At this rate, it will be a challenging statistical exercise to calculate the number of statistics-based columns that grace this space.
This is what happens, dear reader, when an antiquated historian endeavours to update and expand the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ record book.
For example, I decided to compile a list of Roughriders milestone games, including 100-yarders for receivers and running backs.
The non-eye-opener: George Reed is the all-time leader in 100-yard rushing games, with 75 (playoffs included).
The revelation: Two of Reed’s three 100-yard receiving games were in the playoffs.
He always did have a sense of the moment.
Reed’s first 100-yard receiving game was a regular-season contest in 1964, when he hit 100 on the nose.
No. 34 followed up with a seven-catch, 130-yard gem against the Calgary Stampeders on Nov. 7, 1964. He caught a touchdown pass and ran for another major to give Saskatchewan a 34-25 victory in the opener of the two-game, total-points Western Conference semi-final.
Calgary was the visiting team once again when Reed caught three passes for 108 yards on Nov. 15, 1969. He accounted for all but 55 of the Roughriders’ receiving yardage — in addition to rushing 15 times for 66 yards — as Saskatchewan kicked off the best-of-three West final with a 17-11 victory.
Reed’s concentration of 100-yard games in the post-season is reminiscent of quarterback Kerry Joseph.
In 40 regular-season games with Saskatchewan, Joseph never hit the 100 mark along the ground.
But he did reach triple digits in two of his four post-season appearances.
Nov. 11, 2007: Joseph rushed 14 times for 109 yards to power Saskatchewan to a 26-24 victory over the visiting Stampeders — notice a trend here? — in the West semi-final.
Nov. 14, 2007: Joseph carried the ball 10 times for 101 yards in a 23-19 Grey Cup victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
What do Reed and Joseph have in common? They are two of the three Roughriders to have rushed for 100-plus yards in a Grey Cup game.
Reed piled up 133 yards to help Saskatchewan defeat the Ottawa Rough Riders 29-14 on Nov. 26, 1966.
The third member of that exclusive group is Kory Sheets, who rushed for a Grey Cup-record 197 yards in a 45-23 victory over the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Nov. 24, 2013.
Despite spending only two seasons in Saskatchewan, Sheets is third on the team’s all-time list in 100-yard rushing games.
On that list, shown below, the first figure includes regular season, playoff and Grey Cup competition. The number of non-regular-season 100-yard games is in parentheses, when applicable.
100-YARD RUSHING GAMES, CAREER
75 — George Reed (9).
17 — Kenton Keith (2).
14 — Kory Sheets (2).
13 — Mike Saunders.
9 — Ed Buchanan (1) and Wes Cates.
8 — Milson Jones (1), Tim McCray and Robert Mimbs.
7 — Darren Davis and Mike Strickland.
6 — Bobby Marlow (1).
5 — Bill Gray.
4 — Anthony Allen, Cookie Gilchrist (1), Molly McGee (1), Jamal Morrow and William Powell.
3 — Lucius Floyd, Silas McKinnie, Steve Molnar (1), Ray Purdin, Bobby Thompson and Michael Washington.
2 — Lester Brown, Ferd Burket, Will Ford, Nealon Greene, Corey Holmes, Bobby Johnson, Darren Joseph, Kerry Joseph (2), Harry Lunn, Cameron Marshall, Jerome Messam, Tommy Reamon, Sedrick Shaw and Reggie Slack (1).
1 — Alex Bravo, Blaise Bryant, Ken Carpenter, Ken Charlton, Craig Ellis, Alan Ford, R.C. Gamble, Chris Garrett, Nellie Greene, Mike Hagler, Frankie Hickson, Jack Hill, Karl Hilzinger, Robert Holmes, Tre Mason, Joe McKnight, Gabe Patterson, Sammy Pierce, Trent Richardson, Curt Schave, Marcus Thigpen (1), Dione Tyler, Pete Van Valkenburg and Darrell Wallace.
Total number of 100-yard rushing games: 276, including 23 in the playoffs or a Grey Cup.
Total number of 100-yard rushers: 62.
Percentage of 100-yard games by George Reed: 27.2.
Percentage of 200-yard games by George Reed: 50.0.
Reed rushed for a franchise-record 268 yards in a 30-14 victory over the host B.C. Lions on Oct. 24, 1965. (For more about that game, stay tuned!)
Twenty-five months later, he amassed 204 yards to propel the Roughriders to a 17-13 victory in Calgary — site of the third and deciding game of the 1967 West final.
The other members of the 200-yard club:
- Curt Schave, who gained 225 yards in a 16-3 road victory over the Saskatoon Quakers on Sept. 26, 1931.
- Darren Davis, whose 220-yarder helped Saskatchewan post a 54-52 overtime victory in Edmonton on Oct. 28, 2000.
And now … the receiving stats!
100-YARD RECEIVING GAMES, CAREER
41 — Ray Elgaard (1).
35 — Don Narcisse (2).
28 — Weston Dressler (3).
25 — Joey Walters.
21 — Jeff Fairholm (1).
18 — Hugh Campbell (2).
15 — Chris DeFrance.
11 — Andy Fantuz (1) and Naaman Roosevelt.
10 — Matt Dominguez (1), Chris Getzlaf (1), Curtis Mayfield and Bobby Thompson.
9 — Gord Barwell and Curtis Marsh.
8 — Rob Bagg and Tom Campana.
7 — Rhett Dawson, Shaq Evans and Steve Mazurak.
6 — Derick Armstrong (1), Ed Buchanan (1), Ken Carpenter (1), Dan Farthing, Ray Purdin (2) and Larry Thompson.
5 — Alan Ford (1), Kyran Moore (1), Ron Robinson and B.K. Williams
4 — Shawn Bane Jr., Ron Dundas, Dwight Edwards, Reggie Jones, Kian Schaffer-Baker, Taj Smith (1) and Mac Speedie.
3 — Duron Carter, D.J. Flick (1), Lucius Floyd, Eric Guliford, Rod Harris, Harry Lampman, Travis Moore, Bob Pearce, George Reed (2), Mike Saunders (1), Duke Williams (1) and Daric Zeno.
2 — Holland Aplin, Leroy Campbell, Ricky Collins Jr., Rick Eber, Craig Ellis, Samuel Emilus, Greg Fieger, Jason French, Bakari Grant, Efrem Hill, Jack Hill, Caleb Holley, Milson Jones, Tevin Jones, Kenton Keith, Cary Koch, Silas McKinnie, Jon McWilliams, Rodney Parker, Jack Russell, Ryan Smith, Elijah Thurmon, Elbert Turner, Vernon Vaughn, Peter Watson, Willie Wilder, Jordan Williams-Lambert and Stan Williams.
1 — Steve Adkins, Jason Armstead, Tron Armstrong, Karsten Bailey, Nolan Bailey (1), Demetris Bendross, Adarius Bowman, Rob Bresciani, Todd Brown, Dylan Ching, Dick Cohee (1), David Conrad, Tony Dennis, James Ellingson, Jason Franci, Stewart Fraser, Jack Gotta, Sammy Greene, Mark Guy (1), Larry Isbell, Willis Jacox, Freeman Johns, Nate Johnson, Molly McGee, Justin McInnis, Jack Nix, Chad Owens, Michael Palmer, Leif Pettersen, Roell Preston, Bob Renn, Jamel Richardson, Curt Schave (1), Kory Sheets, Geroy Simon, Jerreth Sterns, Emanuel Tolbert, Stanley Washington, Paul Williams and Jim Worden.
Total number of 100-yard games: 516.
Total number of 100-yard receivers: 117.
Percentage of 100-yard games by three members of the 1989 championship team — Elgaard, Narcisse and Fairholm: 18.8.
Percentage of 100-yard games by a Canadian: 29.1.
Percentage of 100-yard games by a running back: 10.1.
Some other notes …
- Recall the earlier reference to George Reed and his 268-yard rushing game on Oct. 24, 1965? In that same game, Gord Barwell averaged 102 yards per catch. His only reception was a long-distance TD collaboration with Ron Lancaster on the opening play from scrimmage. As well, the speedy Barwell had four games in which he required only three receptions to exceed 100 yards. Barwell is also a member of the 200-yard club, which appears at the bottom of this novel.
- Joey Walters is the subject of this staggering stat: He reached 100 yards in 42.4 per cent of the games in which he played as a Roughrider. He hit triple digits in 25 of his 59 appearances. Over the 1981 and 1982 seasons, he was 20-for-36 (55.6 per cent). The only other percentage of note: 34.6, by Curtis Marsh. He reached 100 yards in nine of his 26 games with Saskatchewan.
- Mark Guy’s only 100-yard game was in a Grey Cup. He had four catches for 100 yards in the 1989 classic.
- Rob Bresciani erupted for six catches and 194 yards in his only start as a Roughrider — on Oct. 8, 1989 in Calgary.
- Paul Williams, by contrast, made 45 starts as a Roughrider. Only one of those starts was at receiver. In his one game as a full-time member of the offence, he caught three passes for 125 yards (including a 57-yard TD toss from Lancaster) against the visiting Lions on Aug. 8, 1978.
- Bob Renn exceeded 100 yards only once as a Roughrider. He did so with style, catching eight passes for 203 yards against Calgary on Sept. 26, 1960. Renn, by the way, was a teammate and close friend of future Hollywood legend Burt Reynolds at Florida State.
- Before we finish off (please hold your applause) with a comprehensive list of 200-yard games, we bring you a nationalistic statistical quirk: The only three Roughriders who have posted multiple 200-yard games were all born in Canada! Jeff Fairholm leads the way with three 200-yard games. Ray Elgaard and Andy Fantuz had two each. Read on …
THE 200-YARD CLUB
260 — Chris DeFrance (9 receptions) at Edmonton, Aug. 5, 1983.
255 — Andy Fantuz (10) vs. Calgary, Sept. 17, 2010 (OT).
244 — Jeff Fairholm (6) at Toronto, Sept. 26, 1992.
240 — Andy Fantuz (7) at Hamilton, Oct. 14, 2007.
231 — Steve Adkins (11) vs. Saskatoon, Oct. 6, 1934.
231 — Duron Carter (11) vs. Ottawa, Oct. 13, 2017.
215 — Jeff Fairholm (7) at B.C., July 9, 1993.
215 — Curtis Marsh (13) vs. Toronto, July 28, 2001.
214 — Mike Saunders (8) vs. B.C., Oct. 25, 1992.
213 — Bobby Thompson (7) vs. Edmonton, Aug. 16, 1972.
212 — Joey Walters (9) vs. Edmonton, Oct. 14, 1979.
212 — Ray Elgaard (12) at Hamilton, Aug. 6, 1993.
209 — Jeff Fairholm (9) at Ottawa, Oct. 6, 1991.
207 — Ray Elgaard (8) vs. B.C., Aug. 29, 1992.
206 — Hugh Campbell (8) at Winnipeg, Aug. 25, 1965.
203 — Bob Renn (8) vs. Calgary, Sept. 26, 1960.
202 — Gord Barwell (7) vs. Winnipeg, Sept. 7, 1970.
201 — Ken Carpenter (9) at Winnipeg, Sept. 7, 1957.
201 — Chris Getzlaf (5) vs. Calgary, Oct. 17, 2010.
Percentage of 100-plus-yards games that also qualify as 200-yard games: 3.7.
Percentage of readers who made it to the end of this column: 0.00312423 (Thank you!)
