This week in the CFL – Week 1

Stats and storylines heading into this week’s action

WHAT WE’RE MADE OF

• There are currently 493 total players on CFL rosters:
  • 426 veterans
  • 67 are first-year players (13.6 per cent); 93 in 2024
  • Averages of 41 games of CFL experience and 22 starts
  • Average age: 28.2
• Status:
  • 220 Nationals
  • 256 Americans
  • 17 Globals
• 158 from U SPORTS (32 per cent). Laval and Montreal lead with 12 each.

HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE

• Starting and backup quarterbacks have a combined 825 starts (474-344-7; 0.579 winning percentage) of CFL experience:
  • Starters: 527 (333-189-5; 0.637)
  • Backups: 298 (141-155-2; 0.477)
• Most starts:
  • Starter Bo Levi Mitchell | HAM | 140 (99-39-2)
  • Starter Zach Collaros | WPG | 130 (83-47)
  • Starter Trevor Harris | SSK | 112 (58-52-2)
• Fewest starts:
  • Backup P.J. Walker | CGY | 0
  • Starter Davis Alexander | MTL | 4 (4-0)
  • Backup Taylor Powell | HAM | 10 (4-6)
• Tandems by winning percentage:
  • HAM | 150 (103-45-2; 0.693)
  • CGY | 60 (38-22; 0.633)
  • WPG | 143 (88-55; 0.615)
  • TOR | 50 (30-20; 0.600)
  • EDM | 91 (52-38-1; 0.577)
  • OTT | 31 (16-14-1; 0.532)
  • BC | 79 (40-39; 0.506)
  • SSK | 157 (76-78-3; 0.494)
  • MTL | 64 (31-33; 0.484)

CENTURY MARK

• Bo Levi Mitchell next victory would be his 100^th as a starter, making him the tenth player to reach the milestone and tying him with Matt Dunigan for ninth all-time.
• Mitchell’s next start will be the 141^st of this career.
• Ron Lancaster (149) holds the record for fewest games to reach 100 victories, followed by Tracy Ham (151) and Dunigan (165).

NINE IN SIGHT

• Ottawa REDBLACKS receiver Geno Lewis has a receiving touchdown in each of his past eight games, dating back to last year.
• One this week would tie him with Sean Millington for the second-longest streak in CFL history (October 20, 2001 to July 26, 2002).
• Terry Evanshen holds the record with 10 games in a row from 1967-68.
• During his streak, Lewis has 38 receptions for 572 yards. He is the CFL’s active receiving yards leader with 6,261, and he is two receptions shy of 400 in his career.

QUICK SLANTS

League-wide

• This will be the 80^th CFL season in the post-war era.
• For the first time, there are four Canadian-born head coaches: Mike O’Shea, Corey Mace, Bob Dyce and Mark Kilam.
• For the first time since 2008, there are four Canadian-born GMs: Kyle Walters, Danny Maciocia, Shawn Burke and Ted Goveia
• This week’s milestone games:
  • 150^th | Jorgen Hus
  • 100^th | Micah Awe, Lewis Ward, Jameer Thurman, Cam Judge

OTT at SSK

• Saskatchewan has won its previous four season openers.
• William Stanback, the CFL’s active rushing leader, is 109 yards away from 5,000.
• Ottawa’s last win at Mosaic Stadium came on September 15, 2018, when Harris led the REDBLACKS to a 30-25 decision.
• Trevor Harris is a career 8-4 vs. Ottawa; Dru Brown is 0-0-1 vs. the Roughriders.
• Brett Lauther is 13 points from 1,000 in his career. He has made his last 22 field goal attempts.

TOR at MTL

• Since 2022, Toronto is 7-2 against Montreal in the regular season.
• Toronto is 99-112-3 all-time against Montreal.
• Ryan Dinwiddie is entering his fifth season at the helm of the Argos. He is 26-10 against teams in the East.
• Nick Arbuckle is 2-3 vs. Montreal. Davis Alexander will make his first start against Toronto; he is a career 4-0.
• As Montreal’s HC, Jason Maas is 13-5 versus East Division foes.
• Austin Mack is sitting on 1,299 career receiving yards.

HAM at CGY

• Calgary is 68-35 all-time against the Tiger-Cats.
• Bo Levi Mitchell has yet to win as a visitor at McMahon Stadium. Sitting at 39,023 career passing yards, he needs 19 to pass Tom Clements for 11^th all-time.
• Calgary’s Dominique Rhymes (4,936) is 64 receiving yards shy of 5,000 in his career.
• Tim White’s next catch will be the 300^th of his career.

EDM at BC

• First opening week featuring two Canadian starting QBs since 1968; first time ever that they have faced each other.
• Nathan Rourke and Tre Ford will also start against one another for the first time. Rourke is 3-0 versus Edmonton, Ford is 1-2 against BC.
• Mark Kilam and Buck Pierce will make their head coaching debuts. The last two HCs to debut in the same game were Craig Dickenson and Orlondo Steinhauer in 2019.
• Nyles Morgan is looking for his third straight 100+ defensive tackle season. The only player who has accomplished that feat is Willie Pless (1997-99).
• Sean Whyte (2,116) needs 10 points to surpass Terry Baker (2,125) for 10^th on the all-time scoring list.
• Mathieu Betts is four defensive tackles from 100 in his career.