Grey Cup Final Preview: Alouettes Face Elks in Calgary Nov. 15

The 113th Grey Cup is set. The Montreal Alouettes and the Edmonton Elks will play for the Canadian Football League championship on Sunday, November 15, at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, with kickoff at 6 p.m. ET. The CFL confirmed the matchup on November 7 after Montreal beat Winnipeg 33-23 in the East Final and Edmonton beat BC 28-16 in the West Final. It is the 12th time these two clubs have met in the Grey Cup, and the first time since 2005, when Edmonton won 38-35 in overtime. Canadian viewers can watch on TSN, CTV, RDS and Crave. Viewers outside Canada can watch on CFL+.

This preview pulls the matchup into one place: how each team got here, the quarterback story at the centre of the game, the numbers that define the clash, and the details fans need for game day.

How they got here

Montreal had the league's best record at 14-4 and is in the final for the third time in four years. The Alouettes won the cup in 2023. Edmonton finished 13-5 and is back in the Grey Cup for the first time since 2015, when it won the 103rd Grey Cup. The Elks have won their last three Grey Cup appearances. In the long history between these clubs, Edmonton leads the Grey Cup series 8-3. Montreal is 8-12 in Grey Cup games since 1949, and Edmonton is 14-9 since 1954, according to the CFL.

The teams split their two regular season meetings. Edmonton won the Week 3 game 32-29. Montreal won big in Week 10, 48-30. Neither result settles much in November, but they set the shape of this final: Montreal scores in bunches, and Edmonton keeps games close and takes the ball away.

The quarterback story

The final turns on two quarterbacks who know each other well. Edmonton's Cody Fajardo is 1-0 as a Grey Cup starter. He won the 2023 title with Montreal, and his backup that day was Davis Alexander, who now starts for the Alouettes. Alexander is 0-1 in the Grey Cup and gets his second shot at a ring against the man he once backed up. In the two meetings this season, Alexander threw for 708 yards and accounted for six touchdowns, five of them passes. Fajardo threw for 462 yards and five touchdowns across the same two games, three of them passes, and ran for 63 yards.

The head coaches add to it. Montreal's Jason Maas is 1-1 as a head coach in the Grey Cup, with the 2023 win, and he won two titles as a player with Edmonton in 2003 and 2005. Edmonton's Mark Kilam coaches his first Grey Cup as a head coach.

The numbers that define it

Montreal brings the league's most productive offence. The Alouettes scored 65 offensive touchdowns, first in the CFL, averaged 34.7 points a game and 420.9 yards of net offence a game, both near the top of the league, and completed 72.9 percent of their passes, also first. Edmonton brings the league's stingiest defence. The Elks allowed 44 offensive touchdowns and 24.3 points a game, both first in the CFL, and gave up 338.6 yards of net offence a game, also first. Edmonton also runs the ball better than anyone, at 127.6 rushing yards a game, and owns the league's best turnover mark at plus 23. Montreal is second at plus 21. Two careful teams and one ball-hawking defence means the turnover battle is the stat to watch first.

Game day in Calgary

Calgary has hosted the Grey Cup five times before, most recently in 2019. The Grey Cup Festival runs from November 11 to 15 with free and ticketed events across the city. Riley Green plays the halftime show, Sarah McLachlan sings the national anthem, Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo play a pre-game set, and the James Barker Band plays the kickoff show. Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster, according to the CFL.

What happens next

Both teams get a week to get healthy and game plan. The Elks will try to slow the game down, run the ball, and let their defence hunt mistakes. The Alouettes will push the pace and trust Alexander's arm. One of them leaves Calgary with the cup: Edmonton for the first time in 11 years, or Montreal for the second time in four seasons.