All roads lead to BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia this coming Sunday as the Canadian Football League draws to a thrilling climax with the 102nd staging of the Grey Cup. Contesting this year’s grand finale are the Calgary Stampeders and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats who each fashioned out emphatic victories in their respective division finals.
Who will emerge victorious in Canada’s own version of the Super Bowl? Read on for a complete preview of this matchup and while you’re at it, you can check out our complete NFL week 13 picks as America’s own football league enters its final home stretch.
[sc:Football ]Hamilton Tiger-Cats vs. Calgary Stampeders Betting Preview
When: Sunday, November 30, 6:00 PM ET
Where: BC Place, Vancouver
Line: Hamilton Tiger-Cats (+7.5) at Calgary Stampeders (-7.5); total: 52.0 – view Grey Cup line
Betting on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
There’s simply no quit with this Hamilton team. After starting the season 1-6, many were expecting the worst for the Tiger-Cats who were obviously still reeling from their Grey Cup defeat last year to Saskatchewan.
[sc:NFL240banner ]They bucked the odds, though, as they battled back to win eight of their last 11 games to nab the top spot in the Eastern Division. They continued their hot streak in the Division final with a comprehensive 40-24 win over the Montreal Alouettes to set up a clash with the mighty Calgary Stampeders in the Grey Cup.
The two sides met twice in the regular season with Calgary emerging victorious in both games. The good news for Hamilton, though, is that they kept the game close in both occasions even without their No. 1 quarterback Zach Collaros in the starting lineup (concussion). In their first meeting, the Ticats lost a narrow 10-7 affair while a late interception doomed them to a 30-20 defeat in their Week 8 clash.
With Collaros back, though, the Ticats will bring a new dimension to their offense that they will badly need against a tough defensive side such as Calgary. The Stamps are second in the league in scoring defense allowing just 19.3 points per game this season.
Collaros was solid for the Ticats this season as he completed 65.8 percent of his passes for 3,261 yards. Collaros was also fifth in the league in majors (touchdown) thrown with 15 to his name this year. He was disappointing, however, in that department the last time out as he completed just 18 of 27 passes for 199 yards with no touchdown in their meeting with Montreal.
It won’t get any easier for him this coming Sunday as he will face a Stamps pass-rush that is tied for fourth in sacks this season (50). Still, the Ticats will be glad that Collaros is in their starting lineup for the final. The Ticats were 8-5 this season with Collaros as their starter and just 1-4 without him.
Collaros is not the only game-changer in the Hamilton squad. Punt returner Brandon Banks fits that bill as well as evidenced by his star performance against Montreal in the division final. He posted a playoff-record 226 yards on five punt returns including two touchdowns to power the Ticats to victory.
If their offense bogs down, though, this coming Sunday, the Ticats still have a fighting chance because of their impressive defense. Hamilton is second in the league in total defense with the Ticats allowing just 337.2 YPG this season.
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Betting on the Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders will enter the championship game as 7.5 point favorites and rightfully so because of the way they have dominated the CFL this season. The Stamps finished the regular season with a league-best 15-3 record and sealed their place in the Grey Cup with an emphatic 43-18 win over the Edmonton Eskimos in the Western Division final last Monday.
Expected to lead the charge for the Stamps in the final is running back Jon Cornish. He’s the only player in the league this season to run for more than 1,000 yards (1,082) despite playing just nine regular-season games this year. He will have his work cut out for him, though, against the Tiger-Cats as they have the best rushing defense in the league today with Hamilton allowing just 72.7 yards per game on the ground this season.
Cornish, though, proved against Edmonton that he is no one-trick pony. He made his biggest impact on the receiving end against the Eskimos as he caught four passes for 120 yards and a touchdown. Credit for that also goes to quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell who has done an excellent job in orchestrating the offense for the Stamps this season.
Mitchell was solid in his first season as a starter, completing over 63 percent of his passes for 3,389 yards and 22 touchdowns with only eight interceptions. He carried that form into the Division final where he completed 14 of 22 passes for 336 yards and four majors to lead the Stamps to their second Grey Cup final in three years.
He will fancy his chances of leading the Stamps to the title this time around because of the way he has performed against the Ticats this season. Mitchell led Calgary to a perfect 2-0 record against Hamilton this season, completing 39-of-62 passes for 472 yards with a touchdown and an interception in those two games.
Writer’s Prediction
Calgary wins, 35-17, to capture the Grey Cup for the first time in six years.
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