After rookie camps, training camps, pre-season, 81 regular-season games, and four playoff games over the last 193 days, the 113th Grey Cup is now set between the Montreal Alouettes and Edmonton Elks on TSN on Sunday.
Watch the Elks battle the Alouettes LIVE at 6:00 p.m. ET across the TSN Network, streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
This year’s edition takes place at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, giving Edmonton a bit of a home-field advantage as the franchise returns to the big game for the first time in a long time.
After playing their first playoff game in more than 2,500 days and their first home playoff game more than 4,000 days last weekend, the Elks have made the Grey Cup for the first time in more than a decade and for only the second time in 20 years.
Thanks to quarterback Cody Fajardo using his arms and legs to engineer two fourth-quarter touchdowns, plus some stellar play from the league’s No.1 defence, Edmonton was able to take down the BC Lions 28-16 in the Western Final.
The game started as a defensive battle, with both offences struggling through the first 30 minutes, as BC ended up with a 9-6 lead at halftime in front of 40,183 noisy fans at Commonwealth Stadium, the CFL’s largest crowd of the year.
Fajardo and Austin Mack, who will both match up against the team they won the Grey Cup with in 2023, kicked it into gear in the second half, sending Edmonton on their way to a long-awaited chance at glory.
It hasn’t been that long since the Alouettes ' last Grey Cup appearance on the other hand, as Montreal is one of the last teams standing for the second year in a row and for the third time in four years.
Davis Alexander and the Alouettes are back in the big dance after last year’s defeat to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, following a 33-23 victory over the crossover Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Eastern Final.
Montreal’s offence proved to be too much for Winnipeg to handle in that one, as the Most Outstanding Player Alexander threw for 373 yards and two touchdowns, while connecting with fellow MOP nominee and Most Outstanding Canadian winner, Tyson Philpot, for nine receptions and 129 yards.
The Alouettes won the turnover battle by forcing two crucial fumbles by Winnipeg stars Zach Collaros and Brady Oliveira, hit multiple explosive passing plays, got an offensive lineman in the end zone for a touchdown, and ultimately earned their way to another Grey Cup.
Now, this new era of Alouettes take on key members from the old guard in Fajardo and Mack who brought La Belle Province its last championship ring.
It’s a big-time matchup in the 113th edition, where one team will look to complete the journey and end a long-awaited drought, while the other will look to continue their dominance and win their second Grey Cup in four years.