CFL Beat: Playoffs – Division Semifinals

We made it! The playoffs are here! It’s one of my favourite times of year for football; with most of my backyard leaves down relatively early this year, I should have more time and space to watch football than I have in years previous. Now if only I can deal with this pesky report card situation before my little Concertmaster is supposed to arrive in just over two weeks’ time… Hopefully we can have the season wrapped up pretty well in full before they make their appearance to the world.

In league news this week:

• • The Ottawa REDBLACKS have fired head coach Bob Dyce after three seasons at the helm. This was 100% necessary and inevitable, even with one season left on his deal; he may well be a tremendous human being and a leader of men, but no doubt that his actual in-game decision-making has been pretty much apocalyptically bad in pretty well his entire tenure as a head coach. GM Shaun Burke will have one final opportunity to hire a head coach, and he needs to get it right; as a lame-duck GM with one year left on his deal this feels like exceptionally weird timing, however. I personally think he should’ve also been given the axe due to some terrible results in his tenure here, but with the CFL’s asinine salary cap on coaching and football ops people, I have strong reason to believe that it may not be possible at this point. Regardless, OSEG, the owners of the REDBLACKS and the operators of the TD Place and Arena facilities at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa, have operated in recent years like they truly believe the real estate portion of this agreement with the city is the only actual thing of value to the business. That’s not endearing themselves to fans in the slightest.
  • The 2027 Grey Cup will be hosted at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders; the team last played host in 2022. That makes this four straight Western Grey Cups in a row; last year in Vancouver, this year in Winnipeg, 2026 in Calgary and 2027 in Regina. When will the East see another title game? Hard to say with stadium situations currently not sufficient to host in Ottawa and Montreal, not to mention marketing and attendance issues in Toronto…
  • The CFL also confirmed this week as part of their announcement for the 2027 Grey Cup that the league will be moving up the start of the season by one week, resulting in a Grey Cup that will be played on Sunday, November 7th; while there’s probably some benefit to trying to play a bit more of the season in warmer weather, this will make the start of training camps more difficult for teams, as that mid-May start date is historically convenient for teams figuring out how to attract undrafted college players and other early-offseason NFL cuts in need of work for the summer. Ultimately, it feels to me like it’s creeping closer towards being spring football and catering more towards an American audience, which similarly worries me.
  • In a crazy example of the rouge – soon to be lost forever to the sands of time due to the widespread rule changes to Canadian football that begin next season – the University of Guelph Gryphons eliminated the powerhouse Western University Mustangs 18-17 on a walk-off rouge in the Ontario University Athletics conference playoffs. Following a missed field goal that went wide left, with no time left on the clock, all the return man had to do was get the ball out of the end zone. It even would’ve been legal for him to kick the ball out of the end zone had he had the foresight to do so… instead, he was forced out of bounds inside, awarding the single point to the Gryphons as time expired, handing Western their earliest playoff loss in 22 years.

🏈FB HIGHLIGHT: Nothing says Canadian football like a walkoff rouge! @GryphonFB wins it on the rouge to pull off the upset on the road in dramatic fashion! #GryphonPride pic.twitter.com/Wb4KNMdsBI

— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) October 25, 2025

Onto the games!

WEEK 21 RECAPS

Ottawa 15 vs. Hamilton 35: The REDBLACKS ended their season with a whimper, as they barely put up a fight and allowed the Tiger-Cats to clinch the East Division title and a first-round playoff bye with the win. Tyrie Adams, in his second start for Ottawa, was benched for the second half, and replaced by Matt Shiltz, a longtime vet who hadn’t played since Week 2 of the regular season, when he threw three bad interceptions in a losing effort against Montreal… and proceeded to throw four more interceptions in what may well be his final game in the CFL as a quarterback. A big relief for Hamilton to get a week off; they’re going to need it, considering how strong the Alouettes are right now and the team’s difficulties in dealing with Winnipeg this season.

PICK: Hamilton

RESULT: Hamilton

Calgary 20 vs. Edmonton 10: Not the world’s most exciting matchup to end off the regular season, but the Stamps got the job done against the Elks. Calgary had four field goals from Rene Paredes and a rushing TD from backup QB Quincy Vaughn, while the Elks had one pass TD from Cody Fajardo and a field goal from Vincent Blanchard. Calgary had a 16-0 lead going into halftime, and kept the Elks most in check defensively through the final two frames; Edmonton may have ended the year on the outside of the playoff race looking in, but to their credit, it does feel like things are finally starting to turn around a little bit for this beleaguered franchise. Many big offseason moves loom; in particular, Tre Ford’s future as a quarterback for the Elks will be a significant question for which many pundits will be seeking an answer, myself included.

PICK: Calgary

RESULT: Calgary

Montreal 10 vs. Winnipeg 19: With the Ti-Cats having clinched the division the night before, the Alouettes rested a lot of key starters, including QB Davis Alexander; the Bombers, knowing they would be on the road regardless for their playoff game, followed suit by sitting Zach Collaros and a few others. In a battle of backups, Winnipeg ultimately came out on top, though it did cost them a season-ending injury to primary backup QB Chris Streveler, who’s now sadly done for the year from a nasty-looking knee injury. These two teams will face off again for the second week in a row this week, and both will look fairly different by playing their starters in this next go-around.

PICK: Montreal

RESULT: Winnipeg

BC 27 vs. Saskatchewan 21: Nathan Rourke had another brilliant game, with 368 passing yards, 3 TDs and a pick, and the Lions knocked off the division champs to earn the right to host the West semifinal this week. As I mentioned in previous weeks, this game was my pick for what I believe to be a West final preview, and ultimately, the Lions’ red-hot offence looks absolutely terrifying right now. Trevor Harris played the first quarter of this game for Saskatchewan, in part to try and avoid the rust building up too much, but was pulled early to keep him healthy for the West final; Jake Maier and Jack Coan both took some snaps again and Coan ended up sneaking in two TDs from short yardage. Ultimately, the Lions got the winning score when Rourke found favourite receiver Keon Hatcher in the end zone with just over three minutes to play; the Leos then had a big stop on D to force a turnover on downs and ultimately the victory.

PICK: BC

RESULT: BC

BYE: Toronto (5-13)

DIVISION SEMIFINAL PREVIEWS

EAST DIVISION SEMIFINAL

(C) Winnipeg (10-8) vs. (2) Montreal (10-8), Saturday, November 1st, 2:00 PM EDT (CTV, TSN, CFL+): Davis Alexander’s record as a starting QB in the CFL is now at 11-0, a truly remarkable figure. He’s the lynchpin of Montreal’s entire team; if they have an Achilles heel, it’s that the entire squad seems to completely fall apart when he’s not in the lineup. That’s quite the ability for a single player to influence a game in the manner that he does – but the Als need him more than anyone realizes. I think. The Blue Bombers have had a really inconsistent year compared to many of their previous seasons, though I also said some similar comments about them last year as they ultimately were en route to their fifth consecutive Grey Cup game appearance. No crossover team has ever made it all the way to the title game, let alone won it – and while we can’t rule out playoff magic that seems to happen every year in the CFL, it still feels like some really, really tough sledding for Winnipeg this week. If they do it, it’ll be by bringing the house at Davis Alexander on literally every single play. That might be their only option left. Stamina be damned, really.

PICK: Montreal

WEST DIVISION SEMIFINAL

(3) Calgary (11-7) vs. (2) BC (11-7), Saturday, November 1st, 5:30 PM EDT (TSN, CFL+): The Lions have owned the Stamps this year. They head into the playoffs with the league’s top-ranked offence, and with the league’s most exciting QB to boot. Having already walloped Calgary twice, a playoff victory here would really, truly, once and for all, put to bed the question of whether BC kept the correct QB when they elected to trade away Vernon Adams, Jr. to Calgary, who now faces off against them for the third time this year. As good as the Stamps have been, and I still strongly feel they’re a feel-good story after having been written off by so many to start the season – my gut still tells me that the Lions are absolutely terrifying right now and are my personal pick to win this year’s Grey Cup. I don’t like anyone’s chances against them as long as Nathan Rourke is healthy.

PICK: BC

BYE: (1) Hamilton (11-7), (1) Saskatchewan (12-6)

REGULAR SEASON FINAL STANDINGS AND STATS

East Division Standings

West Division Standings

x – clinched playoff spot
y – clinched division
e – eliminated from playoff contention

Passing Yards

1. Mitchell, HAM – 5296
2. Rourke, BC – 5290
3. Harris, SSK – 4549

Passing TDs

1. Mitchell, HAM – 36
2. Rourke, BC – 31
3. Arbuckle, TOR – 26

Rushing Yards

1. Mills, CGY – 1409
2. Ouellette, SSK – 1222
3. Butler, BC – 1213

Receiving Yards

1. Hatcher, BC – 1688
2. Lawler, HAM – 1443
3. McInnis, BC – 1256

Defensive Tackles

1. Awe, BC – 117
2. Jones, WPG – 104
3. Sankey, MTL – 103

Sacks

1. Betts, BC – 15
2. Howsare, HAM – 13
3. Hicks, CGY – 12

Interceptions

1. McFadden, TOR – 6
2. Peters, HAM  – 6
3. Katsantonis, HAM – 6

Field Goals

1. Maltos Diaz, MTL – 58
2. Hajrullahu, TOR – 57
3. Liegghio, HAM – 52

PICK POOL FINAL STANDINGS

Well, it ended up being a very close final race – but Mr. Ayo held on to claim the 2025 pick pool title by a single point over runner-up SonOfSpam! Congrats on another great season to all; Mr. Ayo has been contacted by me about his prize which I hope will make it to his place within the next few business days though it is somewhat dependent on the rolling strikes going on at Canada Post right now. Cheers to all and looking forward to our 2026 competition already. Maybe ONE of these years I can actually win this thing…

Enjoy the games, everyone.