I’d be lying if I said I was an
astute follower of the Canadian Football League. I used to be. I remember in
high school watching every game I could when it was on the CBC network, which
was usually only one game per week. Our family didn’t have cable so any game on
TSN would go unwatched. But every CBC broadcast from early July right through
to the Grey Cup would dominate the TV in our house, provided the Blue Jays
weren’t on.
But something happened when I
got into my early 20s and I just didn’t watch the Canadian game as much as I
had previously. However, every November, my interest In the CFL will peak again
as the playoffs begin. While the NCAA is king of football in my house, with the
CFL playoff games being played on Sundays, it’s the NFL that takes a backseat
throughout the month.
And this year it will be even
more enjoyable to watch as all five games will be played outside: no domes this
year, which means weather could be a factor: the best way to watch playoff
football.
With the Ottawa Redblacks
(winners of the Eastern Division) and Edmonton Eskimos (West) getting byes to
the division finals, this Sunday’s actions will feature the Division
Semi-Finals, and chances are, there aren’t going to be any upsets. At least, I
can’t see any happening.
Let’s start in the East. The
Hamilton Tiger Cats, the Eastern representative in the Grey Cup the last two
seasons, will host the Toronto Argonauts. Both teams finished with ten wins and
eight losses but the Ti-Cats get the home field advantage because they
dominated the season series between the two teams. Hamilton won all three
games, with scores of 34-18, 42-12 and 35-27.
The problem for Hamilton is, and
this is without a doubt the reason why they didn’t finish first in the
division, they have no decent quarterback since Zach Collaros went down with a
torn ACL in his right knee in a game against Edmonton back in September. While
none of the backups has shown that they are ready to be a starting QB in the
CFL, it looks like Jacory Harris will be the guy this weekend.
As for the Argos, they may be
able to pull off the upset if their quarterback, Rickey Ray, can somehow pull
off the kind of magic he did three years ago when he led Toronto to a home
victory at the 100th Grey Cup. Ray missed pretty much the entire
2015 season and the rust showed in the handful of games he played. The Argos have also had the misfortune of not having a home
this season as they played a good chunk of their home games on the road and at
neutral sites due to scheduling conflicts at the Rogers Centre.
This could very well be a
low-scoring defense-dominated with both teams having to insert the backup
quarterback due to the inefficiencies of the ones that start. In the end, it
will be the Tiger Cats who will beat the Argos once again and punch their
ticket to Ottawa for the East Final.
Prediction: Hamilton-15 Toronto-6
As
for the Western Semi-Final, there’s no danger of an upset happening here. The
defending Grey Cup Champion Calgary Stampeders will not have a problem with the
B.C. Lions, who barely made the playoffs with a seven-win and eleven-loss
season. Calgary finished at 14-4, tied for the best record in the league with
Edmonton, but lost the division on the tie-breaker scenario.
The two teams played twice
during the regular season, with Calgary winning both. The first in September by
a score of 35-23 and the second this past weekend, albeit with both teams
playing their second string, by a score of 28-7.
The dominance will continue on
Sunday.
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