Stubblefield’s Rare Stat Exemplifies Tiger-Cats First-Place Season

He wears jersey No. 1 and he’s the first, and only, boy in a family of 10 siblings so his nickname is Uno. As in Numero Uno.

But maybe we have to amend that to “Minus-Uno.”

In last week’s 35-15 victory over Ottawa, which clinched first place in the East and a bye directly into Nov. 8’s conference final, Reggie Stubblefield, the Ticats’ field-side defensive halfback, had an uncommon, and very positive, statistical accomplishment that the CFL highlighted on its website.

According to Pro Football Focus—which analyzes every play of every game and creates a set of metrics for the league—Stubblefield allowed negative one passing yards against Ottawa. None of the receivers he was covering, except for one, caught a pass (he got his first interception of the season and also knocked down a pass), and that catch was caught behind the line of scrimmage, where Stubblefield rushed forward and tackled him for a loss of a yard.

And, remember, the field side is the wide side where most opposing quarterbacks most often target the run-pass-option (RPO), with the choice of handing off, tossing the ball to a receiver or to a running back sliding out of the backfield, or keeping the ball themselves.

“It is something that you can look back on some day and understand how unique it is,” Stubblefield told Ticats.ca this week. “It’s always a blessing to be able to do that. I actually had a few of those games my rookie year (2023) in Montréal.

“I don’t pride myself on individual things that much but you do think about making sure you’re doing your job, your role, in the best way possible.”

That infrequent minus-one coverage stat dovetails nicely with a week in which the Ticats came close to equalling their all-time high for number of East Division All-CFL selections and had four players chosen to represent the East for the CFL’s individual Outstanding Player Awards which will be presented during Grey Cup week in Winnipeg.

The Ticats (11-7) are awaiting the winner of Saturday’s East Semi-final in Montréal between the second-place Alouettes (10-8) and the Western cross-over Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Cats’ and Als’ close finish at the top of the East conference was confirmed by each landing 11 of the 25 available spots on the Divisional All-CFL team.

Six Ticats offensive players—and arguably it could have been more: No Tim White? No Destin Talbert? No Marc Liegghio?—made the selections: Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, of course; receivers Kenny Lawler and Kiondré Smith; running back Greg Bell, left guard Brandon Revenberg and right tackle Quinton Barrow.

On defence it was defensive end Julian Howsare, defensive tackle Casey Sayles, and defensive backs Jamal Peters, Stavros Katsantonis and DaShaun Amos. For Amos, it’s the third team (Calgary 2019, Toronto 2024) for whom he’s been a divisional All-CFL selection.

The defensive selections were a huge jump from the solitary All-CFL spots the Ticats had on defence in the last two years; Peters (2024) and Sayles (2023).

The Ticats set a franchise record of 13 East All-CFLers in 2019 when they had a 15-3 record, by far the best in team history. After a cancelled pandemic 2020 season, they had 10 divisional selects in 2021, 11 in 2022 after a late recount of ballots, but only three in 2023 and six last season.

Arguably though, it should have been more this year. Even though half the Ticats secondary (which includes SAM linebacker) made the All-CFL East, in most other seasons Talbert makes it—his combined total of knockdowns and interceptions was second in the league—and so does SAM linebacker Jonathan Moxey.

Stubblefield played well but missed the first six games recovering from ACL surgery required after he injured his knee in the first game of the 2024 season when he was with the Als. He went exactly 400 days between CFL starts and got into top form within a couple of games back.

“I was very surprised with Destin not on it, especially the way he played right from the beginning of the season,” he said of Talbert’s omission from the All-CFL team. “Moxey too has been consistent and great.”

“But we’re also really, really happy for the three guys from our group who did make it because they deserved it. It’s always good to get awards but the main thing I wanted when I came here was the Grey Cup. This year I haven’t been looking at those kinds of individual things because I’ve been coming off an injury, trying to make sure I can lead in the best way possible, and do anything we can just to win.”

Speaking of winning, it’s also hard to fathom how Scott Milanovich was not the East finalist as Coach of the Year, which went to the Als’ Jason Maas, who admittedly had to coach much of the season without his top QB. But Milanovich went 2-0 against the Als, and 7-1 overall against the East with a last-second field-goal loss on Labour Day the only blip.

Still it was a pretty good haul for the Cats in the Player Awards as Bo Levi Mitchell, who led the league in passing by six yards over Nathan Rourke, will join the BC pivot in the final pairing for Most Outstanding Player. Mitchell put up his second straight 5,000-yard season, had three receivers hit 1000 yards, led the league (and set his own personal record) with 36 TD passes and had the best TD/interception ratio among qualified starters. He also rushed for his first touchdown in a decade.

Julian Howsare should win the Most Outstanding Defensive Player despite trailing Western finalist Mathieu Betts’ league-leading 15 sacks by two. He had six sacks in his final three games, had a touchdown, an interception, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and recorded one more defensive tackle than Betts. He also knocked down a phenomenal seven passes.

Left guard Brandon Revenberg, one of the all-time great Ticats, goes against Saskatchewan’s Jermarcus Hardrick for Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman, the fifth time he’s been the East rep for that award, although he’s never won it. It’ll be close again this year because Hardrick was terrific and, like Revenberg’s Cats, his Roughriders had an outstanding year in passing and in blocking for a 1000-yard back.

Revenberg, however, played three different line positions during the year. And not only did the line he captained give Mitchell enough protection to nurture three 1000-yard receivers—the first time the Ticats have had that in eight years and just the second time in team history—it was the first time ever that the pass-oriented Ticats had three 1000-yard receivers and a 1000-yard rusher (Bell) in the same season. Those kinds of details should make a difference.

Finally, second overall draft choice Devin Veresuk, who became the starter at middle-linebacker in just his third pro game and responded with eight tackles and a memorable pick-six in that debut start, will face the Blue Bombers’ multi-purpose Trey Vaval for Most Outstanding Rookie. Vaval has been a threat on offence and has four return touchdowns, including two in one game, the first time a Bomber has ever done that.

All of the awards, All-CFL nods, wins, and big-time numbers—don’t forget Liegghio’s 33 straight field goal successes, fourth most in CFL history or his accuracy rate, 11th best for a single season in league history, punter Nik Constantinou’s ability to kill the ball inside the opponents’ 10-yard line, the club’s first six-game winning streak in five years, the 134 points scored after turnovers—underscore how the Ticats moved from “worst to first” this season.

And it all came while operating under the daily grief of first, Ted Goveia’s diagnosis of esophageal cancer and his eventual death on Sept. 12, the very day the Ticats were honouring his contributions to Canadian football during a game against his former team, the Bombers.

“I came here to win the Grey Cup, and I’m really pursuing it and doing it for Ted,” Stubblefield said. “When he brought me here, from the personal conversations we had, that was by far the biggest thing…and it’s still on the table.”

CATS CLAUSES: As part of hosting the East Final for the first time in five years, the Ticats are making the November 8 division title match a “Blackout Game”, with fans encouraged to arrive early, and dressed in black. Ticats legends Luke Tasker, Chris Van Zeyl, Brandon Banks and other alumni will be on site to boost the celebrations, and The Trews will perform the half-time show. Other highlights, with more to come, include a military flyover and the Argylls Pipes and Drums to honour Remembrance Day, the Burlington Teen Tour Band, and blackout rally towels for every fan … Four Ticats made the CFL’s final weekly Honour Roll of the regular season: kicker Marc Liegghio, special teams player Robert Panabaker, offensive lineman Quinton Barrow and RB Greg Bell … the fourth episode of Made in the Hammer, the docu-series of the Ticats’ dramatic 2025 season dropped on YouTube Thursday night. Co-produced by Hamilton native Stephen Brunt and Hamilton Sports Group’s Taylor Iannarilli, the series has been a runaway success and is well worth watching. It was announced Friday that the series has been commissioned for a fifth episode … the Ticats added three players to the practice roster this week in kicker Michael Domagala, the Carleton grad who appeared in 22 games for the Cats in 2021 and ’22, and later kicked for Ottawa and was on the practice roster of the Alouettes; Canadian defensive end Kail Davis who played eight games for Calgary last season and American receiver Moochie Dixon who played top-level NCAA at Texas and SMU from 2000–04 … after this weekend’s divisional semifinals only one team with a franchise playoff record over .500 will remain because Montreal (.519) and Winnipeg (.566) meet head-to-head and the other four playoff teams are below .500 in post-season; Calgary (.490), Hamilton (.484), Saskatchewan (.455) and B.C. (.390). But that was then; this is now … Bo Levi Mitchell’s 36 TD passes were five more than anyone else in the CFL … Greg Bell’s 5.6 yards per carry was tied for second in the league behind Brady Oliveira’s 5.8 … Kenny Lawler led the league by five in TD receptions (14) and by two in receptions of 30-plus yards (14) and was second in targets and receiving yards … Brendan O’Leary-Orange had the longest reception (87 yards) in the league this season with Lawler (79) third … Tyler Ternowski had one of the league’s six blocked kicks … Isaiah Wooden led the CFL with a 15-yard punt return average, was second in kick return TDs (3) and third in kickoff returns … Brian Cole led the Ticats in special teams tackles with 19, tied for 8th in the league. Braxton Hill had 14, and Ternowski 13.