Scruffy’s This N That

1 – THE ALL-SASKIE HARDY: Not since Nathan Hoffart caught three touchdown passes in the snow at Taylor Field to help his University of Saskatchewan Huskies beat the Regina Rams 44-28 in 2002 have the province’s two University football programs battled it out for the conference championship. That will change today in Saskatoon when the two teams battle it out after both had huge road victories to advance.

If the Riders had been eliminated from the Grey Cup chase last weekend, this game would’ve gotten the lion’s share of publicity in the 306 this week, but it didn’t. The game will be played Saturday afternoon, but I have to ask why you couldn’t play Friday night or Sunday afternoon? Had Manitoba been in the game, you wouldn’t have been able to play Saturday afternoon. There will be a great crowd at Griffiths Stadium, but a few won’t go as they will be more engaged in what is happening at the Western Final. A Sunday afternoon 2 o’clock start might have been ideal.

2 – BANJO BOWL 2.0: As we all know, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have been involved in the Western Final for many years with the Blue & Gold being hosts for a lot of those games against either BC or Saskatchewan.  That will be the case Saturday afternoon as the teams meet with a trip to Vancouver on the line. There isn’t a lot separating these teams and it could very well come down to quarterback play. Zach Collaros has more playoff experience than Trevor Harris, but that means nothing when the ball gets kicked off to start the game.  Whoever plays better will win. It is as simple as that. I thought the West Semifinal would be close and it was and I expect this one to be the same as we shouldn’t know who the winner will be with five minutes to play.

As for the Eastern final, Montreal wants to get back to the Grey Cup and you know Chad Kelly and the Argos want to do to the Alouettes what they did to them at BMO Field in last year’s Eastern Final. Toronto is a different football team under Kelly. I have them moving on to Vancouver. I also have them winning it all for what it’s worth.

3 – WHAT A DAY FOR CANADIAN FOOTBALL: Tell me if we have ever seen a bigger day in the history of Canadian football. You have the four USports conference championships, the two CFL divisional finals and the Canadian Bowl. That is seven huge games showcasing the Canadian game. Wouldn’t it be great if for one Saturday, a “Canadian” sports network went balls out and had all seven for us? Yeah I know. Keep dreaming!

4 – V-A’S NEW HOME: I went to “X” or “Twitter” earlier this week asking what team you thought Vernon Adams Junior would play for next season. He’s not a free agent so whatever team gets him will have to make a trade. Many of you felt V-A would end up calling one of the Alberta teams home. A couple respondents said he will be in Saskatchewan because Trevor Harris won’t be and some mentioned Hamilton. No one mentioned Ottawa. That’s where I think he ends up. He’s a definite upgrade over Dru Brown and he could take that team to the next level. The landing spot for Adams might be the biggest off-season story amongst the clubs and player movement.

5 – NFL WEEK 10: Here are a few notes to get you ready for Week 10 of the NFL

• The 2024 NFL season is the most competitive NFL season to date. Seventy-five games have been decided by seven points or fewer and 65 by six points or less, both the most through Week 9 in NFL history. The Indianapolis Colts are the fourth team all-time to have each of their first nine games of a season decided by one score, joining the 2019 Indianapolis Colts, 2016 Detroit Lions and 2015 Baltimore Ravens.
• With the introduction of the dynamic kickoff, there has been a 66 percent increase in the number of returns through Week 9 from a year ago (445 in 2024, 268 in 2023) and the kickoff return rate of 31.2 percent (445 of 1,424) is up from 19.8 percent (268 of 1,351) at this point last year and 22 percent for the entire 2023 season (587 of 2,698). Additional 2024 trends include:

–45.4 points per game – the highest average through Week 9 since 2021 (46.8 points per game).

–91.7 passer rating – the fifth-highest mark through Week 9 in NFL history, trailing only 2020 (95.1), 2018 (94.0), 2021 (93.4) and 2019 (92.7).

–65.3 completion percentage – the third-highest percentage through Week 9 all-time, trailing only 2020 (65.8) and 2021 (65.6).

–245.1 rushing yards per game – the most through Week 9 since 1990.

–4.49 yards per rush attempt – the second-highest average through Week 9 in NFL history, trailing only 2022 (4.54).

• Washington has won seven of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels’ first nine starts and with a win, Daniels can join Ben Roethlisberger (ten wins) and Dak Prescott (nine) as the only rookie quarterbacks ever to win at least eight of their first 10 career starts. Daniels is 4-0 at home and can become the fourth rookie quarterback since 1950 to win each of his first five career home starts, joining Chris Chandler (1988), Ben Roethlisberger (2004) and Russell Wilson (2012).

6 – YIKES: We are going to get the rosters for the first Four Nations Cup in a couple of weeks. The Canadian lineup will have guys like Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar on it, but who will the goaltender be? It’s a question that has been asked for a while. The odds-on favourite has to be Jordan Binnington, but after that? You can go with guys like Sam Montembault, Aden Hill, Stuart Skinner and Cam Talbot.  Cam Talbot? Would you roll the dice and go with Marc-Andre Fleury? Why not? It’s not like he isn’t battle-tested?  When you look at what the US will have to choose from in players like Hellebuyck, Oettinger and Swayman and what Finland and Sweden have to choose from (Saros, Luokkanen, Markstrom, Ullmark), it just begs the question as to why Canada is having a problem in finding goalies. The next Carey Price isn’t skating through the crease anytime soon.

7 – SID’S FUTURE: There are guys you want to see play their entire career with one team. Joe Sakic was one of those guys in the NHL and another is Sidney Crosby. I don’t want to see him in another jersey other than that of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but will it happen?

The Penguins are not a very good hockey team and Crosby continues to get it done in his mid-30’s. How much longer does he have and how much of a desire does he have to get his hands on the Stanley Cup one last time.  It’s not happening in Pittsburgh.

Driving home the other day, NHL Radio was talking about Sid and whether or not he might ask for a trade so he can take one last run at the Cup.  He certainly deserves the opportunity if he wants it and you know Pittsburgh could get a lot for him.  My question is what contending team can afford him?  Yeah, I’m guessing Kelly McCrimmon could find a way to get him in a Vegas jersey, but is there any contender that can afford Sid.  I personally think he wants to stay a Penguin, but who knows.

8 – NECK GUARDS: Scary scene in St. Louis this week as Dylan Holloway had to be stretchered off the bench after getting hit in the neck with a puck. It had some questioning again if neck guards need to be made mandatory in the NHL. I think the players simply don’t want it. A player was killed last year in England after getting his throat cut accidentally by a skate. If that didn’t make the NHL and the Players Association make neck guards mandatory, nothing will. I guess individual players can wear them if they want, but they don’t appear to be.

9 – THE FUTURE OF CANADIAN JUNIOR HOCKEY: I think it’s bright. The decision by the NCAA allowing for Canadian junior players to play at Division 1 schools in the US is huge. I think we will see an influx of talent coming to the WHL as players who wanted to play Junior A because they wanted to go to school in the US when done can now play for a WHL team before heading south if they choose.

It’s good for the WHL and I am guessing the impact won’t be as big on the SJHL as it is in Alberta and BC.

Time will tell.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• It is great to see Sara Orlesky working on TSN Jets telecasts again. You won’t find many better people than Sara. When I was still covering Rider games, it was great to always have a chat with her about more than the game that was about to happen.
• It has been great to see the Regina Red Sox making player announcements knowing first pitch for 2025 is quite a few months away. It was also great to see the WCBL schedule get released a couple of weeks ago. I had to laugh at the fact that a Regina-based media outlet didn’t do a story on the Red Sox sked, but they were more than willing to do a story around Moose Jaw’s sked???
• Kevin Harlan doesn’t get the notoriety he deserves. I would take him calling a football game over Mike Tirico and some others every day of the week.
• Has anyone mentioned Duane Forde as a possible replacement for Randy Ambrosie?

Have a great weekend everyone!