The Sunday Snap — CFL Week 1, 2026
Updated: Oct 31
Your weekly trip around the Canadian Football League. Three games, three storylines, and a brand-new season already showing its teeth. (BC, Saskatchewan and Toronto opened on a bye.)
Montreal Alouettes 30, Hamilton Tiger-Cats 27 (OT)
Thursday — Hamilton Stadium
The new season kicked off with a classic Alouettes escape act. Montreal looked dead in the water trailing 24-10 midway through the third quarter, but Davis Alexander refused to let the opener slip away. The turning point arrived when defensive back Robert Kennedy III read Bo Levi Mitchell perfectly, picked off the throw and sprinted 54 yards to the house to cut the deficit and flip the energy in the building.
From there Alexander took over, dropping a back-shoulder ball to Tyson Philpot for the touchdown that drew Montreal even. Hamilton nudged back ahead on a Marc Liegghio field goal, but Alexander engineered a clutch late drive — converting a third-and-10 and a third-and-one along the way — to set up José Maltos Díaz, who buried a 29-yard field goal as time expired to force overtime.
In the extra frame, Kabion Ento recovered a Hamilton fumble to hand Montreal the ball, and Maltos Díaz calmly drilled the 17-yard game-winner. Alexander finished with 336 yards and two touchdown passes, to Tyler Snead and Philpot, and perhaps most remarkably, improved to 12-0 in regular-season starts — the longest win streak to begin a career by any quarterback in league history. Mitchell threw for 307 in the loss. A heartbreaker for the Ticats, a statement of resilience for the Als.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 30, Calgary Stampeders 28
Friday — McMahon Stadium
Zach Collaros called it "pure CFL football," and the season opener earned the billing — a back-and-forth night that wasn't settled until the final play. Calgary controlled the early going on the ground, where Dedrick Mills rumbled for 95 first-half rushing yards and a touchdown to set the tone.
Then Winnipeg flipped the game after the break. The Bombers' defence clamped down on Mills, holding the reigning rushing champion to just 17 yards on five carries in the second half. With Calgary's run game neutralized on early downs, Winnipeg's pass rush came alive — Willie Jefferson and Jake Ceresna combined for four sacks in the fourth quarter alone. Through it all, Brady Oliveira was the steadying force, piling up 113 rushing yards and 24 receiving on 18 touches, including a 19-yard burst for the game's opening major.
The finish was pure chaos. Vernon Adams Jr. marched Calgary downfield and scored a go-ahead touchdown with just over a minute left, seemingly stealing the opener. But Collaros — modest passing numbers all night — delivered when it mattered, zipping a 27-yard strike to Ontaria Wilson to flip the field. Oliveira ground out 13 more yards on two carries, and Sergio Castillo coolly drilled a walk-off 38-yard field goal as time expired. A gut-punch loss for Calgary; a poised, dramatic statement from Winnipeg.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 30, Calgary Stampeders 28
Friday — McMahon Stadium
Zach Collaros called it "pure CFL football," and the season opener earned the billing — a back-and-forth night that wasn't settled until the final play. Calgary controlled the early going on the ground, where Dedrick Mills rumbled for 95 first-half rushing yards and a touchdown to set the tone.
Then Winnipeg flipped the game after the break. The Bombers' defence clamped down on Mills, holding the reigning rushing champion to just 17 yards on five carries in the second half. With Calgary's run game neutralized on early downs, Winnipeg's pass rush came alive — Willie Jefferson and Jake Ceresna combined for four sacks in the fourth quarter alone. Through it all, Brady Oliveira was the steadying force, piling up 113 rushing yards and 24 receiving on 18 touches, including a 19-yard burst for the game's opening major.
The finish was pure chaos. Vernon Adams Jr. marched Calgary downfield and scored a go-ahead touchdown with just over a minute left, seemingly stealing the opener. But Collaros — modest passing numbers all night — delivered when it mattered, zipping a 27-yard strike to Ontaria Wilson to flip the field. Oliveira ground out 13 more yards on two carries, and Sergio Castillo coolly drilled a walk-off 38-yard field goal as time expired. A gut-punch loss for Calgary; a poised, dramatic statement from Winnipeg.
Edmonton Elks 29, Ottawa Redblacks 21
Saturday — TD Place Stadium
Edmonton closed out Week 1 by riding its biggest playmaker to the franchise's first season-opening win since 2019. The Elks' defence set the tone early, coming out in dominant fashion, while veteran Cody Fajardo calmly managed the game through stormy conditions in the nation's capital.
The story, though, was Justin Rankin. The CFL's premier explosive-play threat — he led the league in 2025 in big plays, missed tackles forced and total yards from scrimmage — came alive in the second half to put the game away. Rankin finished with 102 rushing yards and 94 receiving on five catches, a 196-yard day from scrimmage that Ottawa simply had no way to contain once he got rolling in space.
Edmonton never trailed, building an early cushion and answering whenever the Redblacks threatened. Ottawa, breaking in a new-look offence under head coach and play-caller Ryan Dinwiddie, mounted a fourth-quarter push to make the score respectable but could never match the Elks' big-play punch. For a franchise that has spent recent seasons playing catch-up from the opening whistle, getting out of the gate at 1-0 — on the road, no less — is exactly the start head coach Mark Kilam was preaching.
Around the League
Standings after Week 1: Edmonton, Montreal and Winnipeg sit at 1-0; Calgary, Hamilton and Ottawa open 0-1.
On bye: BC, Saskatchewan and Toronto, all of whom debut in Week 2. BC opens June 13 at Saskatchewan.
Worth a mention: Former Tiger-Cats receiver Brandon Banks was surprised with the news of his induction into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2026.
