CFL Beat: Your 2025 Season Wrap-Up

The Maestro - November 20, 2025November 19, 2025

Another season, another end-of-year wrapup. Once again, the Grey Cup surprised and entertained us all, in the best way possible! And best of all, my end-of-year recap was finished before baby’s arrival. So glad to be so punctual. Before the recap, we’ll lead off with the final round of league news for 2025:

The 2025 CFL award winners were also announced on Thursday, November 14th, in advance of the Grey Cup game.
- Most Outstanding Player: QB Nathan Rourke, BC
- Most Outstanding Defensive Player: DE Mathieu Betts, BC
- Most Outstanding Canadian: QB Nathan Rourke, BC
- Most Outstanding Lineman: OL Jermarcus Hardrick, SSK
- Most Outstanding Special Teams Player: KR Trey Vaval, WPG
- Most Outstanding Rookie: KR Trey Vaval, WPG
- Jake Gaudaur Veterans’ Award (player best portraying positive qualities found in members of the Canadian Armed Forces): LB Logan Ferland, SSK
- Tom Pate Memorial Award (for community service and sportsmanship): OL Andrew Peirson, BC
Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ head coach Mike O’Shea will be back with the team for the 2026 regular season, as will GM Kyle Walters; both men signed contract extensions that will keep them with the team through the 2028 season. Thus ends lots of speculation that hottest coaching prospect in the league might jump to Ontario to coach the Argos or become the GM of the Tiger-Cats… The search continues for both Toronto and Hamilton.
The Toronto Argonauts asked the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for permission to speak with president of football ops Orlondo Steinauer about their vacant head coach position. Steinauer served as the Ti-Cats’ head coach through the 2023 season in addition to being POFO since 2021, and led the team to two Grey Cup appearances in five years as the field boss, but never won the big one; Steinauer has a history as a player and coach with both the Tabbies and Argos, but I’m not sure whether or not he feels the pull to return to the sidelines after spending time in his prominent front office role in Hamilton for the last four years.
The Argos are also rumoured to be after former Ti-Cats head coach Kent Austin, now currently serving as Auburn’s QB coach. Hard to say if Austin wants to come back to Canada at this point in his long career, but the allure of a head coaching gig can sometimes be special…

Onto the game!

112th GREY CUP RECAP

(2E) Montreal vs. (1W) Saskatchewan, Princess Auto Stadium, Winnipeg, MB

First Quarter

Saskatchewan won the toss and elected to defer; Montreal started with the ball. Davis Alexander, in an uncharacteristic move, threw a deep ball that was picked off by Riders DB Marcus Sayles, quickly flipping the field. On Saskatchewan’s subsequent drive, Montreal’s Kabion Ento aaaaalmost returned the favour on a Trevor Harris pass, but just couldn’t quite secure the ball to make it a true interception. The Riders were forced to punt… but the Montreal return man was caught in the end zone, meaning that Saskatchewan opened the game’s scoring with a…

ROUGE!

On Montreal’s next drive, Alexander made amends for his earlier pick by finding star receiver Tyson Philpot for a massive 37-yard pickup, and then again on a fearless slant route to set up first and goal. Backup QB Shea Patterson, the Als’ short-yardage specialist and former Roughrider, was denied the QB sneak from two yards out on 2nd and goal, but Montreal elected to keep it and go for it on third down; Patterson plunged into the end zone and took a 7-1 lead following the extra point by kicker Jose Maltos Diaz.

Saskatchewan started to march, with Trevor Harris finding Dohnte Meyers deep for a big connection as time wound down on the opening frame.

Second Quarter

The Riders’ drive continued, with Sam Emilus picking up another big gain in space to take Saskatchewan down into the red zone. Surprisingly, the Alouettes’ D had a big goal line stop, with Kabion Ento again breaking up Trevor Harris’ pass on 3rd and 2, turning it over on downs and handing the ball back to Montreal… But wait! Corey Mace successfully challenged the call for defensive pass interference on Ento, allowing the Riders to punch the ball in from the 1. After the convert, the Riders took an 8-7 lead. A huge call on the Alouettes, particularly because the DPI call didn’t look obvious on first glance.

After an ineffective drive by the Als, Saskatchewan got the ball back, and RB AJ Ouellette proceeded to run roughshod, with a big run to take the Riders deep into the red zone; he then capped off the drive by scoring the major, which extended Saskatchewan’s lead to 15-7 after the convert kick.

Davis Alexander, despite his hamstring injury, ran for a first down to set up the Als for one last deep shot, but threw another interception to DB Rolan Milligan, Jr. as time expired.

Halftime

This year’s performer was mgk, formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly (you might also better know him as Megan Fox’s baby daddy). I also learned apparently he used to rap at one point? Not sure why he was doing pop rock stuff if so, but whatever pays the bills, I guess. Did I know a single one of the songs? No. Was it a waste of time? Honestly, no. It was fine. The band played their own instruments, could clearly delineate a melody, and, most importantly of all, acted like they wanted to be there. Pretty middle of the road as far as halftime shows go; the league easily could’ve done far worse. It’s the kind of selection made by ten zillion focus groups in some strip mall parking lot; all in all, I have no problem that the league wanted to play it relatively safe this year.

Third Quarter

Having deferred to start the game, Saskatchewan got the ball to start the second half, and made no mistake; Tommy Nield had a huge grab to get the Riders down to the Montreal 1, when Tommy Stevens punched it in on a QB sneak to extend the lead to 22-7. The Als tried to respond, but couldn’t get the deep ball to land; Davis Alexander threw his third pick of the game, this time to DB Tevaughn Campbell, giving Saskatchewan good field position at midfield. While they couldn’t score a TD off the turnover, Brett Lauther kicked a field goal to further expand the lead to 25-7. Montreal’s next drive finally saw a little bit more momentum – leading receiver Tyler Snead finally got his first catch of the game to move the chains, while Tyson Philpot beat Tevaughn Campbell in man coverage to get even more yardage. Davis Alexander looked to the end zone on another deep ball, which was broken up, but did get a pass interference call to set up a goal line drive; RB Stevie Scott pounded it in and cut the Saskatchewan lead to 11, with the West champs now up 25-14 with one frame left to play.

Fourth Quarter

The Alouettes were showing a little bit more life offensively after their TD late in the third quarter; a long drive, aided in part by a roughing the passer call, looked promising, but Malik Carney’s effective pass rush on Davis Alexander stalled Montreal out on 2nd down, forcing a chip shot field goal from Jose Maltos Diaz to reduce Saskatchewan’s lead to 25-17. On Saskatchewan’s next drive, the Riders had a bit of pressure going; the drive stalled out at the Montreal 31 on 3rd and 2, bringing Brett Lauther out to kick his second field goal of the game; he missed that one, keeping it a one-score game for the Alouettes to try and keep their comeback moving.

On the next drive, Davis Alexander found Tyler Snead deep down the right sideline for a monster catch; the very next play, Stevie Scott got the Als down to the Saskatchewan 10 on a great run after turning the corner. And then… in a devastating turn of events… Shea Patterson fumbled at the goal line on the sneak, with Marcus Sayles scooping up the loose ball and staving off the tying score. Because the fumble was ruled to have been recovered in the end zone (which it probably shouldn’t have been), it also automatically moved Saskatchewan up to their own 30 to begin their drive. Saskatchewan got themselves a gift on that call. Regardless, they had to punt with 1:28 left on the clock, and the Alouettes had one final chance to try and tie things up.

Davis Alexander, hobbling mightily on his hamstring, ran to pick up five yards, allowing him to find his checkdown for another first down on the next play; alas, the Als couldn’t get things done, with the final play of the game, a heave to the end zone, batted away by the Riders. The Grey Cup heads back to Regina for the first time since 2013.

Aftermath

With just their fifth title in 115 years of existence, the Roughriders, ever popular, still haven’t had a ton to celebrate in their long history as a Canadian football team. With all the recent success of their prairie rivals in Winnipeg, this year’s title, in their rivals’ house, is probably going to feel absolutely incredible. Davis Alexander’s career-opening win streak is now over; credit to him for gutting out this game, but he was definitely hampered by that hamstring. It would’ve been interesting to see how things would’ve shaken out had he been 100% healthy. Still, things look incredibly bright in Montreal, with a young quarterback and excellent receiving corps forming the core of this team for a number of seasons to come.

Saskatchewan receiver Samuel Emilus won the Most Outstanding Canadian award for his excellent game in the Grey Cup, racking up 108 receiving yards; QB Trevor Harris won Grey Cup MVP, with 302 passing yards and zero turnovers, moving the offense consistently against a strong defensive unit. His 85% completion percentage is the best-ever in Grey Cup history; an impressive feat for anybody, let alone for a 39-year-old.

And with that, we’re officially into the CFL offseason once more.

SEASON RECAP & STATS

East Division Standings

Team	Games	Wins	Losses	Points For	Points Against
y-Hamilton	18	11	7	525	496
x-Montreal	18	10	8	445	430
e-Toronto	18	5	13	497	583
e-Ottawa	18	4	14	417	537

West Division Standings

Team	Games	Wins	Losses	Points For	Points Against
y-Saskatchewan	18	12	6	472	409
x-BC	18	11	7	559	499
x-Calgary	18	11	7	488	416
c-Winnipeg	18	10	8	459	424
e-Edmonton	18	7	11	422	490

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