This Week in the CFL - Week 9

TOP DEFENCES TO CLASH

• Friday Night Football this week features a match up of the league’s top ranked defences.
• Edmonton (5-2) is first in yards allowed per game (272), while Hamilton (5-2) is second (311).
• Edmonton is only giving up only 12.5 points per game, while Hamilton is limiting opponents to 17.1 points per game (Montreal has given up 16.7).
• Edmonton is first against the pass, allowing only 216 yards a game in the air.
• Hamilton is first against the run, allowing only 73 yards on the ground.
• Eskimos defence has allowed just 8.3 points per game at Commonwealth Stadium.
• Edmonton has given up just seven touchdowns. Montreal is next at 11, and Hamilton has yielded 12.
• Hamilton has forced 22 turnovers, best in the league, while Edmonton has forced a second best 19 turnovers.

PENALTIES DOWN

• Week 8 featured only 75 penalties, or 18.8 per game.
• That’s the lowest of the season and lower than any total from the first eight weeks of 2014.
• The cumulative penalty average for the year dropped for the seventh straight week and now stands at 25.06 per game.
• The 15 penalties in the Calgary-Ottawa game was the second lowest of the season (there were 11 penalties in Hamilton-Winnipeg game on August 9).
• Only one team has won despite taking more penalties in the last 12 CFL games. None did in Week 8.

TIM HORTONS FIELD = ALWAYS WIN STADIUM

• The Tiger-Cats are 9-0 in regular season play and 10-0 including the 2014 East Final in their new home.
• One key is fast starts: Hamilton has outscored opponents there 49-0 in the first quarter this year.
• Last Saturday, the Cats held a 21-0 margin after the first quarter, for the second consecutive week.
• It was only the second time in 107 years that any team has had consecutive leads of 21 or more points after 15 minutes of play.
• Winnipeg in August 1994 led 21-0 and 25-0 in back to back weeks.
• Since THF opened last Labour Day, the Cats have outscored opponents 254-124.
• BC was the last visiting team to have held a lead at Tim Hortons Field in a regular season game, back on October 14, 2014, when Hamilton took the lead with 2:43 left to win 19-17.
• Out of the 302 plus minutes of game clock time since then, Hamilton has led for a total of 285:58 and has been in a tie with the opposition for just 16:45.

THE BEST DEFENCE IS (ALSO) A GOOD OFFENSE

• The Tiger-Cats defence has scored 7 touchdowns.
• Ticat defensive back Erik Harris’ touchdown return for a TD against the Lions tied the club record for pick-sixes, set in 1965, and put them within one of the CFL record of seven, set by the 2006 Argos.
• The league record for defensive touchdowns is 11, set by the 1987 BC Lions. The Ticats have seven with 11 games left.
• The Tiger-Cats lead the league with a plus 12 turnover ratio. Next best is Toronto at plus 5.

THE BEST OFFENCE… IS NOT PAYING OFF

• The 0-7 Saskatchewan Roughriders have the leagues’ top ranked offense at 422 yards per game.
• Toronto (4-2) is second 353 yards per game, while Hamilton (5-2) is third at 351 yards per game.
• Hamilton’s offence is scoring 25.1 points per game, just ahead of Saskatchewan at 24.9 points per game.
• Saskatchewan has the eighth ranked defence: they are giving up a league high 29 points per game, and the second most yards per game, at 383.

HE COULD GO….

• Two punts were returned for TDs last week, bringing the total for the year to 5.
• Brandon Banks has returned three punts for TDs himself -- just two short of the CFL record of 5 in a season.

IT’S UP, IT’S…..NOT ALWAYS GOOD

• Just when the one point convert was starting to seem automatic again (kickers had made 41 in a row), 6 of 19 were missed last weekend.
• It wasn’t a single kicker’s fault: six of the seven kickers who had an attempt this past weekend missed one.
• The success rate of the one point convert is now 84 % (106 out of 126).
• The success rate for the two point convert is 73% (24 out of 33).
• Surprisingly, CFL kickers are almost as good from 50-plus yards out (11 of 14 for 78.6%) .
• Oddly, they have a lower percentage from 40-49 years out: 32 of 46 for 69.9%.

PARITY PARTITIONED

• Four teams (Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton and Toronto) are bunched at 5-2.
• Ottawa stands right behind those leaders at 4-3.
• Montreal, Winnipeg, BC and Saskatchewan have three or fewer wins.

MOST OUTSTANDING NOW JUST OUT

• The injury to BC’s Solomon Elimimian, combined with previous injuries to Jon Cornish and Chad Owens, means that last three Most Outstanding Player Award winners are sidelined.