1976 Ottawa Rough Riders season

1976 Ottawa Rough Riders season
1976 Ottawa Rough Riders season
Head coach	George Brancato
Home field	Lansdowne Park
Results
Record	9–6–1
Division place	1st, East
Playoff finish	Won Grey Cup
Uniform
	← 1975; Other seasons; 1977 →;

The 1976 Ottawa Rough Riders finished in 1st 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 105th 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 Roughriders	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[]

CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Tony Gabriel (TE)
Grey Cup Most Valuable Player, Tom Clements, (QB)
Tom Clements, All-Eastern Quarterback^[8]
Art Green, Running Back, CFL All-Star
Tony Gabriel, Tight End, CFL All-Star
Mark Kosmos, Linebacker, CFL All-Star
Jim Reid, Fullback, Rookie of the Year Award

References[]

^ 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
^ 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
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Ottawa Renegades All-Time Canadian Football League (CFL) Records
^ Weird Facts about Canadian Football, p.163, Overtime Books, First Printing 2009, ISBN 978-1-897277-26-3
^ CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League Archived 2012-02-13 at the Wayback Machine
^ "CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
^ "CFL.ca - Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
^ Canadian Football Hall of Fame - Tom Clements

[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

[michigan-football-3] Jump up to: ^a ^b Ottawa Renegades All-Time Canadian Football League (CFL) Records

[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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show v t Ottawa Rough Riders
Founded in 1876 Folded in 1996 Based in Ottawa, Ontario
Franchise	Franchise Rough Riders records Ottawa records Players Seasons Head coaches
Stadiums	Frank Clair Stadium
Lore	Ottawa Trojans Labour Day Classic
Important figures	Frank Clair Tom Clements Tony Gabriel Russ Jackson Rudy Phillips
Retired numbers	11 12 26 40 60 62 70 71 72 77
Dominion Championships (3)	1898 1900 1902
Grey Cup Championships (9)	1925 1926 1940 1951 1960 1968 1969 1973 1976
Eastern Division Championships (15)	1925 1926 1936 1939 1940 1941 1948 1951 1960 1966 1968 1969 1973 1976 1981
See also	Ottawa Renegades Ottawa Redblacks Jeff Hunt

show v t 1976 CFL season by team
Western	BC Calgary Edmonton Saskatchewan
Eastern	Hamilton Ottawa Toronto
See also	1976 CFL Draft 64th Grey Cup