CFL 2024 Postseason: Divisional Semifinals Review

     

Grey Cup/Coupe Grey

CFL PLAYOFFS

Last November, the Alouettes de Montréal stunned the Canadian sports world by enjoying a Cinderella run that culminated in them pulling off a major upset over the defending champs, Winnipeg, and winning the 110th Grey Cup. It was the first title for the franchise since 2010, so the better part of a decade and a half.

Now, it's time for the CFL playoffs to start again. The Montréal Alouettes and Winnipeg Blue Bombers are both back for the playoffs. The Alouettes raced out to an undefeated start, and despite some losses late in the season, they had the East pretty well locked up almost from the first. The Blue Bombers, meanwhile, overcame a disastrous start and just got better as the season went along. They eventually managed to win the West. So those two teams are the top seeds, which means they both enjoy a bye week to rest, as they will watch the games this weekend to find out who they will be playing next weekend.

So let's take a look at the games scheduled for this first weekend of the CFL playoffs this year:

Toronto Argonauts 58, Ottawa Redblacks 38

This game proved to be a real shootout. These two teams combined for a total 96 points, trying a CFL playoff record initially set in 2011 between the Montréal Alouettes and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Yet despite both teams scoring a ton of points, it was the hometown team which eventually came away from this one with a very convincing victory.

Chad Kelly, the quarterback for the Toronto Argonauts, completed 18 of 20 passes for 358 yards and four touchdowns, while running for yet another touchdown. Indeed, Kelly and the Argos offence was unstoppable, as they scored a whopping 58 points, burying the Ottawa Renegades with an avalanche of points.

As a result, the Argonauts qualify for the Eastern Division Finals for a fourth straight year, where they will travel to Montréal tom face the defending champion Alouettes for the right to move on to play in the Grey Cup.

My pick: Accurate

Saskatchewan Roughriders 2,8 British Columbia Lions 19

First of all, I as wrong about the Western Division Semifinals. It was not not going to be played on Sunday, which I had mistakenly mentioned. It was played instead on Saturday afternoon.

Saskatchewan was able to take care of the BC Lions in a pretty tough game. It was nothing like the shootout that we saw in the Eastern Semifinal contest. This one was much tougher, and with scores being much harder to come by.

The Roughriders were not far ahead of the BC Lions by miles, but they were better. The Lions got many people on their bandwagon after a hot start early this season. And they have had more serious playoff experience than the Roughriders have had in recent years. However, the Lions did not end the season in the same fashion. In some respects, this was rather fitting. 

In the end, the Lions kind of went away relatively quietly. At least as quietly as you could expect a playoff team to go, in any case.

So the Roughriders were able to make their successful turnaround season stand up and mean something more by virtue of earning a postseason win. And it allows them to extend that season a bit longer, too. They now move on to the West Division Final next week, where they will travel to Winnipeg to take on the perennial Western powerhouse Blue Bombers. The winner will earn the right to advance to the Grey Cup the following weekend.

My pick: Accurate