110th Grey Cup

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110th Grey Cup
File:2023 Grey Cup.png
Winnipeg Blue Bombers Montreal Alouettes
(14–4) (11–7)
24 28
Head coach: 
 Head coach: 
1 2 3 4 Total
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 10 7 0 7 24
Montreal Alouettes 7 0 7 14 28
Date November 19, 2023
Stadium Tim Hortons Field
Location Hamilton, Ontario
Most Valuable Player Cody Fajardo
Most Valuable Canadian Tyson Philpot
Favourite Blue Bombers by 7.5[1]
National anthem Simone Soman
Coin toss Mary Simon
Referee Tim Kroeker[2]
Halftime show Green Day
Attendance 28,808
Broadcasters
Network Canada (English): TSN
Canada (French): RDS
Worldwide: CFL+
Announcers
  • Rod Smith (play-by-play)
  • Glen Suitor (analyst)
  • Claire Hanna (sideline reporter)
  • Matthew Scianitti (sideline reporter)[3]
< 109th Grey Cup 111th Grey Cup >

The 110th Grey Cup was played to decide the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2023 season.[4] The game was played on November 19, 2023, at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario[4][5] between the West Division champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the East Division champion Montreal Alouettes. The Alouettes defeated the Blue Bombers 28–24. It was the 12th time that Hamilton hosted the Grey Cup, with the most recent being in 2021.[4]

Host

Due to Ontario COVID-19 public health orders still in effect as of mid-October 2021, all in-person entertainment festivities for the 108th Grey Cup in Hamilton had limit restrictions. It was therefore announced on October 14, 2021, that the 110th Grey Cup in 2023 would be awarded to Hamilton, in order to allow organizers to host the Grey Cup and all associated festivities as originally planned.[4][6]

Entertainment

The Hamilton Sports Group announced that the Grey Cup Festival would be held in downtown Hamilton from November 16 to 18, 2023. A 35-yard football field was planned to be constructed at the John Weir Foote Armoury; it hosted a multi-day flag football tournament. The Hamilton Convention Centre, FirstOntario Centre, and Bridgeworks hosted parties for all CFL teams and the annual CFL Alumni Association Legends Luncheon was held on November 17, 2023, at LIUNA Station.[7]

Date

Per the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in 2022, the league had the option of starting the 2023 season by up to 30 days sooner, which could have significantly altered the date of this game.[8] However, the league chose to continue with the existing scheduling formula and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats confirmed that the game would be played on November 19, 2023 (the third Sunday of November).[5]

Entertainment

Pop singer Jamie Fine sang during the pre-game kickoff show.[citation needed] The Canadian national anthem was sung by Canada's Got Talent semifinalist Simone Soman, making her the first blind singer to perform the anthem at the game.[9] American rock band Green Day performed during the halftime show.[10] They performed 4 songs, "The American Dream is Killing Me", "Basket Case", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", and "Holiday".

Teams

The game featured the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, playing in their fourth consecutive Grey Cup, versus the Montreal Alouettes, who, prior to this game, held the record for the longest Grey Cup appearance drought, having last appeared in a championship game in 2010.[11] The Alouettes made their 19th Grey Cup appearance while the Blue Bombers made their league-leading 28th appearance in the title game.[11] The Alouettes were attempting to win their eighth championship and the Blue Bombers were attempting to win their 13th, including their third in four years.[11]

Montreal Alouettes

File:2023, East Final, Montreal Alouettes vs Toronto Argonauts 11.jpg
The Alouettes defeated the favoured Argonauts in the East Final.

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Main article: 2023 Montreal Alouettes season

The Alouettes finished in second place in the East Division after qualifying for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.[11] The team finished with an 11–7 record, but notably had an 11–0 regular season record against teams that finished with losing records and an 0–7 regular season record against teams that finished with winning records.[11] Because they faced the Blue Bombers, Lions, and Argonauts back-to-back in their schedule, the Alouettes started the season on a two-game winning streak, followed by a three-game losing streak, then a four-game winning streak, then a four-game losing streak, and finally a five-game winning streak.[12] The Alouettes qualified for the playoffs following their week 17 win over the Ottawa Redblacks.[13] In the playoffs, the team handily defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 27–12 in the East Semi-Final as they held their opponent to four field goals and no touchdowns.[12] In the East final, the Alouettes would face the heavily favoured 16–2 Argonauts, a team to whom the Alouettes had already lost three times during the regular season. However, in the playoff game against the Argonauts, the Alouettes forced nine Toronto turnovers: four interceptions including two that went for touchdowns, four turnovers on downs, and a fumble recovery.[14] The Alouettes dominated the Argonauts and won the game 38–17 in front of the largest crowd to watch an Argonauts game at BMO Field.[14]

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

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Main article: 2023 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season

The Blue Bombers were again a force to be reckoned with in the regular season as they finished with a 14–4 record.[15] The Blue Bombers secured a playoff spot for the seventh straight season in their 13th game with a victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Banjo Bowl on September 9, 2023.[16] However, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers did face a challenge for first place in the West Division from the BC Lions as the two teams had identical 11–4 records heading into their week 16 match-up that would determine who won the season series.[15] The Blue Bombers won the game in overtime and the Lions lost the following week, so the Blue Bombers secured their third consecutive division title.[17] Winnipeg played two games that were meaningless in the standings to end the season, but still won both despite resting some starters in both games.[15] Following their playoff bye week, the Blue Bombers faced the BC Lions in the West Division Final, but had a dominant defensive performance as they tied a league playoff record with nine sacks and held the Lions to just one Hail Mary touchdown and the Blue Bombers won 24–13.[18]

Head-to-head

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Montreal Alouettes in both meetings in 2023, with the Bombers winning 17–3 on Canada Day and then 47–17 at IG Field on August 24, 2023.[11] In their first meeting, the Blue Bombers had 185 rushing yards, including 120 from Brady Oliveira, and Zach Collaros threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns.[19] The Winnipeg defence held Montreal to three points, led by Willie Jefferson, who had two sacks and a fumble recovery, and Cameron Lawson who had two sacks and a forced fumble, and Brandon Alexander who intercepted Cody Fajardo in the red zone.[19] In the second meeting, the Blue Bombers' defence again held the Alouettes' offence to three points as the Alouettes scored their only majors from interceptions from Marc-Antoine Dequoy and Tyrell Richards.[20] The Winnipeg defence held Fajardo to just 137 yards passing and one interception and leading rusher William Stanback to 32 yards rushing.[20] Collaros threw for four touchdowns and three inceptions and Oliveira nearly matched his previous total with 119 rushing yards and one touchdown.[20]

While this was the first Grey Cup game played between these franchises, it was their third postseason meeting. The teams split their previous two playoff contests.[11][lower-alpha 1]

Uniforms

As the East Division representative in a Grey Cup held in an East Division city, the Montreal Alouettes were the designated home team for the game and used the home team's dressing room.[22] The Alouettes wore their blue jerseys and blue pants and the Blue Bombers wore their white jerseys with gold pants and used the visitors' locker room.[22]

Depth charts

The following diagrams illustrate the teams' depth charts that were released one day prior to game day. Starters are listed in boxes in their respective positions with backups listed directly above or below. As per CFL rules, 45 of the 46 players for each team would dress in the game.

Montreal Alouettes

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

31 Holm
41 Cole
68 Gray
65 Eli
Italics indicate American player
Bold indicates global player
Reference: bluebombers.com

Officials

File:2022, Tim Kroeker (2).jpg
Tim Kroeker officiated his sixth Grey Cup and first as a referee.

The highest rated officials during the 2023 CFL season from their respective positions were selected for the game and announced on November 15, 2023.[2] The numbers below indicate their uniform numbers.

  • Referee: No. 74 Tim Kroeker
  • Umpire: No. 24 Troy Semenchuk
  • Down Judge: No. 27 Andrew Wakefield
  • Line Judge: No. 63 Rob Hill
  • Side Judge: No. 18 Pierre Laporte
  • Back Judge: No. 59 Larry Butler
  • Field Judge: No. 37 Jason Maggio
  • Backup Referee: No. 60 Tom Vallesi
  • Backup Official: No. 19 Chris Shapka
  • Backup Official: No. 40 Kevin Riopel
  • Backup Official: No. 73 Brian Chrupalo

Notes

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References

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  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


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