The 2019 regular season has come to an end for the Canadian Football League, which means that now it is time for the Division Semifinals. Hamilton and Saskatchewan won the East and West Divisions, respectively, and now they await the winners of the first round of the playoffs. Montreal, the East runner-up, will host Edmonton, the fourth-place team from the West. Edmonton advanced ahead of Toronto thanks to the cross-over rule, which lets the fourth-place team from one division advance if its record is better than the third-place team from the other division. In the other semifinal, Calgary will host Winnipeg. We have the full schedule as well as sports betting predictions for each playoff matchup.
2019 CFL Semifinals Odds, Preview & Picks
Next stop: Playoffs. The @Shaw_CFL #RoadtotheGreyCup is set. Details | https://t.co/NJ4eFEeyBc pic.twitter.com/AvcCe2Azpb
— CFL (@CFL) November 3, 2019
Sunday, November 10th
Edmonton at Montreal (1:00 pm ET)
- 2019 CFL Semifinals Odds: Montreal -1
The Montreal Alouettes bring in a quick, talented defense to the East Semifinal. Henoc Muamba, the middle linebacker, leads the team with 93 tackles. Bo Lokombo has put some highlight-reel hits this season, and Fabion Foote has stood tall against the run this season. The Edmonton defense is young but full of energy. Kwaku Boateng leads the unit, but Mathieu Betts has delivered a number of thunderous hits himself.
Tailback C.J. Gable looks like his knee is finally healthy. He has not played since October 17, when he went down with an injury against Hamilton. He looked sharp in practice on Wednesday, bursting through holes and making moves in the open field. Having a strong running game could make the difference for an Edmonton team that has struggled down the stretch without Gable in the backfield. He has consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons, and with his size (6’, 219 pounds) he can run over people when he doesn’t have the speed to go around them. For the Alouettes, quarterback Vernon Adams Jr has a great deal of confidence heading into the weekend, not just because of home field advantage but also because of his team’s improvement with ball security down the stretch.
Final Score Prediction: Montreal 24, Edmonton 20
Winnipeg at Calgary (4:30 pm ET)
- 2019 CFL Semifinals Odds: Winnipeg -6.5
This matchup features Calgary (who usually gets the bye out of the West) and Winnipeg (who has appeared in five of the last seven Grey Cups). They will play on Sunday for the third time in the last four weeks, thanks to the oddities of the CFL’s schedule, which prioritizes divisional matchups down the stretch and then sends playoff teams through their divisions to get to the title game.
Winnipeg took two of the three meetings between the teams in the regular season, and quarterback Zach Collaros has won three straight starts against the Stampeders. This is a rematch of the West Division Final from last year. Collaros and Chris Streveler could both appear at quarterback at different times. Collaros is more of a pocket passer, while Streveler can take of and run. However, neither quarterback is as strong as Bo Levi Mitchell, who has thrown for 344 yards per game against Winnipeg in 2019.
The running game is stronger for Winnipeg, as Andrew Harris picked up almost 2,000 all-purpose yards and leads the CFL in rushing. Calgary ranks last in the CFL in rushing with 71.3 yards per game. Ironically, Calgary does have the better offensive line, giving Mitchell all kinds of time in the passing game.
Given Winnipeg’s recent dominance in the series, and given their history of reaching title games, I see them taking this game on the road.
Final Score Prediction: Winnipeg 33, Calgary 27
