• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Smith shines as Als rout Ti-Cats

Oct 20, 2013 - 9:03 PM Montreal, QC (SportsNetwork.com) - Troy Smith played like a veteran starter and threw three touchdown passes to lead the Montreal Alouettes in a 36-5 rout of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Molson Stadium.

The matchup of two playoff-bound teams saw Smith, Montreal's fourth starting quarterback this season, connect on 17-of-35 passes for 247 yards.

"It feels good to have that first win," Smith said

Two of Smith's touchdowns passes went to S.J. Green, who finished with a game- high 86 yards on five receptions. Tyrell Sutton ran for 84 yards and a score for the Als (7-9), who bounced back from a home loss to Winnipeg.

Hamilton (8-8) had a chance to clinch a home playoff game, but now sits just two points ahead of Montreal for second place in the East. The two teams play again in Guelph on Saturday in the penultimate game of the regular season.

Henry Burris was intercepted once and completed less than half of his attempts (11-of-23) for a pedestrian 106 yards before being benched.

"For whatever reason we weren't ready to play," Hamilton head coach Kent Austin said. "They just whipped us."

Smith, the 2006 Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State, ignited a one-sided first half seven minutes in when he used a pump fake to open up the field for Green, who hauled in the quarterback's deep pass and did the rest en route to a 64-yard TD.

Green added a 2-yard touchdown catch less than four minutes later, and after Hamilton got on the board with a 26-yard field goal, the Als blew the game open with 17 points in the final six minutes of the half.

Sutton ran for a 19-yard score, Sean Whyte booted a 32-yard field goal and Arland Bruce caught a short pass and turned it into a 26-yard touchdown for a healthy 31-3 Montreal cushion.

Whyte tacked on a 25-yarder for the only points of the third quarter, and two conceded safeties from both sides in the fourth capped the scoring.

Game Notes

Smith was making his first start in any league since Dec. 26, 2010 while with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers ... Hamilton was coming off two wins against Toronto, which leads the East by four points ... Dan LeFevour took over for Burris late in the third quarter and finished with 98 yards on 10-of-13 passing ... Montreal's Geoff Tisdale recorded his sixth interception of the season.