% of the Alouettes’ receiving yards and 13 of their 16 gains of 30+ yards. 61% for a trio is the highest in the CFL, tied with Saskatchewan’s top three receivers (Naaman Roosevelt, Bakari Grant, and Duron Carter).
  • Nik Lewis has caught a pass in every game he has played for Montreal this season, extending his current streak (dating back to July 24th, 2014) to 55 consecutive games.

QUICK SLANTS

  • Home Teams have flipped the switch this season going 27-17-1 (.611). In 2016 they had the complete opposite record at the same point of the season: 17-27-1 (.389).
  • Roy Finch returned a punt 90 yards for a touchdown on Monday for his third return touchdown of the season, which ties a Calgary Franchise record with Derrick Crawford.
  • Hamilton Tiger-Cats QB Jeremiah Masoli improved his career record as a starter to 5-5. He is now 2-0 against the Toronto Argonauts.
  • Bye Weeks: Teams coming off a bye this year are 6-3. The Lions are coming off a Week 11 bye to host the Alouettes.
  • Travis Lulay will be making his 70th start on Friday. He has a career record of 42-27 (.609).
  • Through 11 Weeks, 1,120,092 fans have attended games this season.
  • West Division teams are 19-3 versus the East Division this year. The last East victory came in Week 10 when Ottawa beat BC 31-24.
  • Hamilton Kicker Sergio Castillo has made 13 of his 15 attempts (86.7%) this year. Last week he tied the longest field goal of the season when he booted a 57-yard kick (Justin Medlock is the other kicker to hit a 57-yard field goal this season).
  • Montreal kicker Boris Bede has made 21 of his last 23 field goal attempts after a lone miss on the season’s very first drive in Week 1. Bede has made both of his attempts at 50+ yards, including a 53-yard kick last week to tie his career best.
  • Bede’s current 69.7-yard kickoff average is the highest in CFL history and is on pace to break the record of 67.9 yards set by Jamie Boreham in 2010.
  • Calgary is the lone team undefeated (5-0) at home this season. Calgary has won 15 consecutive games at McMahon Stadium (dating back to 2015) and has a point differential of +263 during that stretch.
  • Both Montreal and Hamilton will be looking for their first road victory of the season.
  • BC’s Jeremiah Johnson and Calgary’s Jerome Messam lead the league with nine touchdowns each.  
  • Winnipeg has the second-most average points against (31.6); however, they have also scored the second-most points (33.2).
  • Toronto continues to lead the league with 33 sacks, seven more than the next-place team (Calgary). The Argonauts have 10 players with at least one quarterback sack, and six players with three or more sacks:
    • Shawn Lemon: 7
    • Victor Butler: 7
    • Dylan Wynn: 4
    • Jeff Finley: 4
    • Cleyon Laing: 3
    • Troy Davis: 3
  • Saskatchewan’s Ed Gainey entered the season with five interceptions in his career – he has more than doubled his career total this season with a league-leading six.
  • Winnipeg is the only team this season to have rushed for 1,000 yards. Montreal is 27 yards shy.
  • The BC Lions are 4-0 in games decided by four points or fewer. Ottawa is 0-5-1.
  • 53% of games this season have been decided in the final three minutes.
Contact us
Clare Hutchinson Communications Assistant, Canadian Football League
Clare Hutchinson Communications Assistant, Canadian Football League
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