Tiger-Cats', Alouettes' rollercoaster seasons culminate in Eastern Semi-Final clash

While the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (8-10) and Montreal Alouettes (9-9) finished the regular season separated by a single win, how both teams have gotten to Sunday’s East Division semifinal reveals how similar they actually are.  

Watch the Eastern Semi-Final LIVE on Sunday at 1pm ET/ 10am PT on TSN1, TSN4 and streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App. 

Coming off back-to-back Grey Cup losses to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2019 and 2021, the Tiger-Cats gave Dane Evans the keys to the offence as a new era of Hamilton football was ushered in. Former starter Jeremiah Masoli and former Ticats general manager Shawn Burke took the short trip to the nation's capital to join the Ottawa Redblacks. 

Neither the former nor the current Tiger-Cats quarterback found success in the early weeks of the season. Masoli's season with the Redblacks was cut short after he suffered a season-ending injury after taking a low hit from Saskatchewan Roughriders' Garrett Marino, who received a four-game suspension and was later released by the Riders. Evans soon too found himself sidelined with a shoulder injury, springing backup quarterback Matthew Shiltz into action. 

Shiltz's time under centre would be short-lived as a wrist injury a week before the Labour Day Classic would see former Wake Forest signal caller Jamie Newman get the start for the Ticats’ most anticipated game of the season. 

Evans has since recovered from his injury and returned to form. His cathartic, 327-yard, five-touchdown game in a 49-32 win over the Blue Bombers sparked a hot streak for the Ticats.

While they fell the following week to the BC Lions, the Tiger-Cats went on to beat the Roughriders at home, which squandered a possibility of a crossover game. They later clinched a playoff spot with a win over the Calgary Stampeders and won back-to-back games against the Redblacks to close out the regular season. 

Evans finished the regular season with the league’s fourth-best 3,883 passing yards and tied for fifth-best with Riders pivot Cody Fajrado with 16 passing touchdowns.

Of the many key contributors that have spearheaded the Ticats' late-season charge, placekicker Seth Small is one of them. 

The Texas A&M product signed with the Tiger-Cats in Week 6 and down the stretch against the Riders, Stampeders and Redblacks, Small made 13 of his 14 field goal attempts. In just 13 games played in the regular season, the 23-year-old Small scored 43 points and set a franchise record for the Ticats' highest single-season field goal percentage with 90.7. 

As for the Alouettes, their road to the Eastern Semi-Final draws many parallels to the Ticats. 

With the ninth overall selection in the 2022 CFL Draft, the Alouettes selected wide receiver Tyson Philpot out of the University of Calgary to enhance an already threatening offence highlighted by Most Outstanding Player nominee Eugene Lewis, William Stanback and Trevor Harris.  

The Alouettes were immediately met by adversity in Week 1 when they lost Stanback to an ankle injury. The trajectory of their season later began to snowball not by those on the field hurdles, but because of what happened off the field. 

After starting the season 1-3, Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia relieved Khari Jones of his duties and took over as head coach. Maciocia, a former head coach for the University of Montreal Carabins and the Edmonton Elks from 2005-08, did not get off to a better start, going 3-4 in his first seven games. 

Jones stayed in the East Division, joining the Tiger-Cats as a football operations consultant as Maciocia and the Alouettes' late-season charge commenced in Week 14 with a 31-10 win over the Lions. Momentum picked up for the Als as they rattled off wins in five of their next seven games. 

Stanback returned from his early-season ankle injury in Week 18 and finished his regular season with 34 carries for 154 yards. 

The return of Stanback for the playoffs comes at the height of Lewis' best season in the CFL. In 17 games, Lewis has recorded season highs in receptions (91), yards (1,303) and touchdowns (10). 

Defensively, the Alouettes finished the regular season among the best defences in the league. The late-season signing of Jamal Davis II, who finished the regular season with 10 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and fumble recovery in six games, in combination with the play of two of the league's top 10 defensive tacklers in Wes Sutton (7) and Adarius Pickett (10), saw Montreal’s defence end the 2022 campaign on a high note. 

The similarities between the two teams extends to their record against each other, as both teams won at home in their three regular-season matchups. The Tiger-Cats defeated the Alouettes at Tim Hortons Field in Week 8, 24-17. The Alouettes won at their Percival Molson Memorial Stadium in Week 11, 29-28 and in Week 16, 23-16.  

Sunday's Eastern Semi-Final is where the similarities between the Ticats and Als will end as only one team will advance to face the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field in the Eastern Final on Nov. 13.