The stage is set for the 112th Grey Cup.

The Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders earned their way to the championship game and now they have one game left to prove that they deserve to win the league’s top prize.

It’s a matchup that features a duel between a confident young pivot and a savvy veteran, a pair of elite defences that can change the game on a dime, and two Canadian receivers with something to prove.

Here are three storylines that could define who goes home with the Grey Cup on Sunday.

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THE KID VS. THE VET PART 3

Will Davis Alexander (left) or Trevor Harris (right) lead their respective team to victory on Sunday? (Thomas Skrlj/CFL.ca)

It’s been an ongoing storyline throughout the Grey Cup Playoffs, the kid, Davis Alexander, taking on (and so far beating) veteran quarterbacks.

Alexander went toe-to-toe with Zach Collaros in the Eastern Semi-Final and defeated him. He then went against Bo Levi Mitchell in the Eastern Final and came out victorious. With five Grey Cups, four Most Outstanding Player awards and 26 years of experience between Collaros and Mitchell, Alexander had no problem rising to the occasion to earn himself a trip to the 112th Grey Cup.

Alexander has made it abundantly clear that he is going to be playing in Sunday’s 112th Grey Cup against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Sure, he may not be at 100 per cent, he admitted as he arrived in Winnipeg, after tweaking his hamstring in last week’s game in Hamilton, but after a long, gruelling season, most players aren’t playing at full strength anyway.

He’ll need to be at his best this week, going against another pivot with a plethora of experience in Trevor Harris.

Harris has won two Grey Cups, albeit he wasn’t a starter in either of them, playing behind Ricky Ray in Toronto (2012) and Henry Burris in Ottawa (2016). He’s hungry for one as a starter and will hope he and his Riders are the ones to hand Alexander his first loss as a starter in the CFL.

Will it be the young, swaggy Alexander who leads his Als to their second Grey Cup in three years? Or will experience trump all and Harris will get his first ring as a starter?

DEFENCE COULD DECIDE EVERYTHING

THAT WILL DO IT!

Darnell Sankey has Montreal heading to Hamilton for the Eastern Final!

📅: Eastern Semi-Final LIVE NOW
🇨🇦: TSN, RDS, CTV
🌎: CFL+#GCPlayoffs | @MTLAlouettes pic.twitter.com/f0hgNm7Bkh

— CFL (@CFL) November 1, 2025

I’ve said it time and time again but defence wins championships, and with that in mind, it’s no surprise that the two teams competing for the 112th Grey Cup feature two of the top defences in the CFL.

The identity of Noel Thorpe’s unit in Montreal has had an aggressive, rally-to-the-football mentality. With playmakers on all three levels, they’ll make you pay for your mistakes. Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund has been the star for the Als on their defensive line, and would you believe me if I told you that he didn’t register a stat against the Tiger-Cats in the Eastern Final? Hamilton made the East Division nominee for Most Outstanding Canadian a non-factor, and Saskatchewan will be looking to replicate that.

But Montreal does have others who can make the big play when needed. The Swiss army knife weakside linebacker Tyrice Beverette, who Collaros called the best player in the CFL, can do it all and is usually not too far away from the ball on any given play. Darnell Sankey has been a force this playoff run, notching the game-sealing interception in the Eastern Semi-Final and collecting 10 defensive tackles in the Final last weekend.

On the other side, Corey Mace’s group has taken on his hard-nosed approach, with a focus on rushing the passer, stopping the run, and keeping points off the board. The Riders finished the regular season with 43 sacks, two behind the league leaders in BC and Montreal (45 each), and allowed a CFL-low 22.7 points per game. Running backs had trouble getting much going against Saskatchewan in the regular season, with the team only giving up 76.0 yards per game on the ground. You only have to look back one week to see this in action, with BC’s James Butler only gaining 58 yards in the Western Final.

The turnover margin is as close as it can be between these teams, with each finishing the regular season +8.

In a defensive matchup this even, the 112th Grey Cup may come down to which team can make the big play at the right time.

HOW ABOUT THE CANADIAN RECEIVERS?

 

On the biggest stage in Canada, two homegrown receivers are about to put on a show.

Roughrider Samuel Emilus and Alouette Tyson Philpot headline the Canadians playing in the game (though there are plenty of impact Nationals on both sides of the ball for both teams, for the record).

Philpot is no stranger to the pressure of a championship game, catching the game-winning touchdown pass from Cody Fajardo in the 110th Grey Cup just two years ago. Philpot had his best game of 2025 in Week 15 against the same Riders he’s facing this weekend, hauling in all nine passes thrown his way for 238 yards and two touchdowns.

Emilus, playing in his first Grey Cup and against the team he was a fan of in his childhood, was clutch in his team’s win over the Lions in the Western Final with a pair of catches on the game-winning touchdown drive. Along with a 23-yard pick up to start the drive, he also hauled in a 14-yard catch on second-and-10 to bring the Riders down to the BC 39-yard line, three plays before Tommy Nield’s game-winning score. He only played in seven regular season games this year dealing with injury, but had three games of over 100 yards, including a 142-yard game against Toronto in Week 19.

With so many talented receivers suiting up for both the Riders and the Als, all eyes will be on these two Canadians. Philpot has already shown that he can deliver when it matters most, while Emilus will be looking to make his own Grey Cup mark. If either one can get going on Sunday, that could be the difference between who hoists the trophy and who doesn’t.