By Stampeders.com Staff
Recent meetings between the Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Argonauts have featured some high drama and tense moments.
Just last season, for instance, the Stamps matched the biggest comeback in franchise history by erasing a 26-point deficit to beat the Boatmen in a Sept. 13 encounter at McMahon Stadium.
In addition, eight of the 12 most recent regular-season meetings between the clubs have been decided by a margin of fewer than 10 points including five that featured a spread of just two or three points.
What the rivalry has also featured lately has been, as a result of roster turnover and injuries, a great variety in head-to-head quarterbacks matchups.
This Monday’s meeting at McMahon features a projected battle between Calgary’s Bo Levi Mitchell and Toronto’s Trevor Harris, who is filling for sidelined veteran Ricky Ray. That would be the ninth different combination of starting pivots in the Stamps-Argos season series in the past seven years.
Harris is slated to be the seventh different Argos QB to get a start against Calgary since the beginning of the 2009 season, joining a group that also includes Ray (five starts), Zach Collaros (one), Steven Jyles (one), Cleo Lemon (three), Cody Pickett (one) and Kerry Joseph (one).
The Stamps have had four different starters during that period — Mitchell (two starts heading into Monday’s game), Kevin Glenn (three), Drew Tate (one) and Henry Burris (six).
There has also been a fair amount of turmoil surrounding starters in Calgary-Toronto matchups including some career-altering injuries and a significant changing of the guard.
For instance, the Oct. 14, 2011, game in Toronto was Burris’ final start as a member of the Red and White. Tate relieved Burris that night and started the remaining four games of the season. Burris was traded to Hamilton during the subsequent off-season.
On July 7, 2012, Tate was knocked out of the game with a dislocated shoulder and missed three months, which gave Glenn an extended run as Calgary’s starter.
In a 2013 game, Ray was injured after absorbing a hard hit from Charleston Hughes. That gave Collaros a chance to start and he performed well enough that he caught the attention of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who signed him as a free agent during the next off-season. Collaros led the Tabbies to a 2014 Grey Cup appearance.
Finally, Mitchell injured his knee during the Sept. 13, 2014, game against Toronto but he returned to action a month later and led the Stamps to a victory in the Grey Cup, earning the championship game’s MVP award in the process.
|
Date |
Projected starting QBs |
| July 13, 2015 | Bo Levi Mitchell (Cgy); Trevor Harris (Tor) |
| Date | Starting QBs |
| Sept. 13, 2014 | Bo Levi Mitchell (Cgy); Ricky Ray (Tor) |
| July 12, 2014 | Bo Levi Mitchell (Cgy); Ricky Ray (Tor) |
| Sept. 21, 2013 | Kevin Glenn (Cgy); Zach Collaros (Tor) |
| Aug. 23, 2013 | Kevin Glenn (Cgy); Ricky Ray (Tor) |
| Aug. 18, 2012 | Kevin Glenn (Cgy); Ricky Ray (Tor) |
| July 7, 2012 | Drew Tate (Cgy); Ricky Ray (Tor) |
| Oct. 14, 2011 | Henry Burris (Cgy); Steven Jyles (Tor) |
| July 1, 2011 | Henry Burris (Cgy); Cleo Lemon (Tor) |
| July 14, 2010 | Henry Burris (Cgy); Cleo Lemon (Tor) |
| July 1, 2010 | Henry Burris (Cgy); Cleo Lemon (Tor) |
| Aug. 28, 2009 | Henry Burris (Cgy); Cody Pickett (Tor) |
| July 17, 2009 | Henry Burris (Cgy); Kerry Joseph (Tor) |