MILLER REFLECTS ON 2007 LABOUR DAY CLASSIC

With Labour Day Classic weekend upon us, we are recalling our best memories this week on The Rod Pedersen Show.

Beloved Rider coach Ken Miller joined the show on Thursday from his home in Asheville, NC to discuss his favourites.

“Really when I think about the Labour Day game, I have to go back to the Grey Cup championship year,” Miller said of 2007, when he was Offensive Coordinator. “I think we were down by a point late in the game. We were marching the ball and we were getting ready to position the ball to kick a field goal.

“Kent Austin whispers in my ear ‘What do you think about running a draw play?’ I said ‘good idea’. We called a draw play to Kerry Joseph. Winnipeg blitzed, they had a person in every gap, but we blew ’em open, Jeremy O’Day and Mike Abou split em and he ran into the end zone for the winning touchdown! That was a tremendous win of us in that Grey Cup year.”

Hall of Fame Rider offensive tackle Gene Makowsky was in the bunker on Thursday’s show, and agreed with Miller’s recollection of that frenzied play.

“Pretty much as Coach Miller mentioned,” Gene smiled “It shoulda been stopped. They blitzed, it was the defense you’d want to call if you knew we were running a draw, but Kerry slipped through and he used his speed. There was obviously man coverage in the secondary so there was lots of room back there!

“And the crowd goes wild! It was awesome. I felt a tension in the stadium that day. There was a lot of back-and-forth, kind of the-last-team-to-have-the-ball-wins type game. That turned out to be true.”

Miller agreed that game may have been the tipping point to a magical Grey Cup run which culminated with a 23-19 victory over Winnipeg in the 2007 Grey Cup game in Toronto.

“I think, as of that game, our team really did come together nicely,” Miller nodded. “Really, really jelled from that point forward. Although we did lose the Banjo Bowl the following week. But we recovered from that and we were able to go forward and be successful.”

Don’t forget to join our special Labour Day Classic tailgate party Sunday morning at 10:00. We’ll have loads of Rider alumni, a Hobo Donut-eating contest and a special live pregame show on The Rod Pedersen Facebook channel from 11:30a-12:30p from the band shell. You are all invited!

RP
@rodpedersen