The 2007BC Lionsseason was the 50th season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 54th season overall. They finished first in the West Division for the fourth consecutive season with a 14–3–1 record, establishing new franchise records for wins and points in a season and most consecutive first-place finishes. They were defeated in the Western Final 26–17 by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, ending their hopes of repeating their Grey Cup Championship.
Joe Smith took the lustre off a record-setting performance by Bashir Levingston. Smith's two third-quarter touchdowns rallied the Grey Cup-champion BC Lions to a 24–22 win Thursday over the Argonauts in the first game of the CFL season. The loss tarnished Levingston's CFL-record 129-yard return of a missed field goal late in the first half that thrilled the Rogers Centre gathering of 29,157 and put Toronto ahead 15–10.
BC Quarterback Dave Dickenson continued his slow start to the CFL season, Friday but his only touchdown pass secured a 29–9, BC Lions home opener win over the Edmonton Eskimos. The 100-yard touchdown drive ended with a 36-yard completion to slotback Jason Clermont midway through the third quarter for a 23–6 lead. While kicker Paul McCallum completed the Lions attack with five field goals and a convert.
The BC Lions capitalized on the Saskatchewan Roughriders' mistakes to win the battle of the two unbeaten West teams 42–12 Friday. Riders penalties, fumbles and interceptions were abundant and as a result, the home team was no threat to win the game for most of the evening. The Riders briefly brought the subdued crowd of 26,981 back into the game in the second with a Matt Dominguez touchdown, but they couldn't recover and allowed two touchdowns in the last minute of the game. Joe Smith found the end zone twice for the Lions (3–0–0), while Jason Clermont had seven receptions for 68 yards. In the second quarter however, the Lions would lose quarterbacks Dave Dickenson and Buck Pierce to injuries leaving third-stringer Jarious Jackson to finish the game.
The BC Lions were rescued again by their depth at quarterback Thursday as they staggered to a 22–18 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The Lions were down to their last quarterback as Buck Pierce, who started with a hand injury in place of Dave Dickenson, left the game with sore ribs after throwing his second interception and was replaced by Jarious Jackson. In addition, Lions running back Joe Smith was taken off the field on a stretcher after fumbling late in the fourth quarter. He briefly had no feeling in his legs but later recovered in the locker room. However, Jackson remained healthy and found wideoutParis Jackson for a 64-yard gain that set up Paul McCallum's 14-yard insurance field goal for a 22–12 cushion. He also had Paris Jackson open in the end zone on a play that drew a pass interference call. The 31-yard penalty led to the third-string quarterback's touchdown plunge. The victory left the Lions as the CFL's only unbeaten team at 4–0 while Hamilton dropped to 0–4.
The BC Lions remained the only unbeaten team in the CFL with a 32–27 win over the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday. BC quarterback Jarious Jackson, who replaced Buck Pierce to start the second half, threw touchdown passes to Geroy Simon and Cory Rodgers while Joe Smith ran in a 38-yard score. Paul McCallum kicked two field goals. Calgary counterpart Henry Burris linked up with Rob Cote and Jeremaine Copeland for touchdowns. Sandro DeAngelis made two field goals, but he was wide on another attempt and had a kick blocked. Jackson was 3-for-7 in passing for two touchdowns and he was intercepted once in relief of Pierce, who was 7-for-14 and was intercepted once in the first half.
Burris completed half of 44 pass attempts for 423 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted four times. Down 25–11 heading into the fourth quarter, the Stampeders chased the Lions with Burris's 36-yard touchdown pass to Copeland at 8:56, DeAngelis's convert and his earlier 26-yard field goal to pull within four points. But a Burris interception stalled Calgary's momentum as LaVar Glover picked him off and returned the ball 30 yards, which set up Jackson's 15-yard touchdown pass to Rodgers at 11:48 and put the Lions up 32–21. Burris replied on a two-yard run with 1:19 remaining, after finding receiver Brett Ralph within five yards of the end zone, to keep Calgary's hopes of a win alive. The attempted two-point convert was unsuccessful and the Lions hung on for the win.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders took advantage of a third-string quarterback, and running back Wes Cates had a big game with over 100 yards rushing as they defeated the BC Lions 21–9 Thursday night to hand the defending Grey Cup champions their first loss of the CFL season. A crowd of 31,858 saw the Riders improve their record to 4–2 and move to within two points of the first-place Lions in the CFL West. BC dropped to 5–1. The Lions were forced to start third-string quarterback Jarious Jackson because of injuries to Dave Dickenson and Buck Pierce. Jackson, who came off the bench three times this season to preserve Lions wins, showed some flashes but struggled in his first CFL start. He completed 16 of 38 passes for 183 yards, threw one touchdown pass but was intercepted three times.
A crowd of 31,525 saw the Winnipeg Blue Bombers erase an eight-point deficit when wide receiver Terrence Edwards scored on a six-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kevin Glenn at 3:57 of the fourth quarter. That came one play after Edwards hauled in a 52-yard pass. Winnipeg's two-point convert failed but BC'sIan Smart fumbled the kickoff that would set up Rob Pikula's winning field goal. Pikula, a punter, was pressed into placekicking after Troy Westwood pulled a hamstring early in the game. He also hit from 41 and 31 yards. A last-ditch Lions drive ended when quarterback Buck Pierce threw an incompletion on a third-and-five with about 40 seconds left. Paul McCallum was successful early kicking two field goals from 12 and 45 yards, but missed on a critical 43-yarder with just five minutes remaining in the game that would have secured a BC win. With the loss BC is now tied with the Saskatchewan Roughriders for first place in the CFL West Division.
The Calgary Stampeders jumped out to an early 7–0 lead after Henry Burris capped off a five-play, 59-yard drive by plunging into the end zone from one yard out. On the drive, Joffrey Reynolds carried the ball three times for 30 yards, while Nik Lewis caught one ball and scrambled for a 28-yard gain. The BC Lions responded right away to tie the score as Buck Pierce engineered an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive. He capped off the drive by completing an eight-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jason Clermont. With just six seconds to go in the first quarter, the Stamps regained the lead when Sandro DeAngelis kicked a 29-yard field goal.
Just three plays after Ryan Phillips picked off an errant pass by Burris to record his league-leading sixth interception, Pierce tossed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Clermont to put the Lions up 14–10. The Stamps then completed an impressive eight-play, 80-yard scoring drive capped off by Jeremaine Copeland's fourth touchdown of the season. Late in the first half, Joe Smith rambled 18 yards across the goal line to cap off a five-play, 67-yard scoring drive to put the Lions up 21–17.
The see-saw battle continued in the third quarter as Calgary regained a three-point lead when Burris scored his second one-yard touchdown of the game. Once again, the Lions responded as Pierce tossed a 30-yard pass to Tony Simmons in the Calgary end zone before Paul McCallum kicked a 28-yard field goal. With 40 seconds left in the game, Lewis hauled in a seven-yard touchdown pass from Burris to tie the game at 31–31 and send it into overtime. The teams would continue scoring in overtime, but would eventually end the game with a tie.
Joe Smith's power and Ian Smart's speed delivered a knockout blow for the BC Lions in their 46–14 CFL romp over the Montreal Alouettes. Smith, the bruising running back, smashed and crashed for 161 yards on 20 carries and two touchdowns as the Lions halted a three-game winless skid in convincing style. Smith and his speedy backfield partner Smart, sliced and slashed for a pair touchdowns and had 63 yards on 10 carries as the Lions climbed back into first place in the CFL West. The pair's effectiveness showed on Smart's first touchdown in the fourth quarter. With the Lions knocking on Montreal's door, everyone in the roaring crowd of 32,115 expected Smith to get the ball. Instead, quarterback Jarious Jackson faked the ball to Smith, then tossed it to Smart who blazed nine yards for the touchdown.
The Lions shredded the Montreal defence — ranked second in the league against both the pass and run — for 420 yards. BC rushed for a combined 275 yards, with Jackson, making just his second CFL start, adding 46 yards on three carries.
While the running backs rumbled the Lions defence roared as defensive back Ryan Phillips stepped in front of an Anthony Calvillo pass in the third quarter and returned his CFL-leading seventh interception 92 yards for a touchdown. Besides throwing the interception, Calvillo was sacked five times, forced to hurry several throws and at times was left looking dazed and confused. He was shaken up but left the field on his own steam after a sack by Jamall Johnson in the fourth quarter.
The win improved the Lions record to 6–2–1 and moves them one point ahead of Saskatchewan in the CFL West. While Montreal's loss continued their on-going frustration when playing at BC Place Stadium which they haven't won in since 2000.
The 6–4 Alouettes avenged a 46–14 loss in Vancouver last week to the 6–3–1 Lions, and beat BC for only the second time in 10 meetings since 2003.
Brady looked at home running the Montreal attack in place of Anthony Calvillo, who is out indefinitely with a torn rotator cuff, He won the battle of the back-ups over Jarious Jackson, who started a second game for BC in place of injured Dave Dickenson and Buck Pierce.
Payton, who rushed for more than 100 yards, scored on runs of one, two and three yards, while Damon Duval had three field goals for Montreal.
Cory Rodgers caught a touchdown pass and Paul McCallum had two field goals and a single for the Lions, who played their 900th CFL game since 1954.
Workhorse running back Joe Smith plunged for two touchdowns as the BC Lions regained first place in the CFL West with a 40–7 victory over the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday. Smith, who had 99 rushing yards and is within six of 1,000 for the season, now has 12 rushing touchdowns. His clinching major made it 27–7 and it was set up by Ryan Phillips's league-leading eighth interception as the Lions turned a multitude of Toronto turnovers into points.
Defensive end Brent Johnson recovered a fumble by Toronto quarterback Michael Bishop after he was sacked for the second time by Cameron Wake and rambled 25 yards to the end zone. BC took a 27–7 lead early in the fourth quarter after Mark Washington punched the ball away from Argo receiver Andre Talbot who leaped for a Bishop pass near midfield.
BC quarterback Jarious Jackson made his fourth consecutive start in place of veteran Dave Dickenson (concussion) and Buck Pierce (shoulder) and managed the game better than his Toronto counterpart.
He faced the league's top-rated pass defence but it was Bishop who was picked off three times. Korey Banks's interception led to one of Paul McCallum's five field goals, the longest from 46 yards. McCallum added three converts while Toronto kicker Noel Prefontaine conceded two safeties.
The BC Lions pawed their way to an unlikely 37–34 victory on Saturday night, dampening and darkening the party mood among 28,800 fans at the sold out Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field, when Geroy Simon caught the game-winning 33-yard touch down catch with 34 seconds remaining in the game.
The Lions offence couldn't get anything going in the first half, outside of the line creating holes and Joe Smith churning up yardage. BC quarterback, Jarious Jackson was only 3-of-14 for 28 yards passing in the first half, while the Saskatchewan Roughriders marched three times for an early 22–7 lead in the first 16 minutes of the game. The Riders even had 200-plus more yards in offence than the Lions at the end of the first half.
Tensions between the two teams erupted before the end of the first half when Riders tackle Scott Schultz had rolled on to Jarious Jackson that caused BC guard Sherko Haji-Rasouli to throw in punches and eventually popped Schultz's helmet off. Meanwhile, Rob Murphy was standing over Saskatchewan rush end John Chick, while his left hand was on Chick's chin strap and his right arm was cocked and ready. In the end, the referee ended up giving penalties to Rob Murphy and Scott Schultz for unnecessary roughness and decided to eject BC receiver Cory Rodgers out of the game during the melee, who had earlier caught two of Jackson's three completed first half passes, one of them resulting in a touchdown. Riders' GM Eric Tillman eventually followed Lions' President Bobby Ackles into the hallway yelling "That's not in the rulebook! That's not in the rulebook!"
In the second half, Jackson became more effective completing his first six passes and eventually Joe Smith ran in for a 3-yard touchdown to cut Saskatchewan's lead to 24–22. Then with momentum on their side, the Lions decided on a 3rd and 1, to keep their drive alive on their own 15-yard line. Instead, Saskatchewan's defence was able to sack Jackson before he crossed the first down marker causing a turnover on downs. With good field position Kerry Joseph was able to complete Saskatchewan's drive when he ran in the end zone making it a 31–22, Roughriders lead.
But in the fourth quarter, Jackson would complete a 5-yard touchdown pass to Jason Clermont to cut the Riders lead to 31–29. The Riders only score in the fourth quarter came when kicker Luca Congi kicked a 25-yard field goal to make it a 34–29 Riders lead. However, late in the game, with the Roughriders leading 34–30, Jackson was able to find Geroy Simon in the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown on a third down play to give the Lions the lead and the win with just 34 seconds left.
The Lions (8–3–1) defence then took over picking off a Kerry Joseph pass on the 'Riders' last-gasp drive to hang on and extend the club's lead atop the West Division by three points.
Jarious Jackson threw three touchdown passes and the Lions defence stopped the Calgary Stampeders from scoring a touchdown in a 42–9 CFL rout Saturday night.
The Lions scored on their first two possessions and led 14–1 with 6:30 gone. Then the earth caved in for Calgary as Akili Smith, the former NFL first-round pick who was making his first CFL start in place of Henry Burris, limped off with about five minutes left in the second quarter with a slight groin pull after being sacked by Korey Banks. Knowing they had the Stampeders on the ropes the Lion defence made things miserable for inexperienced backup Barrick Nealy, who spent much of the game running for his life and took some brutal hits.
Jackson, who moved up the depth chart after injuries to Dave Dickenson and Buck Pierce, improved his record to 4–2 as a starter. He methodically picked the Stampeder defence apart with pin-point passes, then showed his mobility with several key runs. His performance is an indication that Jarious Jackson is starting to become more comfortable at the starting position. Furthermore, Lions receiver Geroy Simon indicated that the team has become confident with Jackson as their starting quarterback.
This was the final game of the BC Lions' regular season. After the game the Lions finished the season with a record of 14–3–1. The final score of this game was 25–24 for the Lions. The Calgary Stampeders tried to win the game at the last moment with no time left on the clock by attempting a field goal. The field goal was attempted but, it failed because the ball bounced off of the pole, which gave The Lions another big win.
This was the third meeting in four years between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the BC Lions in the Western Final. In each meeting, the team that had lost the season series between the two teams, won the Western Final.
