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110th Grey Cup

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110th Grey Cup
Winnipeg Blue Bombers Montreal Alouettes
(14–4) (11–7)
24 28
Head coach: 
 Head coach: 
1234 Total
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 10707 24
Montreal Alouettes 70714 28
DateNovember 19, 2023
StadiumTim Hortons Field
LocationHamilton, Ontario
Most Valuable PlayerCody Fajardo
Most Valuable CanadianTyson Philpot
FavouriteBlue Bombers by 7.5[1]
National anthemSimone Soman
Coin tossMary Simon
RefereeTim Kroeker[2]
Halftime showGreen Day
Attendance28,808
Broadcasters
NetworkCanada (English): TSN
Canada (French): RDS
Worldwide: CFL+
Announcers
  • Rod Smith (play-by-play)
  • Glen Suitor (analyst)
  • Claire Hanna (sideline reporter)
  • Matthew Scianitti (sideline reporter)[3]

The 110th Grey Cup was played to decide the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2023 season.[4] The game was played on November 19, 2023, at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario[4][5] between the West Division champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the East Division champion Montreal Alouettes. The Alouettes defeated the Blue Bombers 28–24. It was the 12th time that Hamilton hosted the Grey Cup, with the most recent being in 2021.[4]

Host

Due to Ontario COVID-19 public health orders still in effect as of mid-October 2021, all in-person entertainment festivities for the 108th Grey Cup in Hamilton had limit restrictions. It was therefore announced on October 14, 2021, that the 110th Grey Cup in 2023 would be awarded to Hamilton, in order to allow organizers to host the Grey Cup and all associated festivities as originally planned.[4][6]

Entertainment

The Hamilton Sports Group announced that the Grey Cup Festival would be held in downtown Hamilton from November 16 to 18, 2023. A 35-yard football field was planned to be constructed at the John Weir Foote Armoury; it hosted a multi-day flag football tournament. The Hamilton Convention Centre, FirstOntario Centre, and Bridgeworks will host parties for all CFL teams and the annual CFL Alumni Association Legends Luncheon was held on November 17, 2023, at LIUNA Station.[7]

Date

Per the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in 2022, the league had the option of starting the 2023 season by up to 30 days sooner, which could have significantly altered the date of this game.[8] However, the league chose to continue with the existing scheduling formula and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats confirmed that the game would be played on November 19, 2023 (the third Sunday of November).[5]

Entertainment

Pop singer Jamie Fine performed during the kickoff show.[citation needed] The Canadian national anthem was sung by Canada's Got Talent semifinalist Simone Soman, making her the first blind singer to perform the anthem at the game.[9] American rock band Green Day performed during the halftime show.[10] They performed 4 songs, The American Dream is Killing Me, Basket Case, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and Holiday.

Teams

The game featured the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, playing in their fourth consecutive Grey Cup against the Montreal Alouettes, who, prior to this game, held the record for the longest Grey Cup appearance drought, having last appeared in a championship game in 2010.[11] The Alouettes made their 19th Grey Cup appearance while the Blue Bombers made their league-leading 28th appearance in the title game.[11] The Alouettes were attempting to win their eighth championship and the Blue Bombers were attempting to win their 13th, including their third in four years.[11]

Montreal Alouettes

The Alouettes defeated the favoured Argonauts in the East Final.
Main article: 2023 Montreal Alouettes season

The Alouettes finished in second place in the East Division after qualifying for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.[11] The team finished with an 11–7 record, but notably had an 11–0 regular season record against teams that finished with losing records and an 0–7 regular season record against teams that finished with winning records.[11] Because they faced the Blue Bombers, Lions, and Argonauts back-to-back in their schedule, the Alouettes started the season on a two-game winning streak, followed by a three-game losing streak, then a four-game winning streak, then a four-game losing streak, and finally a five-game winning streak.[12] The Alouettes qualified for the playoffs following their week 17 win over the Ottawa Redblacks.[13] In the playoffs, the team handily defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 27–12 in the East Semi-Final as they held their opponent to four field goals and no touchdowns.[12] In the East final, against the heavily favoured 16–2 Argonauts, to whom they had already lost three times, the Alouettes forced nine turnovers, including four interceptions, two that went for touchdowns, four turnovers on downs, and a fumble recovery.[14] The Alouettes dominated the Argonauts and won the game 38–17 in front of the largest crowd to watch an Argonauts game at BMO Field.[14]

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Main article: 2023 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season

The Blue Bombers were again a force to be reckoned with in the regular season as they finished with a 14–4 record.[15] The Blue Bombers secured a playoff spot for the seventh straight season in their 13th game with a victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Banjo Bowl on September 9, 2023.[16] However, the team did face a challenge from the second place BC Lions as the two teams had identical 11–4 records heading into their week 16 match-up that would determine who won the season series.[15] The Blue Bombers won the game in overtime and the Lions lost the following week so the Blue Bombers secured their third consecutive division title.[17] The team played two games that were meaningless in the standings to end the season, but still won both as they rested some starters in both games.[15] Following their bye week, the Blue Bombers again faced the BC Lions, but had a dominant defensive performance as they tied a league playoff record with nine sacks and held the Lions to just one Hail Mary touchdown and the Blue Bombers won 24–13.[18]

Head-to-head

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Montreal Alouettes in both meetings in 2023, with the Bombers winning 17–3 on Canada Day and then 47–17 at IG Field on August 24, 2023.[11] In their first meeting, the Blue Bombers had 185 rushing yards, including 120 from Brady Oliveira, and Zach Collaros threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns.[19] The Winnipeg defence held Montreal to three points, led by Willie Jefferson, who had two sacks and a fumble recovery, and Cameron Lawson who had two sacks and a forced fumble, and Brandon Alexander who intercepted Cody Fajardo in the red zone.[19] In the second meeting, the Blue Bombers' defence again held the Alouettes' offence to three points as the Alouettes scored their only majors from interceptions from Marc-Antoine Dequoy and Tyrell Richards.[20] The Winnipeg defence held Fajardo to just 137 yards passing and one interception and leading rusher William Stanback to 32 yards rushing.[20] Collaros threw for four touchdowns and three inceptions and Oliveira nearly matched his previous total with 119 rushing yards and one touchdown.[20]

While this was the first Grey Cup game played between these franchises, it was their third postseason meeting. The teams split their previous two playoff contests.[11][a]

Uniforms

As the East Division representative in a Grey Cup held in an East Division city, the Montreal Alouettes were the designated home team for the game and used the home team's dressing room.[22] The Alouettes wore their blue jerseys and blue pants and the Blue Bombers wore their white jerseys with gold pants and used the visitors' locker room.[22]

Depth charts

The following diagrams illustrate the teams' depth charts that were released one day prior to game day. Starters are listed in boxes in their respective positions with backups listed directly above or below. As per CFL rules, 45 of the 46 players for each team would dress in the game.

Montreal Alouettes

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Officials

Tim Kroeker officiated his sixth Grey Cup and first as a referee.

The highest rated officials during the 2023 CFL season from their respective positions were selected for the game and announced on November 15, 2023.[2] The numbers below indicate their uniform numbers.

  • Referee: No. 74 Tim Kroeker
  • Umpire: No. 24 Troy Semenchuk
  • Down Judge: No. 27 Andrew Wakefield
  • Line Judge: No. 63 Rob Hill
  • Side Judge: No. 18 Pierre Laporte
  • Back Judge: No. 59 Larry Butler
  • Field Judge: No. 37 Jason Maggio
  • Backup Referee: No. 60 Tom Vallesi
  • Backup Official: No. 19 Chris Shapka
  • Backup Official: No. 40 Kevin Riopel
  • Backup Official: No. 73 Brian Chrupalo

Notes

  1. ^ The teams' previous postseason games were the 2000 East Division Final (won by Montreal) and the 2007 East Division Semi-Final (won by Winnipeg), both played when the Blue Bombers were members of the East Division due to the absence of a CFL team in Ottawa. This does not include two playoff losses by Winnipeg to the Baltimore Stallions, the organization that re-activated the Alouettes franchise after the end of the CFL's U.S. expansion era. Neither the Blue Bombers nor the Alouettes ever qualified for the playoffs as a cross-over team up to and including the 2023 season. Overall, the 2023 campaign was the 55th non-consecutive season of professional Canadian football since the end of World War II in which Winnipeg and Montreal fielded teams in different divisions.[21]

References

  1. ^ "2023 CFL Grey Cup Odds and Predictions". The Sports Geek. 13 November 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Officiating crew named for 110th Grey Cup". Canadian Football League. November 15, 2023.
  3. ^ "TSN is Home to Canada's Biggest Party, the 110th GREY CUP, November 19". bellmedia.ca. November 14, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "Full house for 2021 Grey Cup; Hamilton awarded 2023 game". Canadian Football League. October 14, 2021.
  5. ^ a b @Ticats (December 8, 2022). "Become a season seat holder today and secure your spot at the Grey Cup on November 19th, 2023!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Mitchell, Don (October 14, 2021). "Hamilton to host 2 of next 3 Grey Cups as CFL reveals 'modified' championship week". Global News. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  7. ^ "Hamilton Sports Group unveils its plans for '23 Grey Cup Festival". TSN. The Canadian Press. August 15, 2023. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  8. ^ "Details of the CFL's new CBA: salary cap increases, ratio changes, and guaranteed contracts". 3DownNation. May 26, 2022.
  9. ^ "Jamie Fine to take centre stage for SiriusXM Grey Cup kickoff show". Canadian Football League. October 27, 2023.
  10. ^ "Green Day to perform halftime show at 110th Grey Cup in Hamilton". TSN. September 30, 2023.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g "Winnipeg and Montreal will clash in Hamilton for the Grey Cup". Canadian Football League. November 12, 2023.
  12. ^ a b "2023 schedule". Canadian Football League. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  13. ^ "Als clinch playoff spot with road win over Redblacks". Canadian Football League. September 30, 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Dominant defence: Als punch ticket to GC110 with win over Argos". Canadian Football League. November 11, 2023.
  15. ^ a b c "CFL.ca game notes: A look at division finals". Canadian Football League. November 9, 2023.
  16. ^ "Winnipeg Blue Bombers clinch playoff spot with Banjo Bowl victory". 3DownNation. September 9, 2023.
  17. ^ "Unfinished business: Lions, Bombers face off in Western Final". Canadian Football League. November 10, 2023.
  18. ^ "Home sweet home: Bombers continue playoff dominance at IG Field". Canadian Football League. November 11, 2023.
  19. ^ a b "Montreal Alouettes vs Winnipeg Blue Bombers". Canadian Football League. July 1, 2023.
  20. ^ a b c "Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs Montreal Alouettes". Canadian Football League. August 24, 2023.
  21. ^ "2023 CFL Guide & Record Book" (PDF). Canadian Football League. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  22. ^ a b "Blue Bombers and Alouettes arrive for 110th Grey Cup". Canadian Football League. November 12, 2023.
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