By Mike Hardiman
Stampeders.com
The Calgary Stampeders will wrap up the 2012 regular season with a trip up north to Edmonton to play the Eskimos.
It’s a game that won’t change anything for the Stamps in terms of the standings as the Stamps (11-6) already knows they will host the West semifinal next week but it means something to the Eskimos (7-10) as Edmonton may need a win just to make the playoffs.
The Stamps are the hottest team in the league right now, having won three straight games and four of the last five. Edmonton has dropped two straight road games and remains fourth in the West. If Hamilton wins Thursday, the Eskies will need a win against Calgary to make the playoffs. A Hamilton loss means Edmonton is in the post-season via the crossover.
Calgary has beaten Edmonton three times so far in 2012, with scores of 31-30 and 39-15 at home and 20-18 in Edmonton. Calgary is 4-4 on the road this season and 6-3 against the West while Edmonton is 5-3 at home (two straight wins) and 3-6 against Western teams.
THE KICKOFF
Calgary and Edmonton are set to kick off at 7 p.m. MDT on Friday, Nov. 2 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. The game will be televised on TSN and RDS2 and can be heard on the radio at QR77 (AM 770 on the radio dial and www.qr77.com on the Internet) and on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, channel 157 and channel 160 for XM subscribers.
Fans in the U.S. can catch watch the game live on NBCSN and via webcast on ESPN3 (www.espn.go.com). The game will also be seen the next day at www.tsn.ca on TSN’s video-on-demand page.
THE OFFENCE
Calgary leads the CFL in points scored, averaging 29.7 points per game, and is second in total offence (374.8 yards per game), touchdowns (48) and first downs (372).
The Stamps have averaged 35.6 points per game in their three latest wins and 30.0 points in the three previous wins over Edmonton. Calgary scored 41 points against the Lions in Week 18 (marking the third game this year the Stamps have scored 40 points) including 24 first-quarter points.
QB Kevin Glenn ranks fourth in the CFL with 4,083 passing yards and 24 touchdowns. It’s the third time in his career Glenn has passed for more than 4,000 yards and he is the eighth Stampeder QB in team history to surpass that total.
QB Drew Tate passed for 68 yards and a touchdown in his return from injury and may get more playing time in Week 19.
RB Jon Cornish continues to lead the CFL in rushing with 1,388 yards, the seventh-best single season total in club history, and holds a 145-yard lead over Kory Sheets of Saskatchewan for the CFL rushing title. Should he hold on, Cornish would be the eighth Stampeder running back to accomplish that feat and the first since Joffrey Reynolds in 2009.
SB Nik Lewis leads the CFL in catches with 100 and is second in yardage with 1,241 and touchdowns with 10. Lewis is the fourth Stampeder receiver in club history to hit the century mark in receptions for a season and the first one since Ken-Yon Rambo in 2008.
SB Maurice Price caught four passes for 104 yards and a touchdown in the win last week and has touchdowns of more than 50 yards in consecutive games. The 56-yarder against Hamilton and the 53-yard TD reception last week are the two longest pass plays of the year for Calgary. Price has 13 catches for 256 yards in five games this season.
DT Corey Mace caught the first touchdown pass of his CFL career on a one-yard pass for Bo Levi Mitchell, the third Stampeder quarterback to throw a TD pass in the game.
THE DEFENCE
Calgary’s defence had three takeaways last week and scored a touchdown for the second straight game. The Stamps have 35 takeaways (fourth best) and five defensive touchdowns on the year (including three in the last four games).
Calgary ranks third in points allowed for the season at 23.7 points per game and has allowed an average of 24.6 points per game during the current three-game winning streak. Calgary has allowed an average of 347.7 yards of offence this season and has given up 41 touchdowns, fourth best in the CFL. Calgary has given up three touchdowns in each of its last three games.
The Stamps exploded for a season-high eight sacks against the Leos and have registered 15 sacks in the last three games. Calgary is now second in the CFL with 42 sacks, two back of the league lead.
DE Anwar Stewart had four sacks to lead the team — the best single-game total of his illustrious CFL career and the most for a Stamp since Will Johnson in 1994 — as well as four tackles. DE Charleston Hughes had a sack to bring his season total to 11 and that kept him in second place in the CFL’s sack race.
DB Brandon Smith led the team in tackles with six and also had a sack. LB Malik Jackson had three tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
THE SPECIAL TEAMS
K Rene Paredes went four-for-four on his field-goal attempts and scored 16 points to regain second place in league scoring with 158 points. He continues to lead the CFL in field goal accuracy at 92.5 per cent.
Calgary surrendered its first return touchdown of the year, a 56-yard punt return to the Lions’ Tim Brown. It was the first punt return for a touchdown against the Stamps since Week 7 of 2010 against Edmonton.
LB Karl McCartney had two tackles on special teams and ranks third in the CFL with 23.
THE OPPOSITION
Edmonton comes into the final week of the season seventh at 23.2 points scored per game, fifth in touchdowns with 35 and last in total offence at 333 yards per game.
Kerry Joseph (#5) is the starting QB and ranks seventh in passing with 2,187 yards, 12 TD passes and a rating of 87.5. Rookie Matt Nichols (#16) looked impressive in relief last week and may get some playing time. Nichols has one start to his credit — Week 14 in Calgary, a 39-14 loss.
SB Fred Stamps (#2) leads the team in receiving with 64 catches for 1,158 yards and eight touchdowns, marking his fourth straight season with more than 1,000 yards.
RB Hugh Charles and his 1,409 yards from scrimmage are out with an injury, leaving the rushing chores to Jerome Messam (#23) and Cory Boyd (#28). Both were 1,000-yard backs last season but have a combined for only 211 yards in limited 2012 action.
Edmonton’s defence is solid, ranking fourth in points allowed (24.7 per game) and TDs allowed (41, tied with Calgary) and first in takeaways with 47. MLB J.C. Sherritt (#47) set a club record last week with his 119th tackle of the season and he leads the CFL in that category. Damaso Munoz (#45) is fifth in the league with 84 stops and also has three sacks.
DT Ted Laurent (#94) leads the team with six sacks. The Eskimos place five defenders in the top seven in picks (a league-leading 28 as a team) with CB Joe Burnett (#22) leading the league with six thefts followed by Sherritt with five and DB Chris Thompson (#29), also with five.
THE OTHER GAMES
Hamilton (6-11) needs a win in Toronto (8-9) on Thursday to stay alive in the hunt for the playoffs in the East, while the Riders (8-9) will know what they are playing for on Saturday in BC against the Lions (12-5) based on the result of the Calgary-Edmonton game. An Edmonton loss means they will play Calgary in the West semi while an Eskimo win means the Riders will need to win to stay in the West playoffs.