WINNIPEG \u2014\u00a0Will the Saskatchewan Roughriders win Grey Cup No. 5 in \u201925?<\/p>\n
And what type of bedlam will ensue if they do?<\/p>\n
We will know later today, following a CFL championship game that will feature the Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes at Princess Auto Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we do it, man, I don\u2019t know the street we\u2019re going to go down, but I would love to see Albert Street, Broad Street or Saskatchewan Drive,\u201d Roughriders offensive tackle Jermarcus Hardrick mused.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know where y\u2019all do it, but it would be amazing if any of those streets could get crowded with people with the green and white on, or with no shirts on.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ultimate goal there, it gives me chills just thinking about it, but we\u2019ve got to win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Such an outcome would give Saskatchewan its fifth Grey Cup, following the championship seasons of 1966, 1989, 2007 and 2013.<\/p>\n \u201cTake advantage of this moment,\u201d said Hardrick, who celebrated Grey Cup wins with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2019 and 2021. \u201cI know guys who have been in the league 12 years and have never been to the show.<\/p>\n \u201cSo now that we\u2019re here, what are we going to do? Don\u2019t get caught up in being here. Let\u2019s go win it.\u201d<\/p>\n That was also the message from Trevor Harris<\/a>, who quarterbacked Saskatchewan to a 24-21, come-from-behind victory over the visiting B.C. Lions in the Western Final on Nov. 9.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what we planned on,\u201d he said, \u201cbut this isn\u2019t everything we wanted it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n At this point, however, most of the boxes have been checked. All but one.<\/p>\n The Roughriders (12-6) posted the CFL\u2019s best record for the first time since 1976 \u2014\u00a0and only the fifth time, period.<\/p>\n First place in the division was secured on Nov. 10, nearly a month before the Western Final.<\/p>\n Nine members of the team made the All-CFL team. The previous Club record of seven was set in 1967.<\/p>\n Individual accolades continued to roll in when Hardrick was named the CFL\u2019s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman. Also on Thursday, centre Logan Ferland received the Jake Gaudaur Veterans\u2019 Award.<\/a><\/p>\n To be determined: Coach of the Year, which will be announced at the 2026 CFL Combine.<\/p>\n Saskatchewan\u2019s Corey Mace<\/a> and Montreal\u2019s Jason Maas are the finalists for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n Throughout the season, Mace has espoused and ingrained his philosophy: \u201cWe want to go 1-and-0 this week.\u201d<\/p>\n That is the only option today, because there isn\u2019t a next week \u2014\u00a0not on the CFL schedule, anyway.<\/p>\n \u201cIt comes down to who adjusts the best,\u201d Hardrick said. \u201cYou just handle it that way.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we\u2019ve got a great leader. Mace lays the plan out. We talk about going 1-and-0.<\/p>\n \u201cHe gives us clear messages of when we can lift, when we\u2019re not going to be able to lift, and we\u2019ve got good leaders on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of them arrived in Saskatchewan with a Grey Cup pedigree. The Roughriders have under contract 15 players who have won at least one championship with another CFL team.<\/p>\n Six of the Riders\u2019 coaches, Mace included, own at least one Grey Cup ring.<\/p>\n Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager Jeremy O\u2019Day has helped Saskatchewan win a Cup as a player (2007) and Assistant GM (2013). He also hoisted the trophy as a rookie offensive lineman with the Toronto Argonauts in 1997.<\/p>\n Assistant GMs Kyle Carson and Paul Jones also have seven Grey Cup rings between them.<\/p>\n Others, like veteran kicker Brett Lauther, are hoping to be part of a CFL titleist for the first time. But he has purposely avoided trying to envision what a Cup celebration would be like.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not trying to look ahead of the game,\u201d Lauther said. \u201cAfter the game, if that happens, naturally it\u2019s going to be a lot of fun. But until those 60 minutes are done and Saskatchewan wins the football game, that\u2019s all we\u2019re worried about.<\/p>\n \u201cYou hear stories from 2007 and 2013, being teammates with guys like Andy Fantuz and Rob Bagg and people who have been out here and done it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what it potentially could be but, at the end of the day, we didn\u2019t come here just to make the Grey Cup. We came here to win the Grey Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n WHAT WILL BE THE DIFFERENCE?<\/p>\n \u201cExecution,\u201d Harris replied. \u201cI feel like we\u2019re looking at a mirror image of ourselves in Montreal \u2014 in terms of toughness, in terms of never giving up. There\u2019s the scrappy mentality and the way they\u2019re built and the belief.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s just going to be a matter of who\u2019s going to make the big play at the big moment when that big moment happens. Are we going to be able to respond to adversity better than they are? It\u2019s really about those things.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a knock-down, drag-out physical game and it\u2019s going to be about hanging in there, regardless of what happens. But I do like our team and I think they do, too.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing into this game, it\u2019s going to be a heavyweight fight.\u201d<\/p>\n HOW DO YOU HARNESS HARRIS?<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it\u2019s difficult,\u201d Maas said. \u201cIt\u2019s a challenge. He\u2019s seen it all. There\u2019s not too many things that man hasn\u2019t seen. He\u2019s super experienced and he gets rid of the ball and he diagnoses things rather quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the same old thing you talk about with experienced quarterbacks. You\u2019ve got to affect them some way, whether that\u2019s pressuring the pocket, giving them different looks, just slowing him down a little bit.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to slow him down a ton. Just enough to where he maybe hesitates. He\u2019s not going to hesitate too many times, but if you can get him a few times to do it \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to get his (completions). He has been doing it for a long time. He\u2019s about as accurate a passer as there is in the league. When the moments come, you\u2019ve got to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n SPIRIT OF \u201976<\/p>\n The Roughriders are poised to start four American offensive linemen<\/a> in a Grey Cup Game for the first time since 1976.<\/p>\n