Friends Become Enemies: Mitchell, Nichols clash in record-setting tilt

CALGARY — They may be friends off the field but as soon as they hit the turf, they’re the worst of enemies.

When the Calgary Stampeders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers meet on Saturday, it’ll be a clash not only of two teams riding impressive winning streaks but of two quarterbacks with a personal relationship.

Both Bo Levi Mitchell and Matt Nichols played college ball at Eastern Washington University. Nichols paved the way for Mitchell at Eastern, showing the Stamps’ pivot the ropes of the team’s offence before moving on with his football career.

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While they never actually played on the same team – Nichols left in 2009 while Mitchell joined in 2010 – the pair formed a bond that still lives on to this day.

“Anyone that played at Eastern is family,” said Nichols. “To have the same job and the same common interest, (we’re) both family guys, I think our personalities just really matched well.”

But when the two signal callers take their first snap in Week 14, it’s every man for himself.

The Stampeders are riding a nine-game winning streak while the Blue Bombers are cruising with seven-straight. That’s 16 consecutive wins together – the longest combined winning streak in the history of the Canadian Football League.

Since their 1-4 start to the 2016 campaign, the quarterback switch to Nichols proved to be the right move for the Blue and Gold. Nichols has led his club to a 7-0 record since taking over at the helm of Winnipeg’s offence. The team has scored 224 points over that span – 89 of those points coming off turnovers.

“We feel like we’re going to put up points every single drive,” said Nichols. “I think that’s the kind of attitude you want to have. Going into games, you want to have that attitude that you’re going to win and not hoping to win.”

Winnipeg’s last loss came all the way back in Week 5 – a 33-18 defeat – to none other than the Calgary Stampeders.

But seven weeks later, the Bombers look like an entirely different team with their offence, defence and special teams coming up strong game after game.

“I see a different team,” Mitchell said of the Bombers. “I see a team that’s playing with confidence and playing with speed. They’re playing behind Matt and they have trust and confidence in him that he’ll put up points.”

The Stampeders will have their work cut out for them in the heavyweight battle, but if anyone can snap the Bombers’ streak, it’s Calgary.

“At the end of the day, somebody’s winning streak is going to be up.”

Bo Levi Mitchell

Mitchell and co. put up points on a consistent basis – scoring 325 points on their nine-game streak – and has one of the league’s best defences holding the opposition at bay.

Even with winning the Grey Cup just two seasons ago, many pushed the Stampeders to the side this year and Mitchell says his squad uses that as a fuel to their fire to prove everyone wrong.

“In this locker room, we look at each other, we see greatness but at the same time we also see a chance for things to go completely wrong. That’s why we never get complacent about it because none of us have forgotten what was said about us in the off season,” he said.

“We’ve never forgotten (them say) ‘this is the year the Stampeders fall’ and ‘this is the year everybody picks us to go third or fourth in the West.’ Because of that, we are going to stay focused on our goal. We believe it’s going to take 16 wins to win the West.”

And he may be right.

Despite riding a seven-game winning streak, and improving their record to 8-4, Winnipeg still sits in third in the West Division.

“It’s kind of one of those crazy years I’ve seen,” said Nichols. “Usually ten wins will get you a first round home game and it doesn’t really seem like it’s the case this year. You could be around 11 or 12 wins and finish in third place. When you look around the league, especially the West Division, you know you have to keep pace. You have to keep winning football games.”

Perhaps that’s what makes Saturday afternoon’s battle that much more important and for one team, something has to give.

“At the end of the day, somebody’s winning streak is going to be up,” said Mitchell. “It’s our job to make sure we go out there and don’t over think it and don’t see them as guys that have won seven in a row.”