After a couple weeks in which I didn’t watch a lot of CFL football, I saw a good chunk of every game in Week 13–perhaps none bigger than the Sunday afternoon contest that snapped the Stamps’ four-game winning streak.  The Riders will get a boost in the rankings for that one, while Calgary drops a spot for narrowly missing the comeback.  But the biggest mover of the week was Montreal.  Facing a tough Toronto team that beat them at Molson Stadium in their previous meeting, the Als went out and dominated the Argos, knocking out Ricky Ray in the process.  Alas, the biggest loss Toronto suffered yesterday wasn’t the 31-10 setback on the scoreboard, but rather that of their starting QB.  We don’t know how long he’ll be out yet, but a significant loss of Ray-ing time could throw their Grey Cup chances overboard.  And here’s how things look after lucky Week 13.

Preseason Predictions

Week 2 Rankings

Week 3 Rankings

Week 4 Rankings

Week 5 Rankings

Week 7 Rankings

Week 8 Rankings

Week 9 Rankings

Week 10 Rankings

Week 11 Rankings

Week 12 Rankings

Week 13 Power Rankings

1. B.C. Lions (9-3) Last Week: 1.  Sure, they barely squeaked out a 19-18 win in Edmonton, but in the process, the Lions picked up a game on Calgary in the West Division standings.  Plus, with the Stamps’ streak snapped, B.C. now has the longest current string of consecutive wins, beating three teams that would make the playoffs (albeit all in the East Division, heh heh) if the season ended today.  Considering their dominant performances in their most-recent triumphs over Montreal and Calgary, it’ll likely take a loss (against the Stamps in Week 15) to knock the Lions from top spot in these rankings.

2. Montreal Alouettes (8-4) Last Week: 4.  I had pegged the Toronto-Montreal matchup as the game to watch going into Week 13, but in the end, it wasn’t very watchable–unless you bleed bleu, gris et rouge.  The Als, owners of a scintillating 6-1 home record, avenged their only loss at Percival Molson in grand fashion, taking it to the Argos for four full quarters.  After a win like that, it’s now clear who’s the best team in the East Division–the same squad that’s been on top, oh, for about the past decade or so.

3. Calgary Stampeders (7-5) Last Week: 2.  Suffice to say, the Stamps suffered a slight setback in Week 13.  Though they’ve come from behind against the Riders before, they couldn’t muster any overtime magic on the road this time, dropping a tightly-contested 30-25 decision in Regina.  Sure, there were some close calls and non-calls throughout (still don’t see how that wasn’t a fumble after video review in the first quarter!), but in the end, Saskatchewan was just a bit better yesterday.  Oh well, seven wins in the last eight games against the Riders ain’t nothing to shake a stick at–the season series remains in Calgary’s favour should it come down to a tiebreaker in the West.

4. Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-6) Last Week: 5.  Though they finally won one against Calgary, I’m still sticking the Riders a spot below the Stamps in the standings.  That said, they leapfrog the Argos into fourth place by virtue of their starting quarterback being back and looking strong, while Toronto’s franchise signal-caller is in a decidedly dicey situation.  Incidentally, the Riders meet the Argos for the first time two weeks from today on Thanksgiving Monday.  That contest could certainly go either way, but I’ll take Darian Durant over Jarious Jackson any day!

5. Toronto Argonauts (6-6) Last Week: 3.  Losing a starting quarterback in the middle of the season can be devastating for a team.  As a Stamps fan, I should know.  In fact, I was in the stands, right behind the Calgary sideline, when Drew Tate went off with a shoulder injury against Toronto in Week 2.  Thankfully, Calgary had an experienced starter waiting in the wings, having shipped Frownin’ Hank Burris (Hey, his team just lost for the second time to Winnipeg.  Winnipeg!) to Hamilton for Kevin Glenn, who started last season for the Ti-Cats.  Mind you, the Argos have a less-extensive insurance policy in Jarious Jackson.  Sure, he has started in the CFL before, but for the past two seasons, he was riding pine and running sneaks behind reigning MOP Travis Lulay in B.C..  As a matter of fact, Jackson has only attempted 118 passes this decade; the last time he posted 100 completions in a year was 2008.  Did I mention he possesses just a 54.1 career completion percentage and a 1.4-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio?  Get well soon, Ricky!

6. Edmonton Eskimos (5-7) Last Week: 7.  In case you haven’t heard, The Team That Traded Ricky Ray isn’t faring so well in the quarterback department, either.  For the second time in three weeks, the Esks held an opponent to 20 points or less and lost–at home, to boot!  I will give ‘em some credit in that the team that beat ‘em 19-18 this week was the league-leading B.C. Lions, but Steven Jyles’ second-half passing numbers in that game would even have Cleo Lemon shaking his head.  But hey, at least they’ve beaten the Bombers this year, which is more than can be said for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats…

7. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (3-9) Last Week: 8.  They may have the worst record in the league, but with last week’s win at CanadInns, the Bombers earned the tiebreaker over Hamilton by virtue of beating the Tabbies twice this season.  Their record against the rest of the CFL?  A paltry 1-9.  That tiebreaker won’t mean a thing unless they can catch the Edmonton Eskimos, either.  Edmonton needs to post a better record than the third-place team out East to cross over, but Winnipeg would hafta win at least twice themselves a chance–and they only have one more game remaining against the Ti-Cats.  (On the plus side, they have a home date with the Argos, who’ll potentially be without their Ray of hope, on Saturday…)  The other team that’s been beaten by the Bombers this season?  Well, that just happens to be the Eskies, although their season series wrapped up in Week 5.

8. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-8) Last Week: 6.  This is a team that, despite scoring 23 more points than anyone else the CFL, still gives up almost 32 points per game.  They even gave up two more than that last week to a team that’s scored just 237 (19.75 ppg) all season.  Their defence is so bad, the Tabbies hafta score 30+ in order to win–and they came up well short of that in Winnipeg.  Then again, Hamilton has just one win in six road games thus far; only winless Winnipeg has done worse.  Thus, I think we’ll probably get a crossover scenario this season if Edmonton can just keep it together.  And hey, who wouldn’t wanna see Ricky Ray against the Eskies in the East Semi-Final?  (Get well soon, Ricky!)