Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
BEL13VE!
The promotional playoff phrase for a generation of Rider Nation was no more prominent than the final minutes of an emotional and heart-stopping finish to the West Final.
“I’m sure there’s people at home going ‘what are you doing?’,” pondered Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris on the reaction to head coach Corey Mace kicking a field goal with under three minutes to go when the team had the ball on the five yard line in need of seven points to tie the game.
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Most everyone at home, in the press box, and probably a few more on the Roughriders sideline, were thinking the right call would have been to go for it and try to score the tying point right then and there.
Instead, to the surprise of many Mace decided to kick, despite going for it on third and goal from the two earlier in the game.
I even uttered to my Game Day co-host Darrell Davis, ‘What?!’ I also might have added a few expletives along with it.
But Mace believed, like he has all season.
He trusted his defence would get the ball back and instead of a touchdown to tie, he trusted that the offence would get the ball back and score a game winning touchdown.
The defence did get the ball back but the offence failed to move the ball.
Mace had another decision many questioned. To go for it from third and 10 on your own side of half with 1:48 left in the fourth quarter.
Mace didn’t waver in his belief that his defence could get the ball back again.
And they did.
A.J. Allen, the unheralded linebacker, who started the season as a backup, came up in another big moment for the Roughriders with a sack on second and three to bring down Nathan Rourke, his former teammate from his youth in Burlington, Ontario.
The ball was kicked back to Trevor Harris and the Roughriders to begin what is one of the most impressive drives in Harris’ illustrious career as he threw the game winning touchdown pass to Tommy Nield with 11 seconds left to put the Riders up for good in a 24-21 thriller!
But did Harris doubt the call two minutes earlier by his head coach?
Absolutely not.
“I trust Corey Mace. He knows what he’s doing,” uttered a matter-of-fact Harris as his teammates celebrated in the locker room down the hall.
Belief and trust are the hallmarks of what has made the 2025 Roughriders the best team in the CFL and the favourite going into Grey Cup Sunday against the Montreal Alouettes.
The Roughriders trusted the 39-year old pivot had at least one more good year and he payed them back with a most outstanding player calibre season.
The Roughriders trusted receiver after receiver to step up with a rash of injuries and Joe Robustelli and Nield became household names in Saskatchewan.
The Roughriders trusted a rookie in Ali Saad to become an every down defensive tackle so they could field an offensive line of four Americans, and Saad performed at a level to match that of veterans Mike Rose and Micah Johnson.
The Roughriders trusted Antoine Brooks Jr to be the starting SAM linebacker so all-star linebacker C.J. Reavis could play safety to stabilize the secondary. Brooks has become a huge playmaker, including a sack and plenty of pressure on Nathan Rourke in the West Final.
Mace trusted Brett Lauther to be able to overcome what was turning into a disaster of a season as kicker to get the job done and he’s repaid him by only missing one of his last 15 kicks.
So as Rider fans may have questioned all of the above decisions, including the punt and the field goal and the personnel, Coach Mace has some advice.
“Just have faith, maybe I guess. Just have faith.”
It’s gotten them this far, after all.
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