Jinx of finishing 1st happens again in CFL Playoffs

:cowboy:

I'd be interested in how many times in the last 20 years the 1st place regular season team(s) do not make the Grey Cup game.
I believe it happens often.
My theory is that resting players down the stretch does NOT pay off (unless they are injured of course).
My opinion is you need to play your starters to keep sharp.

Another factor is momentum and team belief in themselves.
A team coming off a semi-final win is confident!! And, if you get a decent start on the road that usually negates the home field advantage.
I know games are won in the 4th quarter, especially in our beloved shoot-it-out CFL style of game but a visiting team is already on a high coming in and early confidence stays with them.

The Lions and Als this year have plenty of company from the past.
Any other thoughts on the finishing in first place JINX!!!!!!!!? :rockin: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

I think jinx is too busy chasing pixie and dixie to have any thoughts on finishing in first place in football.

A worthwhile question to investigate Turkeybend2. Let me get you started:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_CFL_season

The above link is for the 1992 season [20 years ago] You’ll find on that page you can see a link to each and every subsequent year. You can also go back further if you want. Let us know what you find.

14 of 20 division champs in the last 10 years (70%) and 11 of 20 in the previous 10 years (55%) for an overall of 25 of 40 (60.25%).

Odds are in your favour with the bye week, especially in recent history.

Thanks dcmoses. I was curious myself but I'm still too depressed after Sunday's disappointing loss. :frowning:

This year was the exception to the rule. I feel for you beagle, but I couldn’t say that with a straight face if you were an Als fan. :wink:

Good reserch, the bolded part is particulary true, from 2002 to 2011 both the west and east division winners have both gone to the Grey Cup 7 times but if you dig a little deeper the 1992 to 2001 stats show a a different story. The top team in the west only went to the GC 3 times from 1992 to 2001, 2nd place 4 times and 3rd 3 times while the first team in the east went to the GC 8 times. The west was a crap shoot in the 90’s.

Thanks for the research done folks :thup: :rockin: