There is a certain symmetry to this.
The 2024 Ticats played their first game on the road—their first game anywhere, actually—against Calgary and they’re playing their last game at home…against Calgary.
And they certainly don’t want this game—Friday night, 7 p.m.—to bear any resemblance to that game back in the foothills in June when they had early overthrows, pass drops, turnovers and penalties, and fell too far behind to catch up, although the final result was only an eight-point difference.
The Stampeders looked like a playoff team in that game and for a couple of months after that and stood at 4-4 in early August before they lost seven of their next eight games leading into this one, with only a tie to show for those eight games.
They’ve also lost seven in a row on the road and have not gone winless away from their home stadium since the Stampeder franchise was formed in 1946. That’s one of the year’s bizarro numbers, as it’s also the first time that both Alberta teams—Edmonton and the Stampeders—have missed the playoffs in the same year. Ever.
Calgary, lacking finishing power, has been in more games decided in the final three minutes than any other team in the league, going just 4-8-1 in those games and only Winnipeg has been in more games decided by four points or fewer. So this could be a close one and the field goal kickers —Ticat Marc Liegghio and CFL legend René Paredes—should be on red alert.
“I think it’s a team that’s better than their record,” Ticat head coach Scott Milanovich, said of the Stamps’ 4-11-1 mark, three points back of 6-10 Hamilton.
“They’ve lost a couple of close games late, like we did earlier in the year too. They did a nice job against us in the first game of the year. I don’t think they’re taking us lightly and we’re not taking them lightly either. We know what kind of team they can be. They’ve held some really good offences to low point totals. They’re pros and come in here ready to play.”
The Ticats will be without shutdown cornerback Jamal Peters, who’s out with injury, but will have running back Greg Bell in uniform after two games off with injury. He replaces James Butler. And versatile defensive end Nick Usher, an important cog in the defensive line, gets back in the lineup as the Ticats will dress only six defensive linemen for the first time this season.
The Stampeders, meanwhile, will have Matt Shiltz—who started seven games for the Ticats in 2022-23 before heading west as a free agent last February—under centre for the second game in a row. He has moved ahead of Jake Maier, who had moved ahead of Bo Levi Mitchell two years ago, precipitating Mitchell’s migration to the Ticats as a free agent for last season. Now Mitchell is enjoying one of the best statistical seasons of his career and, with decent results in the final two games, could end up with 5,000 yards passing for the first time since 2018.
For now, that’s just a number to Mitchell, who believes –as does his head coach—that it’s most important to win the final two games so that the Ticats can head into the off-season and next spring’s training camp with momentum and self-belief. If they win tomorrow they’ll have won five of their last six.
Three Ticat receivers (Tim White, Steven Dunbar Jr. and Kiondré Smith) are within reach of 1,000-yard seasons and Mitchell needs only 324 passing yards to become the first 5,000-yard CFLer since 2018 when he was one of four to reach that mark.
“I think it means something to me post-career,” Mitchell said Friday. “It’s a resumé thing, a stat that maybe I can drop one day if I’m on TV, or if I’m coaching and I want to talk trash to a player, just as a joke. It’s something that you strive for: 5,000 is that mark you look at every year when you start, and you’re playing 16-18 games. I think we’ve done a really good job of moving our offence this year and some of the receivers–you look back there are plenty of plays when we all could have already been over those marks.
“Scott’s not a guy to go out and chase stats. He’s not a guy who’s saying, ‘We’re going to let you go out there and throw for 450.’ If it ends up being a big passing game, or a big running game, then that’s what it is.”
Not only will the post-season be without an Alberta team but it’s the first time in 21 years that both the Ticats and Stampeders will be on the playoff sidelines.
“It’s one of those cool stats to say in a pre-game announcement,” Mitchell said. “It’s a nine-team league and six teams make the playoffs every year. There’s always going to be different years; injuries, young team, coaches changing, whatever it might be. There’s no excuse, obviously, on our side. Everyone has a reason for why they’re not there: there were six teams that played better than us this year to get in and unfortunately, we’re one of the teams that didn’t.
“It’s our job to look at that and say, ‘How do we fix that? What went wrong? How do we start faster at the beginning of the season and in games?’ “
This will be just the second time that Mitchell, a surefire Hall of Famer, will play against his former team. He missed the one game they played last year and in the season opener at McMahon Stadium this season, he threw for 300 yards, with one touchdown and an interception. During the game, the Stampeders played a warm video tribute to his 10 seasons in a Stamps uniform.
“I think there will always be something there as long as I’m playing,” he said Thursday morning. “Anybody who plays in a place for long enough….there’s a good something-there and a bad-something there. It left a sour taste in my mouth at the end and I just wanted to get the revenge. Not only that but going out there in Game 1 and losing. Pay that back (Friday). And just playing well; you want to play good football all the time. I think that’s a big one for me.”
CATS CLAUSES: Two of the top five receiving-yardage leaders in the league are in this game: No.3 Reggie Beggleton has his third career 1,000-yard plus season at 1073 and Hamilton’s Tim White is two yards short of his three consecutive 1,000-yarder … Steven Dunbar Jr. needs 167 yards over the next two games to reach 1,000 while Kiondré Smith needs 191 … Casey Sayles’ 8 sacks are two off the league lead, while former Ticat Julian Howsare is second among the Stampeders, with four sacks … as it’s the final home game of the Ticats’ season, it’s “Fandemonium” Night with $30,000 in prizes up for grabs, including a trip to next week’s finale in Ottawa and also a trip to the 111th Grey Cup in Vancouver in November. You must be registered to enter, and you can register HERE… The Stamps’ defensive coordinator is Brent Monson, the Hamilton native who played at St. Thomas More and coached Bishop Tonnos and the Steel City Ironmen.
