THIS WEEK IN THE CFL - WEEK #6

PARITY PARTY

• At the end of the first quarter (of the regular season), only parity is dominant.
• Four teams have three wins. Another four teams have two wins. In other words, 8 teams in a 9-team league are within a single game of each other.
• The first two games last weekend – Argos over BC and REDBLACKS topping Calgary – were each decided by three points.
• That made it a run of 8 out of 9 games that were decided by five points or less.
• The trend faltered when Edmonton beat Winnipeg by 29 in a downpour and Hamilton beat the Riders by 10.
• Still, 11 of 20 games have been decided by four points or less. That’s 55 per cent.
• From 2012 to 2014, only 24 per cent of games were decided by that small a margin (55 of 225 games).
• Edmonton’s win marked the first three game winning streak in the CFL this year.
• We’ve had three overtime games, the most since 2010. We had one all of last year.

SURPRISES: 8 
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: 0

• They say it’s tough to turn it around overnight: Ottawa and Toronto are a combined 6-3 (.667) after going 10-26 (.278) a year ago.
• They say you can’t win with a very young team: Ottawa and Toronto are doing it with the two least experienced rosters in the CFL.
• The REDBLACKS have 30 players in their first or second year in the CFL. The Argos have 34.
• They say experience is absolutely a must for quarterbacks: the top three passers by rating are all in either their first or second year as a regular starter: Argo Trevor Harris (114.1), Bomber Drew Willy (109.2) and Alouette Rakeem Cato (105.9).
• They say it’s tough to win on the road, really difficult to win consecutive games on the road, and it would be impossible to open with, say, four straight on the road. The Argos and Ti-Cats have each opened the season with four games on the road: Toronto has gone 3-1, and Hamilton 2-2.
• They say home field advantage is huge, and no team has a bigger one than the Riders: four of Saskatchewan’s first five games were at home. They are 0-5.
• They say you just can’t fall behind on the road: the Argonauts’ 21-point comeback in Vancouver tied the third largest by a road team in CFL history.
• This year, six teams have come to back win after trailing going into the fourth quarter.
• Of the six teams that have won when trailing after the third quarter, 5 were road teams. In 2014, only five road teams came back to win when trailing with 15:00 to play.
• They used to say, not so long ago, that the lead running back was an American position: the two players who lead the league in yards from scrimmage are Canadian running backs: Saskatchewan’s Jerome Messam (566) and British Columbia’s Andrew Harris (465).
• Three of the four top rushers in the league are Canadian running backs: Messam (329), Calgary’s Jon Cornish (325) and Harris (284). (The Riders’ International running back Anthony Allen has 301 rushing yards.)
• They say it’s just a passing league: winning teams have run the ball 39% of the time. Losing teams have run it 30% of the time.
• They say penalties are a huge factor in determining the outcome: winning teams have been penalized 13.1 times per game, losing teams 13. 5 times per game.

YOU WANTED POINTS?

• Points per game are up 11% (50.4 this year compared to 45.5 a year ago).
• Points generated by the offence are up 9% (41 per game this year compared to 37.7 a year ago).
• Net offence per game is up 8% (703 yards this year compared to 652 a year ago).
• Passing yards are up 13% (543 this year compared to 481 a year ago).
• Quarterback sacks are down 29% (3.85 per game this year compared to 5.42 a year ago).
• Second down conversions are up at 49.8% (compared to 42.2 per cent a year ago).

MAKE HIS A DOUBLE-DOUBLE-DOUBLE-DOUBLE

• Calgary Stampeder Marquay McDaniel’s four two-point converts have already tied him for the single season record.
• The record has stood since 1975, the year the two-point convert was introduced to the CFL.
• Teams have converted 72.4% of their two-point convert attempts – up from 30.4 per cent under the old rules a year ago.
• Teams have converted 80.6% of their one-point convert attempts – down from 99.4 per cent under the old rules a year ago.

OK, WHO TILTED THE COUNTRY?

• It’s still early, but eastern teams are 8-5 in match-ups with western teams.
• The East has not won the season series since 2004.

PENALTIES LEVELLING OFF

• We had 24.5 penalties per game last week, after having 30 in week one, 28 in week two, 27.5 in week three, and 23 in week four.
• We averaged 24.0 penalties per game at this point last year.
• We averaged 21. 6 penalties per game for all of last season.
• Preventable and Roughness fouls have accounted for close to 60% of all infractions.
• The penalties called most often with one quarter of the regular season now in the books: offside (84), holding (84), and procedure (59).
• We had six coaches’ challenges last week – all for defensive pass interference: half were successful.
• We have had 24 challenges this year… 10 (or 41.7%) have been successful.

HOME AT LAST

• The Tiger-Cats finally play their home opener this Monday, August 3, after four games on the road, hosting the equally road weary, and even more successful on the road, Argos.
• The Argos play their home opener on Saturday, August 8 after five games on the road, hosting Saskatchewan.