1973 CFL season

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1973 CFL season
East championsOttawa Rough Riders
West championsEdmonton Eskimos
61st Grey Cup
ChampionsOttawa Rough Riders
CFL seasons
← 1972
1974 →
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Canadian Football League team locations: West, East

The 1973 CFL season is considered to be the 20th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 16th Canadian Football League season.

CFL News in 1973

Both the Western and Eastern Conferences adopt the same playoff procedure, consisting of the second place teams in each conference hosting the third place teams in the conference semifinal games and the first place teams hosting the semi-finals' winners in the conference finals. All rounds now consisted of single-game playoffs, as opposed to a two-game total point series (although this format would return in use by what was by then the East Division in 1986 only); the West adopted this format the previous year. Other than the addition of the crossover rule in 1997, this playoff format is in still in use in the CFL.

This was the final season where the conferences would play seasons of different lengths. The Eastern Conference would expand its schedule to sixteen games for 1974. Somewhat ironically, this was also the most recent season (as of 2017) where a fourth-placed Eastern team would earn more points (despite playing fewer games) than the third placed Western team - the scenario which triggers a "crossover" under the current playoff format.

Regular season standings

Final regular season standings

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

Western Football Conference
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Edmonton Eskimos 16 9 5 2 329 284 20
Saskatchewan Roughriders 16 10 6 0 360 287 20
BC Lions 16 5 9 2 261 328 12
Calgary Stampeders 16 6 10 0 214 368 12
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 16 4 11 1 267 315 9
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
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 14 7 7 0 304 263 14
  • Bold text means that they have clinched the playoffs.
  • Edmonton and Ottawa have first round byes.

Grey Cup playoffs

The Ottawa Rough Riders are the 1973 Grey Cup champions, defeating the Edmonton Eskimos, 22–18, at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium. Ottawa's Charlie Brandon (DE) was named the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player, while Edmonton's Garry Lefebvre (DB) was named Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian.

Playoff bracket

November 10/11: Division Semifinals November 17/18: Division Finals November 25: 61st Grey Cup @ Exhibition StadiumToronto
         
E2 Montreal Alouettes 14
East
E1 Ottawa Rough Riders 23
E3 Montreal Alouettes 32*
E2 Toronto Argonauts 10
E1 Ottawa Rough Riders 22
W1 Edmonton Eskimos 18
W2 Saskatchewan Roughriders 23
West
W1 Edmonton Eskimos 25
W3 BC Lions 13
W2 Saskatchewan Roughriders 33

*-Team won in Overtime.

CFL Leaders

1973 CFL All-Stars

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Defence

1973 Eastern All-Stars

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Defence

1973 Western All-Stars

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Defence

1973 CFL Awards

References

  1. ^ "CFLapedia".