1973 Ottawa Rough Riders season explained

Team:	Ottawa Rough Riders
Year:	1973
Record:	9–5
Division Place:	1st, East
Coach:	Jack Gotta
Stadium:	Lansdowne Park
Playoffs:	Won Grey Cup
Uniform:	File:CFL OTT Jersey 1973.png
Shortnavlink:	Other seasons

The 1973 Ottawa Rough Riders finished the season in first place in the Eastern Conference with a 9–5 record and won the Grey Cup.

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Record
A	July 4	vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers	10–10	Tie	0–0–1
B	July 11	vs. Edmonton Eskimos	25–16	Win	1–0–1
C	July 19	at Montreal Alouettes	17–14	Loss	1–1–1
D	July 24	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	13–9	Win	2–1–1

Regular season

Standings

Eastern Football Conference! Team !! GP !! W !! L !! T !! PF !! PA !! Pts

Ottawa Rough Riders	14	9	5	0	275	234	18
Toronto Argonauts	14	7	5	2	265	231	16
Montreal Alouettes	14	7	6	1	273	238	15
	14	7	7	0	304	263	14

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Record
1	July 31	vs. Toronto Argonauts	25–9	Loss	0–1
2	Aug 8	at Toronto Argonauts	19–6	Loss	0–2
3	Aug 13	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	25–16	Loss	0–3
4	Aug 20	at Saskatchewan Roughriders	18–12	Loss	0–4
5	Aug 25	at Montreal Alouettes	30–3	Win	1–4
6	Sept 5	vs. BC Lions	26–24	Win	2–4
7	Sept 12	at Winnipeg Blue Bombers	24–13	Win	3–4
8	Sept 15	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	21–19	Win	4–4
9	Sept 22	vs. Edmonton Eskimos	32–20	Win	5–4
10	Sept 30	vs. Montreal Alouettes	28–15	Loss	5–5
11	Oct 8	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	16–13	Win	6–5
12	Oct 14	at Calgary Stampeders	32–8	Win	7–5
13	Oct 21	vs. Toronto Argonauts	20–19	Win	8–5
14	Oct 28	vs. Montreal Alouettes	16–0	Win	9–5

^[1]

Postseason

Playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Record
East Final	Nov 18	vs. Montreal Alouettes	23–14	Win	10–5
	Nov 25	Edmonton Eskimos	22–18	Win	11–5

Grey Cup

Edmonton quarterback Tom Wilkinson was accused of using an unnatural head motion to draw the defence offside. Ottawa General Manager Frank Clair lobbied league officials to watch Wilkinson carefully at the line of scrimmage.^[2]

Teams	1 Q	2 Q	3 Q	4 Q	Final
Edmonton Eskimos	10	0	0	8	18
Ottawa Roughriders	7	5	7	3	22

^[3]

Player stats

Passing

Player	Attempts	Completions	Pct.	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions
Rick Cassata	177	94	53.1	1255	4	6

Rushing

Player	Rushes	Yards	Average	Touchdowns	Long
Art Green	54	223	4.1	2	14

Awards and honours

• CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Gerry Organ (K)
• CFL's Coach of the Year – Jack Gotta
• Grey Cup Most Valuable Player, Charlie Brandon (DE)
• Dick Adams, Defensive Back, CFL All-Star
• Jerry Campbell, Linebacker, CFL All-Star
• Al Marcelin, Defensive Back, CFL All-Star
• Rudy Sims, Defensive Tackle, CFL All-Star

Notes and References

1. http://michigan-football.com/cfl/f/ottaware.htm Ottoware
2. Weird Facts about Canadian Football, p.161, Overtime Books, First Printing 2009,
3. Web site: CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League . 2017-08-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100823210813/http://www.cfl.ca/page/his_greycup_recap1973 . 2010-08-23 . dead. mdy-all.