CALGARY – Bo Levi Mitchell isn’t taking anything granted. He is done with assumptions. He has done that in big games before and vows to have learned his lesson.
After the Stampeders romped the BC Lions 42-15 in the Western Final Sunday, Mitchell was asked what he learned from his first time starting in the Grey Cup to take into next week.
“Never think it is over,” Mitchell said with conviction. “I went up to Dave and said ‘hey man, I can’t believe we just won the Grey Cup’ … that was just before we punted to (Brandon) Banks.”
Mitchell was referring to the 102nd Grey Cup game in Vancouver two years ago when the Stampeders had the game essentially locked up against an underdog Hamilton Tiger-Cats squad. Only to have given up a punt return touchdown in the game’s final munutes that would have stolen the championship for the Tabbies. An illegal block on the play erased the go-ahead Hamilton major and moments later, Mitchell and the Stamps did indeed secure their first Grey Cup since 2008.
It is for that reason, and likely many others, why Mitchell is not buying into any of the headlines that boast the Stampeders as favourites when they take on the Ottawa REDBLACKS in the 104th Grey Cup presented by Shaw next Sunday in Toronto.
“It’s so hard to win in the CFL that you have to understand that if a team is in the Grey Cup, they are there for a reason,” he said of his Ottawa opponents.
“Henry is a guy that has been doing it for a very long time. Nothing really phases him and you can’t really get in his head. It will be a battle, it will be a fight.”
– Bo Levi Mitchell on REDBLACKS QB Henry Burris
Were Mitchell a bit over-confident he would have reason to be. His team finished with a dominant 15-2-1 record during the regular season, made a formality out of the Leos and passed for 365 yards and three touchdowns while doing so.
Oh, and also he is likely to be named the league’s Most Outstanding Player and is after his second ring in three years.
Despite all that, nothing changes for Mitchell and his preparation. Enjoy this one, one many predicted Calgary would win, and then begin work on trying to finish off what has been a storybook season.
“I know we will lock in as soon as we have our meeting Monday.”
Mitchell faces a REDBLACKS team that was up and down throughout the regular season but has a gamer in Henry Burris; someone who thrives as the underdog.
Burris’ experience will prove invaluable to an Ottawa squad that despite making their second appearance to the big game in as many years is relatively young.
“Henry is a guy that has been doing it for a very long time,” Mitchell said. “Nothing really phases him and you can’t really get in his head. It will be a battle, it will be a fight.”
At the beginning of the season, the REDBLACKS were toe-to-toe with the Stampeders for top spot in the CFL, and the two teams went at it to a 26-26 tie in Week 3. In fact, Ottawa was the last squad to really give the Stampeders a run for their money with the exception of a mid-season battle with Winnipeg and a meaningless season finale vs. Montreal.
Calgary separated themselves from the REDBLACKS with a convincing 48-23 win in Week 13.
