1976 Ottawa Rough Riders season
Head coachGeorge Brancato
Home fieldLansdowne Park
Results
Record9–6–1
Division place1st, East
Playoff finishWon Grey Cup
Uniform

The 1976 Ottawa Rough Riders finished in first place in the Eastern Conference with a 9–6–1 record and won the Grey Cup. This would be the last time in their franchise history that they would win the Grey Cup. The Ottawa Redblacks would subsequently win the 104th Grey Cup game at the conclusion of the 2016 CFL season, ending a 40-year Grey Cup drought for the City of Ottawa, which begun subsequent to their Grey Cup victory in 1976 (this ended what was arguably the longest Grey Cup drought in the CFL, though the City of Ottawa was without a CFL team between 1997 and 2001 and again between 2006 and 2013).

Offseason

1976 CFL Draft

In the first round of the 1976 CFL Draft, Ottawa selected Bill Hatanaka.[1] Bob O'Billovich was hired as an assistant coach.[2]

Preseason

Week Date Opponent Score Result Record
A June 28 vs. Edmonton Eskimos 40–25 Win 1–0
B July 5 vs. Montreal Alouettes 26–22 Loss 1–1
C July 8 at Calgary Stampeders 39–37 Loss 1–2
D July 14 at Toronto Argonauts 20–9 Win 2–2

Regular season

Standings

Eastern Football Conference
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Ottawa Rough Riders 16 9 6 1 411 346 19
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 16 8 8 0 269 348 16
Montreal Alouettes 16 7 8 1 305 273 15
Toronto Argonauts 16 7 8 1 289 354 15

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Score Result Record
1 July 21 at Hamilton Tiger-Cats 42–16 Win 1–0
2 July 27 vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers 38–27 Win 2–0
3 Aug 3 vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders 29–16 Loss 2–1
4 Aug 11 at Toronto Argonauts 27–16 Win 3–1
4 Aug 16 vs. Montreal Alouettes 45–9 Win 4–1
5 Aug 21 at Edmonton Eskimos 20–18 Win 5–1
6 Aug 24 at BC Lions 23–11 Loss 5–2
7 Sept 1 vs. Toronto Argonauts 40–27 Win 6–2
8 Sept 11 vs. Montreal Alouettes 21–13 Win 7–2
9 Sept 19 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats 28–21 Loss 7–3
10 Sept 26 at Montreal Alouettes 23–2 Loss 7–4
11 Oct 2 at Toronto Argonauts 20–20 Tie 7–4–1
12 Bye
13 Oct 16 vs. Calgary Stampeders 37–36 Win 8–4–1
14 Oct 24 at Hamilton Tiger-Cats 48–10 Win 9–4–1
15 Oct 31 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats 25–6 Loss 9–5–1
16 Nov 6 at Montreal Alouettes 26–17 Loss 9–6–1

[3]

Postseason

Playoffs

Round Date Opponent Score Result Record
East Final Nov 21 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats 17–15 Win 10–6–1
Grey Cup Nov 28 Saskatchewan Roughriders 23–20 Win 11–6–1

[3]

Grey Cup

In the final minute, Saskatchewan punted into a strong wind. Ottawa would have the ball on the Saskatchewan 35-yard line. With 44 seconds left, Ottawa quarterback Tom Clements passed to tight end Tony Gabriel, and Ottawa was at Saskatchewan's 20 yard line.[4] The next pass would win the game, as Gabriel caught the ball in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.

Teams 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q Final
Saskatchewan Roughriders 0 17 3 0 20
Ottawa Rough Riders 10 0 3 10 23

[5]

Player stats

Passing

Player Attempts Completions Percentage Yards Touchdowns Interceptions
Tom Clements 327 196 59.9 2856 20 13
Condredge Holloway[6] 106 59 55.7 973 9 6

Receiving

Player Games Played Receptions Yards Average Long Touchdowns
Jeff Avery 16 21 338 16.1 62 2
Tony Gabriel[7] 16 72 1320 18.3 62 14
Art Green 53 508 9.6 31 2

Rushing

Player Rushes Yards Average Touchdowns Long
Art Green 234 1257 5.4 13 69

Awards and honours

References

  1. ^ Who's Who in Canadian Sport, Volume 4, p.307, Bob Ferguson, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd., Markham, ON and Allston, MA, ISBN 978-1-55041-855-2
  2. ^ Who's Who in Canadian Sport, Volume 4, p.329, Bob Ferguson, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Ltd., Markham, ON and Allston, MA, ISBN 978-1-55041-855-2
  3. ^ a b "Ottawa Renegades All-Time Canadian Football League (CFL) Records". Archived from the original on 2009-03-13. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  4. ^ Weird Facts about Canadian Football, p.163, Overtime Books, First Printing 2009, ISBN 978-1-897277-26-3
  5. ^ CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League Archived 2012-02-13 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  7. ^ "CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  8. ^ Canadian Football Hall of Fame - Tom Clements
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