I’ve been away from my computer for a few weeks, so I’m a little behind on my CFL Power Ratings. But, in the interests of maintaining consistency, I’m catching up with all the reports. Anyways, here goes…
A Tuesday night game in the CFL? Strange, but in a high-scoring contest, the last place in the East Ottawa RedBlacks defeated the last place in the West Edmonton Elks, 34-24. Ottawa’s rookie quarterback Caleb Evans made his CFL start, and threw three touchdown passes. Punt returner DeVonte Dedmon scored another touchdown on a punt return. Despite passing for 334 yards and two touchdowns, QB Taylor Cornelius couldn’t lead the Elks to victory.
The second game of the week featured the top-ranked Winnipeg Blue Bombers visiting the BC Lions on Friday night. Unsurprisingly, Winnipeg dominated, beating BC 30-9. Winnipeg QB Zach Collaros completed 28 of 33 passes, throwing for 417 yards and two touchdowns. Yes, 417 yards!!! Kenny Lawler caught 12 of those passes for 205 yards. The Winnipeg defense sacked Lions’ quarterback Michael Reilly five times.
Saturday saw two games being played. In the upset of the week, Montreal edged Hamilton 23-20 in overtime. Montreal overcame a 17-3 deficit in the 4th quarter, and scored on their final drive of regulation time, including converting two 3rd down situations, including a 3rd-and-20 on which they took the lead 20-17. But, Hamilton kicker Taylor Bertolet put through a 55-yard field goal as time ran out to send the game to overtime. In overtime, Hamilton fumbled the ball with Montreal recovering to end the first drive, and on the second, Montreal kicked a 36 yard field goal to take the victory.
In the final game of the week, Calgary held off Saskatchewan to win 23-17. Trailing 23-14, the Riders kicked a field goal with 1:46 left to cut the lead to 6. On the ensuing kickoff, Saskatchewan was able to recover the kick, but the play was called back because of an illegal interference call. On the re-do, they recovered again! Needing a touchdown, they marched down to the Calgary 41, but on a 3rd-and-10 pass, Calgary intercepted on their own 5 yard line and were able to run out the clock for the victory.
Week 9 Results
Edmonton 24 at Ottawa 34
Winnipeg 30 at British Columbia 9
Montreal 23 at Hamilton 20
Saskatchewan 17 at Calgary 23
McDonald CFL Power Ratings
There was no change in the top 3 teams this week, but Winnipeg expands their claim to best in the league, as they’ve now got a 55 point lead of McDonald CFL Power Rating points. Calgary has moved up to 4th place, just one point below the magic 1500 good/bad point. Despite their win this week, Ottawa remains the lowest team in our rankings.
| Ranking | Team | Rating | Record |
| 1 | Winnipeg | 1597 (▲11) | 7-1, 1st West |
| 2 | Saskatchewan | 1542 (▼13) | 5-3, 2nd West |
| 3 | Hamilton | 1526 (▼17) | 4-4, T-1st East |
| 4 (▲2) | Calgary | 1499 (▲13) | 3-5, 4th West |
| 5 (▼1) | Toronto | 1493 | 4-3, T-1st East |
| 6 (▲2) | Montreal | 1487 (▲17) | 3-4, 3rd East |
| 7 (▼3) | British Columbia | 1482 (▼11) | 4-4, 3rd West |
| 8 (▼1) | Edmonton | 1461 (▼12) | 2-5, 5th West |
| 9 | Ottawa | 1434 (▲13) | 2-5, 4th East |
Grey Cup Predictions
Winnipeg continues to be the team with the greatest chance of winning the Grey Cup, with a 36% chance. Hamilton is the most-likely team in the East, with a 20% chance, although that’s down 6 percentage points from last week. Beyond those two, there was lots of shuffling of teams, with Montreal (8% chance) and Calgary (4%) chance both up 3% from last week. We’ve also calculated a 56% chance of a Western team winning the Cup.
| Grey Cup Ranking | Team | Rating | Win Grey Cup |
| 1 | Winnipeg | 1597 | 36% (▲7) |
| 2 | Hamilton | 1526 | 20% (▼6) |
| 3 (▲1) | Toronto | 1493 | 13% (▲1) |
| 4 (▼1) | Saskatchewan | 1542 | 12% (▼3) |
| 5 (▲1) | Montreal | 1487 | 8% (▲3) |
| 6 (▼1) | British Columbia | 1482 | 4% (▼2) |
| 7 (▲1) | Calgary | 1499 | 4% (▲3) |
| 8 (▲1) | Ottawa | 1434 | 2% (▲1) |
| 9 (▼2) | Edmonton | 1461 | 1% (▼1) |
Our Full Predictions
| Team | Rating | Make Playoffs | Host Playoff Game | Win Division | Make Division Final | Make Grey Cup | Win Grey Cup |
| Winnipeg 7-1, 1st in West |
1597 | >99% | 99% | 95% | 98% | 62% | 36% |
| Hamilton 4-4, T-1st in East |
1526 | 93% | 78% | 44% | 72% | 40% | 20% |
| Toronto 4-3, T-1st in East |
1493 | 89% | 69% | 40% | 64% | 32% | 13% |
| Saskatchewan 5-3, 2nd in West |
1542 | 93% | 72% | 4% | 57% | 22% | 12% |
| Montreal 3-4, 3rd in East |
1487 | 74% | 42% | 13% | 43% | 19% | 8% |
| British Columbia 4-4, 3rd in West |
1482 | 69% | 12% | 1% | 27% | 9% | 4% |
| Calgary 3-5, 4th in West |
1499 | 40% | 12% | <1% | 19% | 7% | 4% |
| Ottawa
2-5, |
1434 | 25% | 11% | 3% | 13% | 5% | 2% |
| Edmonton 2-5, 5th in West |
1461 | 17% | 4% | <1% | 7% | 3% | 1% |
Week 10 Game Predictions
Wednesday: Ottawa (35%) at Toronto (64%)
Friday: Edmonton (26%) at Winnipeg (73%)
Saturday: Calgary (37%) at Saskatchewan (62%)
Monday: Ottawa (36%) at Montreal (63%)
Monday: Toronto (38%) at Hamilton (61%)