Home-field advantage normally rocks in the CFL playoffs. 2012 turned that upside down since if you count the extra close Calgary-Saskatchewan West semifinal, the only clear home victory was Toronto's win over 7-11 Edmonton.
For the first time since 2007, both CFL division finals resulted in road victors. Toronto pulled off the 27-20 upset over Montréal at Olympic Stadium while Calgary edged out B.C. 34-29 at B.C. Place in Vancouver.
Kevin Glenn lost out on a chance in 2007 to lead his team in the Grey Cup thanks to a broken arm. Kevin Glenn has a chance in 2012 to lead his team in the Grey Cup thanks to Drew Tate's broken arm.
David Braley, owner of the Toronto Argonauts and B.C. Lions, got one of his teams in the Grey Cup, but not the other. Overall, Braley is probably thankful the Argos got in because the team can be the first CFL team to win a Grey Cup in its home stadium since B.C. accomplished the feat in Vancouver in 20111994.
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We can chalk up what keeps happening to not the best-laid plans by the NBC Sports Network. Last week, the network showed the games out of order, but ran promos that this week, the games would run in order. Well, the TV listings said otherwise, so how would we know? I didn't even notice the promos until I was replaying last week's games on Sunday afternoon.
So the good news was that we saw the games in the proper order, even if that meant shutting out any media that might accidentally tell me the score. This is a lot better than previous years where the games wouldn't run for a day or two. Though live is so much better.
NBC Sports Network will run the Grey Cup live, picking up TSN's coverage at 6 pm Eastern. Details will come on Friday when we run our Grey Cup preview.
The games featured glitches in the TSN feed, where the feed would repeat the previous few seconds. The problems seemed to be an issue from TSN, and while awkward, no coverage was missed. If you had worse problems, let us know.
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The announced attendance at Olympic Stadium was 50,112. This was by far the biggest crowd to see a CFL game this year. Toronto only drew 25,792 for the East semifinal without the Maple Leafs competing for the sports dollar. Calgary drew 30,027, its third-best crowd of the year (Saskatchewan travels well and the Labour Day Classic with Edmonton).
I recall much larger crowds watching past East semifinals at Olympic Stadium. I would have thought that without the Canadiens that the Alouettes would benefit from getting extra attention. Montréalers are saving money by not going to les Canadiens thanks to the lockout; would make sense to spend a small portion of that money to see the CFL.
For example, Montréal drew 58,021 in 2010, 53,792 in 2009, and even healthier figures such as 60,007 in 2003 and 57,125 in 2002. Even 2004 (51,296) and 2005 (51,269) surpassed the 2012 mark.
B.C. drew 43,216 for the West final, its best attendance but below where the stadium can draw.
We'll see where the attendance falls for Sunday's Grey Cup.
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Toronto upgrades at quarterback and goes from worst in the East to division champion. Edmonton trades that quarterback and limps into the playoffs at 7-11.
Calgary trades the all-star quarterback and goes to the Grey Cup. Hamilton gets the all-star quarterback and can't make the playoffs at 6-12.
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East Division thoughts
Several reporters had predicted a Toronto win in the East final. My thought was that Toronto was hot, but Montréal had enough weapons to win out.
Toronto's worst enemy in the first half was in its own reflection. Getting to the 1-yard line and then turning the ball over on downs didn't help. The Alouettes got 10 points off turnovers to start the game, and the Argos didn't score a touchdown in the first half.
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The CFL needs Toronto to have some success from a financial standpoint. CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon mentioned to TSN's Sara Orlesky that the Argos TV ratings were up 20% this year. Toronto is the largest market in the country. Montréal is #2, though TSN's ratings aren't as significant since a considerable portion of the audience watches the games on RDS in French.
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Noel Prefontaine was injured this season, but the Toronto punter showed why he is one of the best. Prefontaine helped out Toronto on offense with a couple of single points in the first half. Throw in a safety and a couple of Swayze Waters FGs and that was the Argos scoring in the first half.
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Chad Owens started out with the Alouettes in his CFL career. Montreal traded Owens to Toronto, and Owens clearly made a gigantic difference in the game. Owens had 346 combined yards vs. 303 yards for Anthony Calvillo.
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The Montreal defense gave up three huge plays in the second half. Owens had a 70 yard catch that led to a Argos TD. Chad Kackert had a 49-yard TD run and a 51-yard run that led to a Waters FG. Montreal's inability to tackle proved crucial in yards, scoring, and momentum.
That momentum helped to quite the Olympic Stadium crowd, which easily stayed quiet during any sign of Toronto success.
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Montreal had little experience with trailing after three quarters. Meanwhile Toronto was 9-0 with a lead after three quarters. Make that 10-0.
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This was the second straight year Montreal went one-and-out for the playoffs, both times at home. The Alouettes had played a final regular season home game in the dome, but stopped doing that recently. Perhaps, Montreal should bring back that tradition so the team gets used to playing at Olympic Stadium.
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For all the platitudes you will hear about Toronto this week, think about this. If Brian Bratton had caught Calvillo's pass in the end zone at the end of the game, we might still be playing.
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West Division thoughts
When you score your first offensive touchdown with :59 left in the game in the playoffs, you aren't advancing in the playoffs. Well, maybe if the game was outdoors and you win 13-10.
Also, when you don't score in the third quarter and you can't blame that on wind or weather, you aren't likely to win.
As good as Paul McCallum was with his 5 field goals, punching one or two of those drives for a major would have been the difference for the B.C. Lions. McCallum came into the game hitting 39 of his last 40 field goals and went 5-for-5 at B.C. Place.
McCallum and Calgary's Rene Paredes were two of the best kickers in the CFL this year and they were perfect on the day.
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B.C. and Montréal both were guilty of giving up huge plays. When the second play from scrimmage goes for a wide open 68 yard touchdown pass, you are in for a rough day, and that is exactly what happened for B.C.
Chris Cuthbert and Glen Suitor were quick to point out that 68 yards was the distance when Drew Tate hit Robbie Bryant for the winning score against Saskatchewan last week.
Early in the second half, Kevin Glenn hit Romby Bryant on the same pattern for a 57-yard TD pass. You know the B.C. secondary watched the video, yet they let the same thing happen to them. The Roughriders might feel slightly better about Bryant doing that to another team.
B.C. also gave up a 42 yard catch to Maurice Price from Bo Levi Mitchell that brought the Stampeders to the 1-yard line. Calgary did its best Toronto impression, having trouble scoring from the 1. For Mitchell, the third time was the charm as he barely made it in for the 1-yard major score to put Calgary up 31-16.
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Glenn threw all three TD passes in the first half, but only two of them to red jerseys. Korey Banks had a nice pick for a 76-yard interception return for a touchdown for the Lions. Credit to Glenn in that he did not let that interception and score affect his game in the slightest.
Cinderella doesn't begin to describe his journey to get to the Grey Cup. Win or lose on Sunday, Glenn's 2012 season has been an amazing run.
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Calgary got called for an offsides penalty in the last 3 minutes of the fourth quarter. The penalty was the first for the Stampeders for the whole game. The offsides penalty was declined. The Stampeders played a textbook game.
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The loss to Calgary was only the second for the B.C. Lions since the new roof and renovations were completed. The Lions lost a regular-season game to Edmonton earlier this season. The Lions crowd didn't sound as intense as the Olympic Stadium crowd in Montréal. I've been both stadiums but perhaps the new B.C. roof plays a factor with the sound. This game would have been the time to test how loud that building can get.
Then again, Alouettes and Lions fans weren't used to having the home team in a losing predicament.
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Fans in Vancouver, like their counterparts in Montréal, are used to hosting the division final. This final was the 6th time in 10 years that the West final was in Vancouver. The Lions have gone 4-2 in those 6 games.