In one of the biggest sporting events of the year, the 100th Grey Cup takes place Sunday in Toronto. The 12-6 Calgary Stampeders face the 9-9 Toronto Argonauts.
The game will have the two finalists for the 2012 Canadian Football League’s most outstanding player award. On Thursday we learned that Argonauts’ wide receiver Chad Owens, who set a CFL record for most all-purpose yards in one season, had more votes than Calgary Stampeder running back Jon Cornish.
This is the third time the Stampeders are facing the Argonauts for the Grey Cup, and 2012 is drastically different compared to 1971 and 1991 when the Argonauts entered the game as the heavy favourite and entered the game as a team the rest of the Canadian Football League were adamantly not pulling for. That tendency isn’t here this time around, and if you go by one Calgary player’s undisciplined actions prior to the Western Final, many football fans nationwide are tempted to cheer for Ricky Ray, Jim Barker and the Argonauts.
The Grey Cup will take place Sunday at 4pm on TSN.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
The CFL handed out its player awards on Thursday night and Chad Owens, wide receiver of the Toronto Argonauts was named the most outstanding player for 2012. Owens beat out Jon Cornish, the running back of the Calgary Stampeders, who ended up winning the CFL Most Outstanding Canadian award.
Cornish was trying to become the first Canadian to win the most outstanding player award since Tony Gabriel won the award with the Hamilton Tiger Cats in 1978.
So why did the panel go with a wide receiver over a running back? Well, it’s quite possible it stems from a mooning incident Cornish had with the Saskatchewan Roughrider crowd earlier this year. The CFL was simply not comfortable handing out an award to an athlete who lacked complete judgment in a particular situation.
In other awards, linebacker J.C. Sherritt of the Edmonton Eskimos was the top defensive player, Jovan Olafioye of the British Columbia Lions was the top lineman and wide receiver Chris Matthews of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers was the top rookie.
The Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders will meet in the 100th Grey Cup a week from today at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
On Sunday, three Toronto Argonauts had outstanding offensive performances in a 27-20 win over the Montreal Alouettes. Ricky Ray passed for 399 yards, Chad Kackert had 139 rushing yards and wide receiver Chad Owens had 207 receiving yards.
Toronto bounced back after a 17-10 halftime deficit and an inability to score any points on a second quarter drive where they were first and goal at Montreal’s one yard line.
The Stampeders meanwhile beat the B.C. Lions 34-29 in equally an impressive offensve performance. Quarterback Kevin Glenn, who will be starting in his first career Grey Cup game, threw for 303 yards. Running back Jon Cornish ran for 112 yards and wide receiver Maurice Price had 117 yards receiving.
A major reason for Calgary’s success was because Glenn was able to connect with Marquay McDaniel for a 68 yard touchdown pass in the first quarter and Romby Bryant for a 57 yard pass in the third quarter.
In one of the most dramatic finishes in Canadian Football League history, the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders Sunday night in the western division semi-final at McMahon Stadium 36-30.
Trailing 29-23 with a minute and a second left, the Roughriders moved ahead on a 24 yard pass from Darian Durant to former Edmonton Eskimo Greg Carr which put Saskatchewan up 30-29.
But the Stampeders weren’t done. With only 39 seconds left, Drew Tate found Romby Bryant wide open down the sideline for a 68 yard touchdown pass to put Calgary up 35-30. (Tate had an unsuccessful two point conversion).
I will be watching four kinds of football this weekend–the professional and collegiate variety from both sides of the border.
Obviously the biggest games are the Canadian Football League’s divisional semi-finals.
In the East, the Toronto Argonauts are hosting the Edmonton Eskimos (Sunday, 11am, TSN) in a game that is featuring former Eskimo Ricky Ray, now at quarterback for Toronto. The Eskimos finished the season at 7-11 and the Argonauts at 9-9. However Edmonton did beat Toronto in both meetings this year, 19-15 on June 30 and 26-17 on August 27.
According to the Canadian Press, Calgary Stampeders’ running back Jon Cornish has been nominated for the Canadian Football League’s most outstanding player award.
Cornish, who will represent the Western Division, led the Canadian Football League this season with 1457 rushing yards and tied Kory Sheets of the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the CFL lead in rushing touchdowns with 11. Cornish also set a record for most rushing yards in a season by a Canadian and became the first Canadian to lead the CFL in rushing yards since Orville Lee of the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1988.
Cornish, a native of New Westminster, British Columbia, is up against Toronto Argonauts wide receiver Chad Owens, who set a CFL single season record for most all-purpose yards in 2012.
The last Calgary Stampeder to win the most outstanding player award was quarterback Henry Burris in 2010.
Cornish has also been nominated for top Canadian, where he is up against Montreal Alouette linebacker Shea Emery of Richmond, British Columbia.
This week on the show we talk about some big news from the Edmonton Eskimos and examine their chances in the playoffs, and we discuss the latest CBA news and look at how the young guns of the Edmonton Oilers are doing down in OKC. As well, some UFC talk with a possible women’s division and two more failed drug tests after UFC 153.
In the GABBYs: Justin Schultz, JC Sherritt, Jon Cornish, Luis Suarez, Lance Armstrong, soccer fans and the Chomutov Pirates.
We now know who will play who in next weekend’s divisional semi-finals of the Canadian Football League.
Last night, Rene Paredes kicked a game winning 44 yard field goal as the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 30-27. With the loss, the Eskimos will now cross over into the East and play the Toronto Argonauts in the Eastern Division Semi-Final with the winner playing the Montreal Alouettes in the Eastern Final. The Stampeders meanwhile will host the Saskatchewan Roughriders at McMahon Stadium next week, with the winner playing the British Columbia Lions in the Western Final.
The Eskimos played their last outdoor game of the season Friday night. All of their playoff games will be indoors. This could help Matt Nichols, who should be the starting quarterback as the Eskimos go forward. He doesn’t have to worry about the cold weather conditions that November brings. Edmonton was also 2-0 against Toronto this season.
The Calgary Stampeders are headed to the postseason.
On Saturday, Kevin Glenn threw for two touchdowns and had 286 yards passing in a 32-21 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
With the win, the Stampeders improve to 9-6 and cannot be caught by the 5-10 Hamilton Tiger-Cats, meaning they are guaranteed at least a cross-over into the Eastern Division.
A major reason for the Calgary win was simply turnovers. Winnipeg turned the football over seven times, including four interceptions by quarterback Joey Elliott.
The Calgary Stampeders have won the season series against the Edmonton Eskimos.
Jon Cornish ran for 180 yards and became the eighth Canadian running back to record 1,000 yards rushing in a season as the Stampeders defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 39-15 at McMahon Stadium.
With the win, the Stampeders now have won all three meetings this season against Edmonton, with one more game to be played at Commonwealth Stadium on November 2 to close out the regular season. Calgary improves to 8-5, while the Edmonton Eskimos drop to 5-8 and remain in the basement in the Canadian Football League’s Western Division.
Just how bad has the Eskimos’ defense been the last few weeks? They have now given up 121 points in their last three road games. Rush defense is a major issue, as not only did Cornish ran for 180 yards and two touchdowns, but backup running back Matt Walter rushed for 55 yards on only six carries as well.
For most of the season, Calgary running back Jon Cornish has made the headlines for all of the right reasons. He leads the Canadian Football League with 947 rushing yards and is a strong contender to be the first Canadian to be named the Most Outstanding Player since Ottawa Rough Riders quarterback Russ Jackson in 1969.
On Sunday however, Cornish made the headlines for the wrong reasons.
According to the Canadian Press, Cornish was fined Monday for mooning the Saskatchewan Roughrider crowd in Calgary’s 30-25 loss Sunday at Mosaic Stadium. He apologized for his actions on Monday.
In a press conference, Calgary Stampeders’ head coach and general manager John Hufnagel confirmed Cornish “pulled his pants down low”.
It will be interesting to see if Cornish’s inappropriate conduct will cost him a chance of winning the Most Outstanding Player award, where he is presently up against Montreal Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo and British Columbia Lions quarterback Travis Lulay at this stage of the CFL season.
Who do you think should be the CFL MOP so far this season? Has Cornish blown his chance for his inappropriate act? Let us know at www.anysportanytime.ca.
One of the most intriguing stories heading into the weekend, is how the Calgary Stampeders’ running game will respond to Saskatchewan Roughriders’ head coach Cory Chamblin’s guarantee this week that the Riders will limit Jon Cornish to under 100 yards.
I really liked the Stampeders’ response actually. Both Cornish and John Hufnagel (Calgary’s head coach and general manager) both responded with the statement that all they are concerned about is winning football games and they could care less about statistics.
The Edmonton Eskimos lost a heartbreaker Friday night at Commonwealth Stadium.
Kicker Grant Shaw hit the upright on the final play of the game in a 20-18 loss to the Calgary Stampeders.
The Stampeders were the better team on the night for one reason. His name was Jon Cornish.
Cornish, could be considered not only the best Canadian running back in the CFL at the moment, but the best running back in the entire league. He had 185 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown. On two carries, he got by the Eskimos defense with complete ease. He recorded a 59 yard touchdown one time and got by six Eskimo defenders for 30 yards that set up a key Stampeder field goal on another spectacular run.
The Edmonton Eskimos got a big help Friday night from the Montreal Alouettes.
Anthony Calvillo continues to be great over forty years of age. Friday, Calvillo threw for two touchdown passes and 321 yards in a 30-25 win over the British Columbia Lions.
With the win both teams move to 6-3, but most importantly from an Eskimo perspective, Edmonton can move into first place with a victory Monday in Calgary in the Labour Day classic at McMahon Stadium.
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