Ticats Set for Rivalry Clash With QEW Rivals

Sport, especially pro sport, is always about numbers. And ultimately the two which matter most can be placed into two contrasting columns: one headed by a W the other by an L.

Heading into Saturday night’s opening serve of three 2024 QEW Rivalry games, the two numbers in column A are 3 and 0.  The former as in the number of wins this year by the Toronto Argonauts the latter, alas, as in the number of wins this year by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

You could say the 0-5 Ticats need a win over the 3-2 Argos. You could also say that today is Friday.  If the Cats drop this one they’ll fall eight points behind their historic antagonists with just 24 more available points left on the schedule. But it’s not about the Argos, it’s about themselves.

“We just need to be rewarded for the work we’re putting in,” Ticat head coach Scott Milanovich said today after his team’s walkthrough for tomorrow night’s 7 p.m.  visit from the arch-rival Argos.

There are many avenues to express civic pride, but over the last 150 years, Hamilton’s preferred path has run directly through sports. Reflecting that storied history, just a few days from now Tim Hortons Field will host a two-week celebration of community spirit that not only recognizes sport but transcends it.

“For the attitude the players are showing, for the effort that they’re giving –coaches, staff and players—we had a great week of practice. We need to start seeing a ray of sunshine come up.”

They need a ray so it can eventually turn into a broad beam, but Milanovich stresses things have to be taken one light particle at a time.

Saturday marks the one-third mark of the schedule, and the numbers don’t favour teams which go oh-fer through that third. First, though, we’ll pull up a couple of positive figures. The Ticats are coming off a bye week after their home loss to BC. a dozen days ago and since 2016, they’re 10-4 in the first game after a bye. And, of the five teams who’ve previously had a bye this CFL season only one— the also-winless Edmonton Elks—has not won the first game after their schedule break.

But there are much more ominous numbers lurking out there like storm clouds over a family picnic. Consider that, dating back to 1945, 40 teams have started the season at 0-5 and only four of them made the playoffs: Winnipeg in 1955; Ottawa in 1959; B.C. in 1969; and B.C. again in 2011. That has left 90 percent of 0-5 starters emptying their lockers before the post-season even begins. The most recent local example of that was the 2017 Ticat team which started 0-8, changed their coach and quarterback to go 6-4 coming home but still missed the playoffs in an East Division which had no team over .500.

Of those four teams which did buck the odds and got into the playoffs after opening 0-5, only one of them lost a sixth straight: the ’69 Lions, who finished 5-11 but still slipped into third in the West because Winnipeg and Edmonton were awful that year.

To dig in their heels on this slide, the Ticats will have to get off to a better start than they have in three of their five games so far, when they fell behind by too much too early and were chasing the game from the first quarter on. That’s particularly important in the Argo-Ticat rivalry context.

Dating back to 2021 Toronto has won 10 of their 11 regular-season matches against the Ticats, including the last six in a row. In their last five head-to-head matches, the Ticats have not held the lead for even one second; the Argos have led that entire quintet, opening kickoff to the final gun.

So that’s the first step: don’t drop behind early, as Bo Levi Mitchell mentioned today.

“Start fast, stay consistent throughout the game and don’t get too high, don’t get too low,” he said of what his offence needs to do tomorrow night. “Next play mentality. Big touchdowns and be ready if Scott tells us to go for two points. Any bad plays, get to the sidelines, watch the film, move on and get ready to go.”

CATS CLAUSES: After bringing in 11 different players in their last game, against BC, the Ticats are making only three changes for tomorrow night. Rookie linebacker Ryan Baker (draft story here) makes his first CFL start. His coach at UBC two years ago was Spencer Boehm, now the Ticats’ Assistant Director of Personnel … the only change in the starting defence is the return of veteran cornerback Richard Leonard, back from injury, while the only new offensive starter is right tackle Brandon Kemp who has not played a regular season game since he was hurt on Labour Day last year, so there’s a symmetry in his return to action against the same Argos … Bo Levi Mitchell’s 1671 yards passing rank second in the CFL and are the most he’s ever had after five games,  ahead of of the 1635 he had in 2017 when he led Calgary into the Grey Cup game … Ticat rookie receiver Shemar Bridges ranks fourth in CFL receptions with 34, but has played one game less than the three ahead of him … Argo LB Wynton McManis had a pick six last week and of his seven career CFL interceptions, four have gone for touchdowns … Argo returner Janarion Grant is sixth all-time in CFL kick-return touchdowns … Toronto quarterback Cameron Dukes completed 80 per cent of his passes last week against Montréal but only two for longer than nine yards as he totalled 131 yards … the Argos lead the league with 30.8 points per game while the Ticats have  surrendered  a league-worst 33.8 points per game … Argonaut RB  Ka’Deem Carey’s 363 yards rushing are only three behind league-leader Brady Oliveira. Dukes ranks No. 11 overall … former Ticat DE Justin Capiccioti, who grew up in Toronto but now lives just a couple of blocks from Tim Hortons Field is this week’s Alumnus of Distinction.