FINAL: Edmonton Elks 28, B.C. Lions 16
The Edmonton Elks beat the B.C. Lions 28-16 in the CFL West Final at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, November 7, 2026, reaching the Grey Cup for the first time since 2015. Cody Fajardo threw for 274 yards and ran for a game-high 84 more, scoring once each way in the second half as Edmonton closed the game with 12 unanswered fourth-quarter points. The full story of the night itself is in iimiTV’s breaking report on the Elks beating the Lions to reach the Grey Cup.
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Sunday morning brought the second story: a quarterback naming the panelist who fired him up, a losing side counting the cost of two penalties, the final numbers settling on Nathan Rourke’s night, and a Grey Cup matchup that turns out to be a record. The Edmonton Elks Grey Cup week starts here.
How to watch the Grey Cup: Edmonton Elks vs Montreal Alouettes, Sunday, November 15, 6:00 p.m. ET at McMahon Stadium, Calgary
TV (Canada): TSN, CTV, RDS
Stream: Crave, CFL+
Edmonton Elks Grey Cup Week Starts With Fajardo’s Answer
Fajardo did not wait for Grey Cup week to answer the people who picked against him. In his post-game interview with TSN sideline reporter Claire Hanna, reported by 3DownNation, he said: “Well, Henoc Muamba said he trusted Nathan Rourke with the ball with the game on the line more than me, so that pissed me off. A lot of people doubt me, and that’s the motivation I need. The guys in that locker room believe in me, and that’s all that matters.”
Head coach Mark Kilam backed his quarterback at the podium in the same report: “Say what you want about him, Cody puts the team on his back all the time. I don’t think his reads were 100 percent, but when they’re not, he pulls the ball and he’s playing behind his shoulder pads. He just adds an element to our offence. He did a great job.” The interview itself, which the CFL’s Must Watch list flagged as an all-time postgame interview, is here:
Fajardo kept going in the same interview: “We’re Grey Cup crashers. Everyone had their perfect Grey Cup set, and we had a different thought. I’m so proud of this team. The city turned out for us. It was so damn incredible and electric in this building.” On the 23-yard touchdown pass that broke the game open, he admitted he never saw Austin Mack catch it: “I didn’t see it. I laid on the ground and listened to 40,000 cheer, and I knew we scored there. Austin Mack, I told him there’s a reason why he’s here. Let’s go back to the Grey Cup.” Mack, in the same 3DownNation report, pointed straight at next Sunday: “That team let go of us, and we’re going to be excited to go see them next week. Me and 7, we’re going to be fired up.”
The Numbers That Settled Overnight
Rourke’s final line settled overnight, and it shows how fine the margins were. He finished 23-of-39 passing for 328 yards, with 32 rushing yards and B.C.’s only touchdown, and no touchdown passes, in what is now his third West Final loss in three starts. Edmonton still needed the fourth quarter to separate, and B.C. helped them do it. Sportsnet’s division final takeaways put the Lions’ discipline at the centre of the loss: Mathieu Betts drew an unnecessary roughness penalty for a late hit on Fajardo in the third quarter, moving Edmonton from the B.C. 33-yard line to the 18 and leading directly to the touchdown that made it 16-9, and Deontai Williams was flagged for unnecessary roughness after another Fajardo run in the fourth, setting up the field goal that stretched the lead to 19-16.
The last opening closed the way the original report described, with one detail now measured. Joel Dublanko stripped Justin McInnis after a nine-yard catch late in the fourth quarter, and the 62-yard return that followed set up the field goal that closed the scoring. The Elks’ own official highlights of the West Final carry the whole sequence, from the 9-6 halftime kicking contest to the Mack touchdown:
Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, where a season-high CFL crowd of 40,182 watched Saturday’s West Final. Photo: Urban Versis 32, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, pictured in 2022.
A Record 12th Meeting, And Grey Cup Week In Calgary
The matchup itself made history overnight. This will be the CFL-record 12th Grey Cup meeting between the Alouettes and Elks franchises, and the first since the 2005 overtime thriller. Montreal arrives with the league’s best record at 14-4 and its third Grey Cup appearance in four years, after Davis Alexander, this year’s Most Outstanding Player, threw for 373 yards and two touchdowns in the East Final, with Tyson Philpot catching nine passes for 129 yards. Edmonton, second in Grey Cup wins with 14 titles, is chasing its first since 2015 and its 15th overall.
Grey Cup week around the game is now fully set. The CFL has confirmed Riley Green will headline the Bud Light Grey Cup Halftime Show, Sarah McLachlan will perform the national anthem, Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo will make a special guest performance, and James Barker Band will play the SiriusXM Grey Cup Kickoff Show. The same CFL announcement confirms the Canadian Forces Snowbirds return to the Grey Cup for their final flight, the Cenovus Energy 2026 Grey Cup Festival runs November 11 to 15, and a limited number of tickets remain on sale through Ticketmaster.
What it means next is simple. Fajardo, who was named Grey Cup MVP when he won the trophy with Montreal in 2023, now leads the team Montreal let go against the team that let him go, with a third Grey Cup win of his career on the line. Edmonton spent five straight seasons out of the playoffs to get to this week. One game in Calgary, on Sunday, November 15 at 6:00 p.m. ET, decides whether the crashers finish the job.
