Team historian reflects on 2025 Saskatchewan Roughriders after Grey Cup win

After 12 years of almosts and what-ifs, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are the Grey Cup champions.

It was an interesting season for the Roughriders, filled with highs and lows, doubts, disappointment, anger, jubilation and joy. The season ended triumphantly on Sunday, as the Riders beat the Montreal Alouettes 25-17 to claim the CFL championship.

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Rob Vanstone, the senior journalist and historian for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, was there throughout all of it.

Vanstone joined the Evan Bray Show on Friday to reflect on this year’s season and some of its highlights.

Listen to the full interview with Vanstone:

He said the team’s 2025 season will likely be compared to 2007, when the Riders defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-19 to claim the cup.

“When Ken Austin was here in 2007, I think there was always a bit of what might have been — what if Kent Austin had stayed, because he just had such an amazing effect on that team so quickly,” Vanstone said.

“I look at what Corey Mace did this year, and Corey Mace is going to be here for, ideally, a long time, and you just wonder what could happen with Jeremy O’Day, Corey Mace, Kyle Carson, Paul Jones, and Larry Dean in charge of football operations,” he said.

“I think that’s the kind of opportunity that lies ahead for the Roughriders.”

Vanstone said there were two things that really stuck out about this year’s team.

“It’s the first victory by a Roughrider team that’s in the new Mosaic Stadium,” he said.

“This is the first time that the Roughriders have won a Grey Cup, being first overall in the Canadian Football League. The Riders just established really early in the year that they were going to be a factor, and I think that sets them apart from many other teams as well.”

Vanstone said there were also distinct differences in this team’s mentality, when compared to what he saw in recent years.

“I think everybody came in and really meant business,” he said.

He said the Roughriders tend to come back strong after a rough season, and that’s exactly what the 2025 squad did after posting a 9-8 record in 2024.

“Every team that’s won a Grey Cup in Rider history has had a really, really tough one to absorb the previous year,” Vanstone added.

He said the season seemed to come full circle, as both 2024 and 2025 ended in the same place, though the outcomes were very different.

“The Grey Cup was in Winnipeg, and the Roughrider season ended in Winnipeg last year, and so I think that whole scenario just had to almost contribute, I think, in a way, to how this year evolved,” he said.

“Not only did they finish the job this time around, but they did it in the same stadium where the team was really disappointed a year ago.”

As for the future of this team and what the next few years could look like, Vanstone said he has a prediction.

“I think as long as this management is in place, there’s no reason for the team not to experience success,” he said. “You’re not going to win the Grey Cup every year, but this is going to be a strong franchise as long as those people are here.”

The 2025 Grey Cup win is the fifth championship for the Roughriders since the team was founded in 1910.

Saskatchewan will host the 114th Grey Cup in 2027.