“It feels like it was yesterday”: The Roughriders’ Grey Cup win — two months later

Although the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 2025 season is one for the history books, there is a case for turning the page.

That is the perspective of Trevor Harris, who was named the MVP of the 112th Grey Cup Game after quarterbacking the Roughriders to a 25-17 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Nov. 16 — two months ago today.

“My attention has turned a little bit more to next year, understanding that there are lessons to be learned in defeat or victory,” Harris says from his off-season home near Columbus, Ohio.

“The biggest thing that we could do that would hurt us this year is if we didn’t take a hard look at how we did things. Success does indeed leave clues. What did we do well that worked? What did we not do well that we can revise and change and be better at?

“My attention has just turned to, ‘What is the 2026 version of the Roughriders going to look like? How can we do it again?’ We’re going to do that by building a brotherhood and by making our locker room and team a family environment. We’ll go further if we go together than if we try and do this alone.

“I just can’t wait to see what the 2026 version of the Riders is going to look like and how we can get better from last year to this year.”

The bar is set higher than ever in one respect.

Until 2025, the Roughriders had never won a Grey Cup and finished first overall in the regular-season standings in the same year.

Top spot was secured on Oct. 10, when the Roughriders improved their record to 12-4 by defeating the visiting Toronto Argonauts 27-19.

After finishing the regular season at 12-6, Saskatchewan defeated the B.C. Lions 24-21 in the Western Final before registering the fifth Grey Cup victory in franchise history.

It feels like a heartbeat ago.

“The last couple of months have flown by,” All-CFL centre Logan Ferland observes.

That sentiment is echoed by Tommy Stevens, who rushed for two of the Roughriders’ three touchdowns in the Cup-clinching conquest.

“It feels like it was yesterday, honestly,” Stevens says. “I’m still so proud of our team and our organization.

“It takes a village to win a championship. I miss the group a ton and miss coming to work with them every day, but I’m excited for the opportunity to be back and continue building on the success we had last year.

“I believe this is just the beginning for us. I feel as hungry for success as I’ve ever been and can’t wait to get back to work together as a team.”

The excitement is underlined by Stevens’ decision to sign a two-year contract extension during the off-season. Harris quickly re-upped for one year after going 23-for-27 for 302 yards in the Grey Cup win of 61 days ago.

“For the last couple of months, just being home has been cool,” Harris says. “It has been nice to spend time with the family.

“Every once in a while, you’ll see the Grey Cup championship hat and you’ll think, ‘Oh yeah. We did do that!’ ”

Harris was an automatic choice to serve on the committee that designed the Grey Cup rings, to be presented in the spring.

“Designing the rings is one of those things that has been really cool and that has stuck out to me,” he says. “We’re going to get these rings and we’ll get to celebrate this championship a little bit more with the fan base.”

The largest-scale celebration to date took place on Nov. 18, when the Grey Cup parade was held.

“I have to say the Green Mile was the most memorable experience of all of the celebrations thus far,” All-CFL centre Logan Ferland says.

“The only thing to compare to that would be when I get the opportunity to bring the Cup to my hometown of Melfort — a goal and a dream of mine finally coming to fruition.

“Experiencing moments with family and friends with the Cup has been just as fulfilling as you’d expect. There have been memories made with my own family, along with my fiancé Telia’s family.

“One of the highlighted Cup visits I’ve had was bringing it to the Elephant Bar in Aylesbury to hand it off to the (Roughriders) coaches before their small-town Saskatchewan bar tour.

“Or, there was stopping in unexpectedly at Leopold’s Tavern to eat the poutine of the week out of the Cup … or sharing it with my junior team, the Regina Thunder, the night they had their Christmas party.

“A future moment with the Cup will be when it joins us ice fishing at some point this off-season. My future father-in-law’s one request was to bring it with us as we do something truly Saskatchewanian.”