Late-game heroics punched teams’ tickets to Grey Cup Roughriders early favourites, but Alouettes don’t see themselves as underdogs By: Jeff Hamilton Posted: 6:12 PM CST Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025

The 112th Grey Cup matchup has officially been set.

After 21 regular-season weeks, followed by two more in the playoffs, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes are the final two teams standing.

Both arrive in Winnipeg for Grey Cup week having survived a serious scare.

The Riders needed some late-game heroics, with veteran quarterback Trevor Harris leading the offence down the field for a game-winning touchdown to seal a 24-21 win over the B.C. Lions in the Western final.

The Montreal Alouettes led the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for much of the Eastern final, only for that lead to evaporate in the fourth quarter, requiring a 45-yard field goal from José Maltos Díaz with no time remaining to squeeze out a 19-16 victory.

The Alouettes return to the Grey Cup after capturing the title in 2023, defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Tim Hortons Field in what was their first championship since 2010, and eighth total. The Riders have just half the number of Grey Cups, but their most recent victory came in 2013 on home soil.

The odds makers have the Riders as early favourites, but only slightly at three points. Saskatchewan finished the regular season atop the West Division with the best overall record, at 12-6.

The Alouettes certainly don’t see themselves as underdogs. Montreal may not have fared as well during the year, finishing 10-8 and second in the East Division behind the Ticats, but they were a perfect 9-0 with quarterback Davis Alexander in the lineup this year, including playoffs.

Alexander missed 11 games this season due to a pulled hamstring. He tried to return earlier in the season, only to strain it again. He returned in Week 17 and had looked no worse for wear, until late into the Eastern final when the injury resurfaced.

That situation has created quite the stir heading into Grey Cup week.

Alouettes head coach Jason Maas wasn’t shy talking about his banged up pivot, but he poured cold water on fears he could be sidelined by declaring in his first media availability that Alexander would be the starter on Sunday. The fact Alexander took all the club’s first-team reps at practice is also a good sign he’ll play.

Still, don’t be surprised if that does little to curb what has become the game’s main storyline this week. The action isn’t just on the field, though.

Here’s what else caught my attention this week in the latest CFL Rundown.

1) The hottest topic everyone is talking about is the head coaching vacancy with the Toronto Argonauts. The buzz around Grey Cup week is that it’s down to three men: Mike O’Shea, Orlondo Steinauer and Kent Austin. O’Shea asked and was granted permission to speak with the Argos, which he did, flying to Toronto and back over the last few days. All three men have vast experience as a CFL head coaches, with Steinauer and Austin also having general manager and/or football operations experience.

2) I’m being told the Argos are willing to woo O’Shea from Winnipeg and are willing to step up their offer to do so. O’Shea informed the Bombers he was interested in hearing them out and then took off shortly thereafter to meet with team officials. While I’ve stated O’Shea belongs in Winnipeg and predicted he would struggle in Toronto, I get the sense there’s a real fear that O’Shea could be leaving Winnipeg after 12 years.

3) John Murphy has been a polarizing figure in Toronto. Murphy, who is senior advisor to general manager Pinball Clemons, is an excellent talent evaluator, able to turnover rosters year to year unlike many in the CFL. But sources said he’s a challenge to work with and I can’t picture someone like O’Shea wanting or willing to join forces. I imagine he isn’t the only candidate that will want to have a say on the staff and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Murphy become a casualty of the process.

4) If O’Shea does leave, I imagine that strengthens the want and need to retain GM Kyle Walters. As for the head coach position, my guess is they would offer defensive co-ordinator Jordan Younger the job. Younger has been a solid piece of Winnipeg’s puzzle since taking over the defence two years ago and he has a strong connection to several players. Not offering Younger the job would likely mean losing him to O’Shea’s staff, which could have a domino effect on a few players.

5) I’ve been critical of Maas in this column for his decision to play Alexander back in Week 5, as he looked to be clearly labouring throughout before re-injuring his hamstring on a game-winning TD run. I seized the chance to ask him about it at the annual coach’s presser Tuesday and Maas gave a genuine answer. While he stopped short of outright regretting his decision, you got the real sense he would have changed a few things by the number of times he talked about learning from the situation. That doesn’t prevent the fact that it’s put Montreal in a peculiar spot now with everything on the line.

6) While I’ve admired the play of Alexander, what I’ve come to appreciate most about him is his trash talk. Alexander seems to always be running his mouth on the field, especially following a big play in enemy territory. Some might not like it, but I’d argue the CFL needs more of it; I’ve always felt the CFL should be a little more WWE. There hasn’t been a ton of villains in the league, but we might have an excellent one in the making.

7) It was a tough end to an emotional season for the Ticats. Hamilton adds yet another year to its league-leading championship drought, now at 26 years and counting. It was incredible how the club rallied around general manager Ted Goveia, who lost his brief battle with cancer in September. The biggest question coming out of Hamilton is the future of quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. The 35-year-old put up a second consecutive season throwing for 5,000 yards and has been the East nominee for Most Outstanding Player in both of those years. At 35, Mitchell seems to have plenty of gas in the tank, which is something I and others weren’t saying when he first arrived in Hamilton. Mitchell has seemed destined to join media once his career wraps up, but he’s often begrudged the significant pay cut the transition entails. I hope we see him on the field rather than in the broadcast booth in ’26.

8) The Lions are likely still kicking themselves for letting the West final slip through their fingers. B.C. could have put the game away on two separate occasions late in the fourth quarter, but rather than moving the chains even once they were stuffed for a pair of two-and-outs. The most egregious play call came on the second series; with the Lions facing a second-and-three on their own 43-yard line, head coach and offensive co-ordinator Buck Pierce dialled up a QB draw, only to be snuffed out by A.J. Allen for no gain. It also was hard not to notice running back James Butler wide open on the play. Every loss is tough to swallow, but ending your season because Nathan Rourke — the league’s best player — couldn’t move the ball a few yards, would be near impossible to digest.

9) I have a ton of respect for Lions owner Amar Doman for what he’s done with the team and community around it. But he took a major L when he posted what he thought was clear evidence of a dropped ball on the game-winning TD. While the image in question looked like the ball touched the turf, it turns out it was an elbow blurred mid-frame that confused a lot of people. That’s why you deal with these types of things behind closed doors.

10) Having the Riders in the Grey Cup is good for the CFL. It will galvanize one of the league’s most passionate fan bases and, with the game being in Winnipeg, we should see a wave of Green heading down Highway 1. They are, however, lucky to be in this game after some questionable play-calling from Riders head coach Corey Mace, even if it ultimately worked out in their favour. It made no sense to kick a field goal facing third-and-goal from B.C.’s five, down seven and with 2:44 remaining. It made even less sense when Mace opted to punt with 1:48 left on the clock and needing a touchdown to prevail. But crazier things have happened and it worked out for Mace, who likely wasn’t envisioning the ending after making the call near his opponent’s goal line.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca