The Montreal Alouettes have by far the longest odds to win this year’s Grey Cup after eliminating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East Semi-Final by a score of 27-12.
The club won this past weekend on the strength of their defence as the unit limited Hamilton to 259 yards of net offence and forced three turnovers. Darnell Sankey and Shawn Lemon were particularly dominant as they recorded a combined 13 tackles, four sacks, one interception, and one pass knockdown. William Stanback got Montreal’s ground game going late in the game, while Austin Mack and Jake Harty both caught touchdown passes from Cody Fajardo.
Montreal will be in for a stiffer test this weekend when they take on the Toronto Argonauts in the East Final. Toronto swept the three-game regular season series by a combined score of 97-57 and prevented the Alouettes from earning a berth in the Grey Cup last year, winning the East Final by a score 34-27.
Toronto’s offence ranked second league-wide in scoring and net yards during the regular season, while the club’s defence finished second in points allowed, fifth in net yards allowed, and first in takeaways and sacks. The Argonauts haven’t played a meaningful game since Sept. 15 when they defeated the Alouettes 23-20 at Percival Molson Stadium to clinch first place in the East Division with six regular season games remaining.
Montreal’s offence ranked seventh in scoring and sixth in net yards this year, while its defence finished third in points allowed and net offence, tied for sixth in sacks, and second in takeaways. Though David Côté has struggled at times with his placekicking, the club has generally performed well on special teams, finishing first in net punting and second in big play returns with Chandler Worthy and James Letcher Jr. enjoying success.
The Alouettes will visit Toronto for the East Final on Saturday, Nov. 11 with kickoff slated for 3:00 p.m. EST, while the B.C. Lions will visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the West Final at 6:30 p.m. EST. The Grey Cup odds for all four teams can be found below.
