2024 Canadian Football League Odds - CFL Online Betting

Canadian Football League Betting

The 66th season of the Canadian Football League concludes on Sunday, November 17 with the playing of the Grey Cup championship game at BC Place in Vancouver. Kickoff is schedule for 6 p.m. ET. While the league has been around as we know it since 1958, the Grey Cup trophy itself is much older, having first been awarded in 1909. The game is one of Canada’s most watched sporting events making the trophy a prized possession in Canadian sports.

This year’s game features the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, winners of the West Division with a record of 11-7 against the Toronto Argonauts, who went 10-8 and placed second in the East Division. Toronto upset No. 1 Montreal, 30-28, in the East Final with the help of six takeaways. However, the win came at a cost when starting quarterback Chad Kelly was injured. Kelly played just the second half of the regular season following a suspension, but the offense showed marked improvement under his direction. His injury played with the spread leading Winnipeg to a big 8.5-point favorite. The Blue Bombers are making their fifth consecutive appearance in the Grey Cup having lost the last two, including the 2022 championship to Toronto, 24-23.

2024 Grey Cup Odds

Toronto Argonauts +8.5

Winnipeg Blue Bombers -8.5

Over / Under 49

Winnipeg won the East but had trouble against Toronto during the regular season losing both games where defenses dominated. The Argos won the first meeting 16-14 in July and last month posted a 14-11 triumph. However, it’s safe to say the Bombers are on a roll having rebounded from four straight losses to open the season to go 12-3 in their last 15, including an impressive 38-22 win over Saskatchewan in the West Final.

Zach Collaros had four touchdown passes in the victory, but Winnipeg had a tough time against the Argos during the season. Toronto’s defense allowed just 25 points while registering 12 combined sacks. The group also held CFL’s rushing leader Brady Oliveira to less than 100 yards in each outing. Oliveira amassed 1,353 yards during the years and he did average 6.4 yards per carry against Toronto’s second ranked run defense.

The focus will be on Toronto and Nick Arbuckle, who will make his second start of the season in the biggest game of his career. At least Arbuckle won’t have to worry about making a ton of plays with his arm since he has a trio of running backs to carry the torch. The Argos ran the ball the most of any team in the CFL and ranked second with more than 121 yards per game. They rely on the talents of Ka’Deem Carey, Deonta McMahon and Daniel Adeboboye, who have all been key members of the offense.

If the Argos can run the football effectively and play defense like they did during the season, staying within the spread is a likely outcome. And considering Winnipeg has earned the distinction of losing the big game, Toronto has to feel good about its chances.

There is some concern, though, that Toronto’s offense could regress to pre-Kelly numbers. After returning to the lineup in the middle of the season, the Argos averaged about four more points per game while increasing their total yardage average by about 60 per game. Either way it’s going to be a chore against a stout Winnipeg defense.

The Bombers led the CFL in fewest yards, fewest points and fewest offensive touchdowns allowed. But they were near the bottom of the nine-team league against the run, which is Toronto’s strength. The Bombers were sixth in run defense giving up nearly 105 yards per game.

CFL East Division Teams

CFL West Division Teams

Since the late 1950s, the CFL has typically had nine franchises. However, there has been some vacillation in that number over the years. The CFL had nine teams from 1958 to 1986, but then the Montreal Alouettes folded the day before the 1987 season was to start. The league had eight teams until the mid-1990s when the CFL nearly doubled in size with expansion into the United States. Seven American teams joined the league during that time, but Baltimore was the only city where the Canadian game was a success. In just three years, the American teams were all gone, making it a fully Canadian game once more.

In 1996 the CFL lost its longest-tenured team, the Ottawa Rough Riders, after 120 years of football. Fortunately, the league was able to put a team back in Montreal that year to keep the league static at eight teams. A new team in Ottawa bumped the league back up to nine teams in 2002, but the number of CFL franchises dropped down to eight once more after Ottawa folded after just four seasons. There were just eight teams until 2014 when the Ottawa Redblacks were founded, and the league has been stable at nine teams since that point.

Differences Between the NFL and CFL

There are a number of important differences between the NFL and CFL, but we’re only going to focus on a few. One of the first things you notice when watching a CFL game is the size of the field. CFL fields are 10 yards longer and have end zones that are 20 yards deep. Fields up north are about 20 percent wider too, so CFL games are played with an extra player on both sides. Goalposts in the CFL are on the goal line and not at the back of the end zone.

Another major difference is the number of downs you have to achieve a first down. In the American game, you have four downs to pick up 10 yards, but in the Canadian game, it’s just three. That leads to far more passing (and punting) in the CFL than you see in the NFL.

Additionally, CFL’s similarity to rugby is seen in two major areas. First, there is a one-yard neutral zone between offensive lines and defensive lines in the CFL that cannot be crossed before the ball is snapped. Secondly, teams can score a single point by kicking the ball through the end zone in what’s called a single or rouge.

List of Grey Cup Champions (2000)

The Toronto Argonauts have won more Grey Cups than any other team in the CFL. They won their first Grey Cup in 1914, defeating the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 14-2, and Toronto won its 10th title in 1952. The Argos overcame a three-decade title drought to win in 1983, and they have now won seven Grey Cups in the last three decades.

A handful of franchises have three-peated, but only the Edmonton Elks have won five straight Grey Cups. Edmonton dominated the CFL in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as Warren Moon lit up the league. Moon led Edmonton to its last four Grey Cups, and it took five years for the Eskimos to win again after he left for the NFL.

The unluckiest team in the history of the Grey Cup is Saskatchewan. The Roughriders have made 19 appearances in the Grey Cup final, but they have just four championships to show for it. They have lost some heartbreakers over the years too, none more painful than losing the 2009 Grey Cup to Montreal after too many men on the field penalty with no time left.

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