For 10 weeks, the Canadian Football League has left fans smiling from ear to ear with some entertaining football seemingly every single week. This week, we got some great upsets, a great game featuring a monster comeback and 81 total points, and a backup quarterback leading his team to a win. The rankings have been jumbled once more, so let’s get right into it!

9. Ottawa Redblacks (1-7)

It has been nearly four years since Trevor Harris and the Ottawa Redblacks played in the 2018 Grey Cup in Edmonton, and ever since, it’s almost like there has been a curse over the organization. Since the start of the 2019 season, they have an absolutely abysmal 7-33 record, and have finished dead last in the East Division every single season. It hasn’t changed so far in 2022, and it looks like the Redblacks are well on pace to finish last once again. This is essentially their last chance to get back into the fight. They now have two games against the Edmonton Elks, and if they can manage a pair of wins, they will be right back in the thick of the East Division playoff race. If they can’t, it’s pretty much lights out.

8. Edmonton Elks (2-7)

The Edmonton Elks were unable to take advantage of a golden opportunity to bring themselves within two points of the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the standings, and you can’t help but wonder where they would be if Tre Ford never got injured. Taylor Cornelius has been okay, but not great and if they had a real playmaker in the backfield (like Ford), with the rest of the roster they have, they likely would be a lot better. Two games in a row against the Ottawa Redblacks now is another opportunity to climb back into the fight with the Riders, so two wins are just as important for Edmonton as they would be for Ottawa.

7. Montreal Alouettes (3-6)

If you had the Montreal Alouettes walking into IG Field and taking down the undefeated Winnipeg Blue Bombers, congratulations, you’re either a genius, or you are Gary Stern. Perhaps one of the craziest parts about the Alouettes winning this game is the fact that they didn’t get a passing touchdown from Trevor Harris, rather, it was Dominique Davis sneaking his way into the endzone twice. This feels like a little bit of karma for week two, when they lost to the Toronto Argonauts thanks to a missed field goal. Marc Liegghio missed two key field goals, but the Alouettes will absolutely take the win.

T5. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (3-6)

No one would have blamed you for thinking the Hamilton Tiger-Cats would be in a little trouble heading into their game against the Toronto Argonauts with Matthew Shiltz as their starting quarterback, and no one would have thought you were crazy for thinking they would lose when Jamie Newman had to take over, but they managed to find a way to pull it off. Shiltz wasn’t outstanding by any stretch of the imagination, but he was effective, completing 14 of his 19 passes for 176 yards, and one touchdown, offset by one interception. Just like that, the Cats have brought themselves back into contention to win the East Division. Their next three games are very important.

T5. Toronto Argonauts (4-4)

The Toronto Argonauts’ grip on the East Division is now starting to slip away after they lost to an undermanned Hamilton Tiger-Cats team. Losing Andrew Harris for what could be an extended period of time is certainly not going to help matters for the Argos either. But even with Harris, they have felt like a decent team, but not a great team. It seems like they always follow up their good performances with bad ones, and that has allowed other teams in the East to get back into the battle. Now, they play the Calgary Stampeders in week 11, and they follow it up with another home-and-home against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. This could be the turning point f the season for the Argos.

4. Saskatchewan Roughriders (5-4)

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are in a situation similar to the Argonauts, where they haven’t quite lived up to their expectations in 2022. Certainly, they did themselves a big favour in week 10 by beating the Edmonton Elks and growing the gap to fifth place, but there should be some concern about their performances this year. There has been a lot of talk already about the remaining nine games on the calendar for them, with only one more against Edmonton, one against Hamilton, and the rest coming against the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. It should be noted, however, that with Calgary’s loss, Saskatchewan is as much in the battle with the Stamps as they are in the battle for the crossover.

3. Calgary Stampeders (5-3)

What a heartbreaking loss for the Calgary Stampeders in week 10. With under three minutes to go in their meeting with the high-flying BC Lions, they held a nine-point lead. The Lions scored a touchdown on a Nathan Rourke quarterback sneak, and kicked the ball off with just two and a half minutes to go. After picking up one first down, the Stampers’ offence sputtered, and punted the ball back. The Stamps defence couldn’t hold Rourke and his high-powered offence down, and the Lions stole a win at the death. Now, the Stamps’ focus is more on the chasing Roughriders than it is on catching the Lions and Blue Bombers.

2. BC Lions (7-1)

The gap between the BC Lions and the Calgary Stampeders was just one point in last week’s power rankings (with the Lions in third), conveniently, one point was also the margin of victory for the Lions against those same Stampeders. Nathan Rourke threw for nearly 500 yards in the game, Lucky Whitehead continues to be one of the most threatening players in the CFL, Bryan Burnham has come off of his injury as good as ever, and Dominique Rhymes continued to be the most underrated player in the league. At their best, there’s no reason to think the Lions can’t win a Grey Cup with this roster.

1. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (9-1)

There are guaranteed to be a few people who get upset with us for not putting the Lions in first after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost a game, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, the Bombers are still the team to beat in the CFL. For 10 straight weeks, the Blue Bombers have taken to the field with no chance to rest, and to come out of it 9-1 is simply spectacular. After Liegghio missed a field goal to win the game in the fourth quarter, and missed one to tie the game in overtime, perhaps there is some concern about their kicking game, exactly as there was at this time last season, but if they can figure that out (and Liegghio could still be the solution yet), they will be a team without any clear or obvious weaknesses.

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