By Mike Hardiman
Stampeders.com

The Pregame

The Calgary Stampeders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats meet in the 102nd Grey Cup.

The Stamps (15-3, first place in the West) punched their ticket to the big game with a dominating 43-18 win in the Western Final over their arch-rivals, the Edmonton Eskimos. Hamilton (9-9, first place in the East) earned the right to represent the East by upending the Montreal Alouettes by a 40-24 score in the Eastern Final.

It’s a matchup of the past two runners-up in the Grey Cup game as Calgary lost 35-22 to the Argos in 2012 and Hamilton dropped last year’s game by a 45-23 score to Saskatchewan.

The two teams have met twice before in the championship game with each team winning once in back-to-back meetings in 1998 and 1999. Calgary won the ’98 Grey Cup by a 26-24 score only to have the Tabbies return the favour by winning the Cup the next year 32-21.

This is Calgary’s 14th appearance in the big game and the Stamps have a 6-7 record, winning the Grey Cup in 1948, 1971, 1992, 1998, 2001 and 2008. Hamilton has eight CFL championships under its belt as the Tiger-Cats but are currently owners of the second longest Grey Cup drought, not having won in 13 seasons (Winnipeg has not won since 1990 and the Ottawa RedBlacks are a new franchise).

Calgary swept the two regular-season games in 2014, winning 10-7 at home in Week 5 and 30-20 in Hamilton three game later in Week 8. 

The Kickoff

When/Where: Sunday, Nov. 30 at 4 p.m. MST at BC Place in Vancouver
Television: TSN, ESPN2
Radio: News Talk 770, SiriusXM 167
Internet: www.newstalk770.com

The Stampeders

Calgary has been to three Grey Cup games under head coach John Hufnagel, winning in 2008 and losing in 2012.

This season, Calgary had the No. 1- ranked offence in the CFL and also gave up the fewest sacks and had the least giveaways. QB Bo Levi Mitchell established himself as one of the bright, young stars of the CFL, leading the league in wins and QB rating.

RB Jon Cornish rushed for his third straight 1,000-yard season and was on a pace to eclipse 2,000 yards had he been healthy the whole season.

Calgary’s receiving crops was hampered by injuries this year with three starters being placed on the six-game injury list at various times but SB Marquay McDaniel and WR Maurice Price still finished one-two on the team in receiving. SB Anthony Parker stepped up when called upon and rookie WR Eric Rogers has made an impact in his three games, totalling 12 catches for 209 yards and four majors.

The Stamps have four players who have formed the core of their defence since winning the Grey Cup in 2008 as rookies – DE Charleston Hughes, MLB Juwan Simpson, DB Keon Raymond and DB Brandon Smith. All have been named to various all-star teams since 2008 and Simpson and Hughes have each represented the West as top defensive player — Simpson in 2012 and Hughes last season.

This year, Calgary got breakout performances by veterans DE Shawn Lemon           (13 sacks), DB Jamar Wall (six interceptions), LB Deron Mayo (67 tackles) and CB Fred Bennett (West All-Star). Rookies CB Buddy Jackson and DT Quinn Smith also had strong debut seasons for the Red and White.

K Rene Paredes (155 points, 33 field goals) and P Rob Maver (West all-star) combine to give the Stamps excellent kicking and LB Karl McCartney was second in the CFL in special-teams tackles. 

Who to watch:

Bo Levi Mitchell, QB, #19
2014 stats – 417 attempts, 264 completions, 63.3% completion rate, 3,389 passing yards, 22 TDs, 8 INTs, 98.3 QB rating – led CFL in QB rating
Last Game – 22 attempts, 14 completions, 63.3% completion rate, 336 passing yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs, Western Final vs Edm. – CFL Offensive player of the week
2014 vs Ham.  –  62 attempts, 39 completions, 62.9% completion rate, 472 yards passing, 1 TD, 1 INT – two games

Jon Cornish, RB, #9
2014 stats – 139 carries, 1,082 yards rushing, 7.8-yard average, 5 rushing TDs – led CFL in rushing; West all-star; West nominee for Most Outstanding Canadian
Last game – 14 carries, 54 rushing yards, 3.9-yard average, 1 TD; 4 catches, 120 receiving yards, 30.0-yard average, 1 TD –  Western Final vs Edm. – CFL Canadian player of the week
2014 vs Ham.  –  did not play due to injury

Marquay McDaniel, SB, #16
2014 stats – 54 receptions, 792 yards, 14.7-yard average, 4 receiving TDs in 12 games; led team in receiving
Last game – 2 receptions, 58 receiving yards, 29.0-yard average, 1 TD – Western Final vs Edm.
2014 vs Ham. –  10 receptions, 121 receiving yards, 12.1-yard average – two games

Juwan Simpson, MLB, #12
2014 stats – 74 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, 4 pass knockdowns – second on team in tackles
Last game – 7 tackles, 1 sack – West Final vs Edm. – CFL defensive player of the week
2014 vs Ham. – 13 tackles, 1 pass knockdown – two games played

Jamar Wall, DB, #29
2014 stats – 62 tackles, 2 special teams tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 6 INTs, 5 pass knockdowns – West all-star – led CFL in interceptions
Last game –  4 tackles – Western Final vs Edm.
2014 vs Ham. – 12 tackles, 1 special teams tackle, 1 INT  – two games

The Tiger-Cats                         

This is Hamilton’s second straight trip to the Grey Cup and head coach Kent Austin has been to three championship games in his three seasons as a CFL head coach, winning with the Riders back in 2007.

As one would expect from a team playing in the Grey Cup, the Ticats are a solid team on both sides of the ball and Austin’s squad boasts plenty of excellent players, evident by Hamilton’s 10 players on the East all-star squad. QB Zach Collaros (#4) was key to the team’s fortunes, going 8-4 in games he started and finished.

Luke Tasker (#17) led the team in receiving but has good support in veterans SB Andy Fantuz (#83) and WR Bakari Grant (#84). Hamilton was sixth in rushing but added RB Nic Grigsby (#2) late in the season and Grigsby has been hot, rushing for 186 yards in his past two games and scoring three touchdowns.

WR/KR Brandon Banks (#16) is explosive as a receiver or a returner, scoring seven majors including two return touchdowns. Banks set a CFL playoff record for punt-return yards last week and scored two more return TDs against Montreal.

Six of Hamilton’s all-stars are on defence and are led by DE Eric Norwood (#40) and his 13 sacks. Hamilton leads the CFL in run defence, anchored by the East’s top Canadian, DT Ted Laurent (#97), who also had nine sacks. 

Like Calgary, the Ticats placed three members of their secondary on the divisional all-star team — S Craig Butler (#28), CB Delvin Breaux (#27) and DB Rico Murray (#0). Two others to watch on the Hamilton defence are LBs Erik Harris (#41) and Taylor Reed (#44). 

Who to watch:

Zach Collaros, QB, #4
2014 stats – 424 attempts, 279 completions, 65.8% completion rate, 3,261 passing yards, 15 TDs, 9  INTs, 91.9 QB rating – 13 games
Last game – 27 attempts, 18 completions, 66.7% completion rate, 199 passing yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs,   88.4 QB rating –  Eastern Final vs Mtl
2014 vs Cgy. –  did not play due to injury

Brandon Banks, WR/KR, #16
2014 stats – 42 receptions, 529 receiving yards, 12.6-yard average, 5 receiving TDs; 60 punt returns, 618 return yards, 10.3-yard average, 1 TD; 50 kickoff returns, 701 return yards, 23.4 yard average, 1 TD – led CFL in punt returns; East all-star
Last game – 4 receptions, 33 receiving yards, 8.3 yard average, 0 TDs; 5 punt returns, 226 return yards, 45.2 yard average, 2 TDs – CFL special teams player of the week
2014 vs Cgy. – 5 receptions, 54 receiving yards, 10.8 yard average, 0 TDs; 8 punt returns, 55 return yards, 6.9 yard average, 0TDs; 6 kickoff returns, 135 return yards, 22.5 yard average, 0 TDs – two games played

Simoni Lawrence – LB, #21
2014 stats – 78 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 2 INTs, 1 pass knockdown, 2 fumble returns, 3 forced fumbles – led team in tackles, fifth in CFL; East all-star
Last game – 2 tackles – Eastern Final vs Mtl
2014 vs Cgy. – 4 tackles – Week 8 in Ham.