CFL.ca Game Notes: A Look at Week 10

CFL | American Football | 08/17/2018

Photo: Johany Jutras

TORONTO — Travis Lulay and the BC Lions are looking to continue climbing in the West, while the post-Duron Carter era begins in Regina as Week 10 in the Canadian Football League has arrived.

The weekend kicks off in Winnipeg (5-3) on Friday night when the Ottawa REDBLACKS (5-3) visit Investors Group Field. The Blue Bombers enter the game on a three-game winning streak and a home record of 3-1. With kickoff at 8:30 p.m. ET, Ottawa will be looking to add separation in the East Division. In his last two games Trevor Harris has passed for more than 800 yards.

Saturday features two games. First, the BC Lions (3-4) visit the Toronto Argonauts (2-5) at BMO Field at 4 p.m. ET. The Argonauts come off a Week 9 bye following their 24-point comeback victory over the REDBLACKS in McLeod Bethel-Thompson’s first career start. The Lions are coming off an 11-point comeback victory of their own last week versus the Edmonton Eskimos. Travis Lulay will get his 74th start while Bethel-Thompson will enter his second.

At 9 p.m. ET on Saturday the Montreal Alouettes (1-7) will step onto The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium to face the Edmonton Eskimos (5-3). Montreal comes off a narrow loss in Week 9 versus Ottawa and will be looking to get their second victory over a West opponent this season on the road. Edmonton will attempt to bounce back from the Week 9 loss to BC. The Esks own the league’s top net offence, averaging 412 yards per game.

Week 10’s finale has the undefeated Calgary Stampeders (7-0) taking on Saskatchewan Roughriders (3-4) in Regina on Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET. The two teams met in Week 7 where Calgary raced to a 24-0 lead and never looked back. Calgary is looking to start 8-0 for the first time since 1993 when they started 10-0. The Roughriders are coming off a bye and are 2-1 following their last three bye weeks. That one loss came to Calgary last year in Week 5.

CFL OFFICIALS IN THE NFL

As part of the CFL-NFL Officiating Development Program, three CFL officials will take part in NFL Week 2 pre-season games this week. Each official will be positioned as the field judge:
- On Thursday, Aug. 16 at Lambeau Field, Winnipeg native Ritchie Miller will be part of the crew that officiates the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Green Bay Packers. Miller, who is in his 10th season, has officiated 158 games and four Grey Cups.
- On Saturday, Aug. 18, Misson, B.C. native Rob Skaggs will be part of the officiating crew for the Cincinnati Bengals at Dallas Cowboys game. Skaggs has 15 years of CFL experience and 168 games under his belt.
- Monday, Aug. 20 will see Hamilton, Ont. native Tom Vallesi take part in the Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts game. Vallesi has 16 years and 243 games of experience and has officiated two Grey Cup games.

868 PASSING YARDS IN TWO GAMES

Ottawa REDBLACKS quarterback Trevor Harris has passed for 868 yards in his last two games (381 vs. TOR, 487 vs. MTL).
Harris’ 54 pass attempts last week versus Montreal was the most ever thrown by an Ottawa quarterback.
In the fourth quarter, Harris went 12-for-15 for 128 yards in his 11^th career fourth quarter winning drive.
In the last 20 years (since 1998), 868-plus passing yards in a two-game stretch has occurred just eight times:

CFL Record:

Kent Austin | 1,053 yards | Oct 23-31/93 | 546, 507

Notable:

Matt Dunigan | 1,047 yards | Jul 8-14/94 | 334, 713

**Note: Dunigan followed that with 332-yard game the next week.**

50 TOUCHDOWNS BY A QB

Edmonton Eskimos QB and reigning MOP Mike Reilly currently has a league-leading 16 touchdown passes and a league-leading seven rushing touchdowns for a total of 23 majors.
Reilly is on pace for 52 touchdowns this season. If he were to reach that mark he would join Doug Flutie as the only quarterback to achieve the mark in a single season. Flutie achieved 50-plus TDs in a season on four occasions:
- 56 TDs | 1994 | 48 Pass, 8 Rush
- 55 TDs | 1993 | 44 Pass, 11 Rush
- 52 TDs | 1991 | 38 Pass, 14 Rush
- 52 TDs | 1997 | 47 Pass, 5 Rush
Other notable QBs to get close to the 50 TD mark include:
- Matt Dunigan | 47 | 1993 | 36 Pass, 11 Rush
- Khari Jones | 47 | 2002 | 46 Pass, 1 Rush
- Kent Austin | 46 | 1992 | 35 Pass, 11 Rush
- Anthony Calvillo | 45 | 2008 | 43 Pass, 2 Rush
- Henry Burris | 43 | 2012 | 43 Pass, 0 Rush
- Henry Burris | 42 | 2008 | 39 Pass, 3 Rush
Last season Reilly recorded 42 total touchdowns (30 Pass, 12 Rush).

STAMPEDERS DEFENCE

At 7-0, Calgary has an astonishing 120+point differential behind the second-highest scoring team (29.4 points per game) and the stingiest defence only allowing 12.3 points per game.
The next best defence from a scoring perspective is Winnipeg, a nine-point difference (21.3).
Here are some of the defensive stats that Calgary currently tops, as well as the stats of the next best team for comparison:
- Opponent net offence | Calgary 255.2 yards | Saskatchewan 309.3 yards
- Opponent pass TDs | Calgary 5 | Winnipeg 5
- Opponent yards per play | Calgary 4.9 yards | Winnipeg 5.7 yards
- 1^st downs allowed | Calgary 107 | Saskatchewan 125
- 1^st down average yards allowed | Calgary 4.8 yards | Winnipeg 5.9 yards
- Rush yards allowed | Calgary 72.3 yards | Saskatchewan 76.6
- Rush TDs allowed | Calgary 3 | Saskatchewan 5
- Pass yards allowed | Calgary 199.7 yards | Hamilton 201.9 yards
- Average pass yards allowed | Calgary 6.1 yards | Hamilton 7.1 yards
- 30-plus yard completions allowed | Calgary 5 | Winnipeg 9
- Opponent pass efficiency | Calgary 68.8 | Winnipeg 77.5
Other key stats to their impressive start:
- Plus-17 turnover ratio (ranked 1^st)
- 32:43 average time of possession (ranked 1^st)
- Nine sacks allowed (tied for 1^st)
- Eight turnovers (fewest)
- 50 penalties (second fewest)
- 29 two & outs (tied for 1^st)
The last time they went 8-0 was in 1993 when they started the year 10-0. They went on to finish 15-3 and lose in the Western Final.
The Stampeders are on pace for a plus-44 turnover ratio for the season, which would break a CFL record held by Edmonton in 1981 when they recorded plus-41. Calgary’s club record is plus-27 set in 1996.
Bo Levi Mitchell’s record is now 63-10-2 in 75 starts. He is one victory away from joining Sam Etcheverry (64-57-1) in the top-20 all-time with 64 and two away from joining Kent Austin (65-59-1) with 65. Mitchell has done this in his fifth season as the number one quarterback in Calgary.

QUICK SLANTS

Eight of the last nine games were not decided until the final 3:00 (last 15 games, 67 per cent decided in last 3:00).
On average there are 4.29 turnovers per game, a 20 per cent increase from last season.
Teams are 94.8 per cent successful kicking the convert this season, a 4.9 per cent increase from last season’s 89.9 per cent.
The BC Lions have not won on the road this season (0-4) and this week they take on the Argonauts at BMO Field. However, BC has not lost a regular season game in Toronto since the Argonauts moved to BMO Field, going 2-0 the past two years and have won four straight in Toronto.
The last BC Lions loss in Toronto dates back to 2013.
Edmonton has the most 20-plus yard downfield depth TDs this season with 10. However, they also have the most interceptions from the same depth (six).
Two teams average fewer than 10 yards per pass depth this season: Saskatchewan 8.9 yards and Toronto 9.6 yards. Hamilton leads the league with an average of 13.2 yards.
Touchdowns on average come every six drives. However, when a sack is allowed on a drive it drops to one TD for the sacked team per 31 drives.
Three teams have not converted a two-point conversion this season: Hamilton (0/2), Saskatchewan (0/2) and Winnipeg (0/1). Toronto (4/9) and Ottawa (6/9) lead the league with nine attempts.
Combined Yards Leaders: BC Chris Rainey (1,229), OTT Diontae Spencer (1,122) and SSK Christion Jones (1,060)
Saskatchewan’s Charleston Hughes is one sack away from reaching 10 on the season. It would mark his sixth season with 10 or more sacks. He currently has a four-sack lead over Jackson Jeffcoat, Odell Willis and Kwaku Boateng.
Tackle Race: Three of the top four tacklers in the CFL are national players: Chris Ackie (48), Henoc Muamba (46) and Alex Singleton (45). Each player is chasing Adam Bighill, who has 49 tackles on the season.
Fastest to 60 Receptions: Brad Sinopoli has 60 catches in his first eight games. He is one of three players in CFL history to reach 60 catches at the eight-game mark. Derrell Mitchell set the record at 64 in his first seven games in 1998. Allen Pitts reached 62 receptions after eight games in 1991. Six other players reached 60 receptions after nine games.
Lewis Ward now holds the CFL record for most consecutive field goals made by a first-year player. He has made 22 in a row.
Weston Dressler needs one catch against Ottawa this week to join Darren Flutie with the seventh-longest consecutive game reception streak. Dressler is currently at 121 games in a row with at least one reception.
This week Calgary will be looking to add to a very unusual record. They have led all seven of their 2018 games by at least 14 points, matching the CFL record set by the 1982 Winnipeg Blue Bombers and 2011 BC Lions.
Andrew Harris needs the following rushing totals:
- 12 yards to become the 14^th player to reach 7,000 yards in his career
- Seven yards to pass Earl Lunsford (6,994) for 14^th all-time
- 20 yards to pass Dick Shatto (7,007) for 13^th all-time
- 73 yards to pass Jim Evenson (7,060) for 12^th all-time

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