Argonauts hit road seeking upset of Stampeders

Sep 10, 2014 - 4:27 PM Calgary, AB (SportsNetwork.com) - Off to the best start of any quarterback in the history of the CFL, Bo Levi Mitchell will try to guide his Calgary Stampeders to new heights as they entertain the Toronto Argonauts at McMahon Stadium on Saturday night.

Mitchell, the 2011 winner of the Walter Payton Award which is awarded to the most outstanding player in the Football Championship Subdivision while at Eastern Washington, has won 12 of his first 13 starts as a quarterback in the CFL and has the Stampeders running over the competition as a result. Last week, Calgary won for the fifth time in as many games, thanks to a 41-34 triumph over Edmonton, which means the team has won five straight, the longest streak since it rattled off seven consecutive victories during the 2010 campaign.

Although he converted just 14 of his 24 pass attempts, Mitchell still finished with 216 yards and two touchdowns through the air for the Stamps, as they defeated the Eskimos for the second time in as many weeks and completed the season sweep of Edmonton for the third year in a row. The signal caller also tallied a pair of majors on the ground for the visitors, while running back Jon Cornish responded with 109 yards and a TD as he was named the league's top Canadian yet again.

Receiver Marquay McDaniel needed just four catches to tie for the game high with 124 yards, leading to one score for a very disciplined squad that was flagged just twice for 15 yards, compared to nine penalties for a loss of 95 yards for the Eskimos.

Needless to say, with a record of 9-1 Calgary not only leads the West Division standings, two points ahead of Saskatchewan, it is also the top team in the entire league right now, given how poorly the East is performing through 11 weeks of action.

With Cornish having missed several games due to injury, much of the credit for Calgary's success to this point needs to be given to Mitchell who is currently the only regular starter with a quarterback rating of at least 100 (100.5) as Week 12 action begins. Mitchell is third in the league with 2,426 passing yards and has 15 TDs against only four interceptions.

Just ahead of Mitchell on the passing list is Toronto's Ricky Ray, who has 2,584 yards and leads the league with 16 majors, although he has suffered some tough breaks with an uncharacteristic 10 INTs thus far. The newest member of the 50,000-yard passing club in the CFL, Ray had a mere two picks in 11 appearances all of last season.

With the addition of Ottawa to the league this season, almost every week there is one team that enjoys a bye and in Week 11 it was Toronto that was granted some additional time to rest and heal after falling to Hamilton on Sept. 1 by a score of 13-12. The loss was the third in a row for a club that has been dealing with some major injury issues this season, particularly to key offensive performers such as Andre Durie and Chad Owens.

Against the Tiger-Cats, Ray threw for a mere 142 yards, completing 16-of-29 passes, for one TD and one INT, while being sacked four times. The rushing attack for Toronto consisted of just eight attempts for a measly 35 net yards. Toronto managed only nine first downs and could not quite capitalize enough on Hamilton's 17 penalties for a loss of 111 yards in the meeting.

Missing the talent of Owens has been crucial for the Argos, seeing as how the sprite Hawaiian has been one of the most productive players in the league when healthy, producing a couple of campaigns in which he has posted better than 3,000 combined yards. So, not only is Ray missing one of his favorite receivers, the Argos are also having to find new options for kick and punt returns as well while Owens sits out recuperating.

Calgary won the first meeting of the season with the Argos back on July 12 by a score of 34-15 on the road. During that contest, Mitchell hit on 16-of-24 passes for 267 yards and four touchdowns, two of those going to Jeff Fuller who caught five balls for 58 yards. Not to be short-changed, Anthony Parker added four receptions for a team-best 101 yards and a major as well.

While the running game for Toronto was struggling to come up with 82 yards on 15 attempts, Ray converted all but eight of his 36 pass attempts for 292 yards, but he failed to get a single completion into the end zone and was sacked three times. Also working against the Argonauts was 17 penalties which cost the team 154 yards in field position.

The Stamps now lead the all-time series, one that takes into account only regular-season bouts reaching back to 1961, by a narrow 43-42-1 margin thanks to six wins in the last eight meetings.