TORONTO — Kevin Glenn and Ricky Ray will go down in CFL history Saturday.
According to the CFL, when Glenn leads the Saskatchewan Roughriders against Ray’s Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field, it will mark just the third time in league history that two starting quarterbacks who each have 100 or more career wins will face off.
Anthony Calvillo and Damon Allen were the QBs the previous two times it happened (Oct. 28, 2006, and Aug. 2, 2007).
Ray has led his teams to 110 victories over his 15-year CFL career. Glenn has posted 100 wins during his 17 seasons in the league.
“It’s awesome to be able to play against a guy who you came into the league with at this juncture in our careers because we’re still playing; that says a lot …,” Glenn said Friday after the Roughriders held a walkthrough at Varsity Stadium. “It’s cool to be part of those side notes in the history of the CFL.”
Glenn began his career in the league in 2001 with the Roughriders and since has made stops with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (with whom he won 35 games), Hamilton Tiger-Cats (21), Calgary Stampeders (20), B.C. Lions (eight) and Montreal Alouettes (four). He has won 12 games as Saskatchewan’s starter, including an 18-17 triumph over the Ottawa Redblacks on Sept. 29.
According to league statistics, the 38-year-old product of Detroit has joined Allen and Matt Dunigan as the only quarterbacks in league history to lead six teams to at least one victory. As well, Glenn, Allen, Tom Clements and Tracy Ham are the only QBs in CFL history to record 20 or more victories with at least three teams.
Ray, a 37-year-old from Happy Valley, Calif., has won 31 games over five-plus seasons with the Argos after winning 79 games over nine campaigns with the Edmonton Eskimos.
Ray is sixth on the league’s all-time wins list, while Glenn is tied with Dunigan for eighth.
Glenn admitted that he was rooting for Ray during Toronto’s 43-35 overtime victory over Hamilton last Saturday, mainly because the Argos’ rally from a deficit was similar to Saskatchewan’s comeback in Ottawa.
The quarterbacks’ shared history also played a role.
“Being that I came into the league with him and we’re both veterans in the league — not older guys; we’re veterans in the league — (it’s great) to see we’re both playing well and putting our teams in position to try to be successful,” Glenn said.
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Glenn and his teammates stood on a historical spot Friday.
Varsity Stadium has played host to 30 Grey Cup games since being built in 1898.
The first time the Canadian football final was played on the site was 1909. The last time the facility played host to the CFL’s championship game was 1957.
The current stadium — home of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues — was built in 2007 to replace the original structure, but the location of the facility has remained the same for nearly 120 years.
“I’ve been on the field before, so it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been there,” Glenn said. “But when you think about it, that is kind of significant when you can set your feet on that kind of history within the CFL.
“That’s what happens when you stay in this league long enough and you get an opportunity to play in these different venues and practise in these different venues.”
Teams from Regina haven’t had much luck at Varsity Stadium, though. The Roughriders (or their forefathers, the Regina Rugby Club) lost Grey Cup games at the stadium in 1923, 1930, 1934 and 1951.
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Some mathematicians are giving Saskatchewan a 94-per-cent chance of making the playoffs, but the post-season is a long way from the minds of the Roughriders.
With five games remaining in their regular season, the Roughriders (7-6-0) are worried most about playing good football.
“We understand that if we take care of our business, then all that stuff will play out,” Glenn said. “It sounds kind of cliché sometimes, but it’s just like individual stats. You worry about winning and if you’re winning, then that means you’re doing something good and those individual stats will also come.
“We’ve got a lot more games to play before the playoffs, but we know that we want to be playing good football going into the playoffs, so that’s what we want to focus on.”
As a result, the Roughriders are looking at the game against Toronto solely as a means to an end.
“When you’re in our position, we’ve got to keep winning in order to get in the playoffs,” said Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones. “Our No. 1 focus is to secure our spot in the playoffs and then go from there.
“We don’t want to look too far ahead or anything like that. Pretty much weekly, we’ve got to go in, play solid football and win a football game.”
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For the Roughriders, Saturday’s game will mark the end of a road trip that began Sept. 27.
They flew that day to Ottawa, played the Redblacks on Sept. 29, saw the sights (including a walkthrough on Parliament Hill on Sunday), held three practices at Ottawa’s Carleton University, bused to Toronto on Thursday and prepared for the game Friday.
Jones was asked if his team has any road weariness after its lengthy excursion.
“I don’t know if there is or not,” he replied. “If the meetings and the walkthrough are any indication, they’ve got a lot of energy. I look forward to seeing exactly how we come out of the gate tomorrow.”
