More so than the 4-14 record, which was the CFL’s worst, the Winnipeg Blue bombers’ ATS record stands out. 10-7-1. They beat the spread in more than half their games despite being the league’s worst team.
The Edmonton Eskimos enter the 2011 season with more new parts than returning parts which immediately is a cause for concern. But hopes are that the stout Football mind of new General Manager Eric Tillman will be able to weave a little magic alongside new Head Coach Kavis Reed.
The British Columbia Lions are the team likely to be the most improved this season and it’s a good thing as they are playing host to the Grey Cup this season.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders will try for their third straight trip to the Championship Game in 2011 with hopes of breaking through with an overdue win. Gone is All-Star receiver Andy Fantuz (1,380 yards, 6 td) but remaining are Darian Durant (5,552 yards, 25 td) and running back Wes Cates (1,053 yards 15 td).
The Calgary Stampeders have been one of the better teams in the CFL over the past couple of seasons but they still have a lot of work to do as demonstrated by their second straight early departure from the playoffs.
Long live Jim Barker. The 2010 Coach of the Year was the single biggest reason for the Toronto Argonauts’ return to relevance last season. Sure, Toronto only went 9-9 and lost seven of its final 11 regular-season games, but the team won seven games in 2008 and 2009 combined.
As a team that really fell on some hard times during the 2000s and hasn’t won the Grey Cup since 1999, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have potential to be a nice redemption story in 2011. They quietly started last season 1-4 before rallying to go 8-5 over their final 13 games.
Is the CFL’s Eastern Division finally up for grabs in 2011 after years of dominance by the Montreal Alouettes? That’s the big question entering this season, one of the most anticipated in recent years. The Als have traditionally owned the East, representing the division in the Grey Cup a whopping eight times from 2000 to 2010.
After all the parity that has spread throughout the Canadian Football League this season, we are back to where we were last year. On Sunday, Nov. 28 it’s the Montreal Alouettes vs. the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the 2010 Grey Cup – live from Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta.
Time: 6:30 PM / McMahon Stadium
Team records:
Saskatchewan: 10-7-1 SU, 10-7-1 ATS
Montreal: 15-3 SU, 11-7 ATS
Talk about a football frenzy.
While the NCAAF season nears the conference championships and bowl season, and the NFL is in the midst of Week 12, there’s also the Canadian Football League championship, the Grey Cup, happening on Sunday.
