2001 CFL season

The 2001 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 48th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 44th Canadian Football League season.

CFL news in 2001

The Canadian Football League were able to get new corporate partnerships who bought into the philosophy of "less is more". Television ratings grew again, especially in the ages 13–34 category, in 2001. TSN saw a ratings growth of 55%, while RDS grew by 116%.

The CFL suspended its Week 11 games due to the 9/11 attacks.

The CFL officially returned to Ottawa when they were guaranteed an expansion franchise on October 16. The ownership group led by Brad Watters unveiled the new franchise as the Ottawa Renegades. The ownership group were also guaranteed the 92nd annual Grey Cup game in 2004.

About 65,255 fans bought tickets to watch the 89th Grey Cup game at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, making it the second largest attendance draw in CFL history.

The Canadian Football League offices in downtown Toronto moved to Wellington St. East, after having their offices at Eglinton St. for the last 10 years.

Records: Saskatchewan's Paul McCallum broke the record for longest field goal in CFL history by booting a 62-yard field goal against the Edmonton Eskimos on October 27, 2001 in a 12–3 victory at Taylor Field.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers tied a CFL record by winning 12 consecutive games.

The 2001 CFL season, along with the 1999 CFL season, would be one of the closest times when an East Division team could have crossed over to the West Division for that division's last playoff spot since the introduction of the crossover in 1995. The Toronto Argonauts had to only win one more game to go 8–10–1, to beat the BC Lions final standings by an overtime loss advantage, or the Lions had to lose a game for the same result. This was settled in the last game of the season for both teams. The opposing team, which was the same team for both, was the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, longtime rivals of Toronto. The Tiger-Cats were defeated by BC, but defeated Toronto, ensuring no crossover. Close wins and losses by both teams against the Saskatchewan Roughriders also played a role in the final standing outcome.

Regular season standings

Final regular season standings

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points

• Bold text means that they have clinched the playoffs.
• Teams losing in overtime are awarded one point.
• Edmonton and Winnipeg both have first round byes.

Grey Cup playoffs

The Calgary Stampeders are the 2001 Grey Cup Champions, defeating the heavily-favoured Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27–19 at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. The Calgary Stampeders became the second team in history to have a regular-season losing record to win the Grey Cup. The Stampeders' Marcus Crandell (QB) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player and Aldi Henry (DB) was the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian.

Playoff bracket

CFL Leaders

• CFL Passing Leaders
• CFL Rushing Leaders
• CFL Receiving Leaders ^[1]

2001 CFL All-Stars

2001 Western All-Stars

2001 Eastern All-Stars

2001 Intergold CFLPA All-Stars

^[2]

2001 CFL Awards

• CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award – Khari Jones (QB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
• CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Doug Brown (DT), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
• CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award – Joe Montford (DE), Hamilton Tiger-Cats
• CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award – Dave Mudge (OT), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
• CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award – Barrin Simpson (LB), BC Lions
• CFL's Most Outstanding Special Teams Award – Charles Roberts (RB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
• CFLPA's Outstanding Community Service Award – Rick Walters (SB), Edmonton Eskimos
• CFL's Coach of the Year – Dave Ritchie, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
• Commissioner's Award - Robert Wetenhall and Larry Smith, Montreal

References