The 2011 BC Lions season was the 54th season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 58th overall. The Lions finished in first place in the West Division with an 11–7 record. The Lions won their sixth Grey Cup championship over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers by a score of 34–23.[1] The Lions became the first team in league history to start a season 0–5 and finish in first place.[2] They also became the first team to lose their first five regular season games and win the Grey Cup.[1] The Lions were also the first team to win a Grey Cup championship in their home stadium since the 1994 BC Lions and were only the fourth team to win at home since the inception of the Canadian Football League in 1958. Because of their remarkable season, the Lions were named the Canadian Press Team of the Year for 2011, becoming only the second CFL team to win the award since 1983.[3][4]

2011 BC Lions season
General managerWally Buono
Head coachWally Buono
Home fieldEmpire Field
BC Place Stadium
Results
Record11–7
Division place1st, West
Playoff finishWon Grey Cup
Team MOPTravis Lulay
Team MOCPaul McCallum
Team MORTim Brown
Uniform

The Lions opened their training camp at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops, British Columbia with rookie camp beginning June 1 and main camp beginning on June 5.[5] Due to ongoing construction at BC Place Stadium, the Lions played their first five regular season games at Empire Field before moving to BC Place for the remaining four. On October 10, 2011, the Lions clinched a playoff berth after the Saskatchewan Roughriders lost their game to the Edmonton Eskimos. This extends the franchise record to 15 straight years in the playoffs, with that mark also tied for fourth-best in CFL history.[6]

Offseason

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BC Place construction

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Due to the continued construction of BC Place Stadium, the Lions started their season at Empire Field, the temporary stadium that they played in for all ten games in 2010. However, it was unclear as to when the Lions would move into the refurbished stadium, as the contractor, PCL Westcoast Constructor, would not reveal a date.[7] It was likely that between three and five regular season games would be played at BC Place Stadium and it has been guaranteed that it will be complete by November 1, in time for the 99th Grey Cup, which it is scheduled to host.[7]

On February 7, 2011, it was announced that the BC Lions would be opening the newly renovated BC Place on September 30, 2011.[8] When the schedule was released on February 18, 2011, it was announced that the Lions' opponent would be the Edmonton Eskimos and that they would play four 2011 regular season games in BC Place Stadium.

CFL draft

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The 2011 CFL Draft took place on Sunday, May 8, 2011.[9] The Lions had five selections in the draft, with the first coming in the sixth spot overall, after trading their third overall pick with Calgary. Through the trade, BC was still able to select their first choice, Marco Iannuzzi, with their first pick and then draft kicker/punter Hugh O'Neill to replace the recently traded Sean Whyte.[10] BC also selected Alex Ellis in the 2011 supplemental draft, and must forfeit a sixth-round 2012 draft pick.[11]

Round Pick Player Position School/Club Team
1 6 Marco Iannuzzi WR Harvard
2 11 Hugh O'Neill K/P Alberta
3 19 Michael Carter DB Maryland
5 37 Yannick Sage OL Sherbrooke
6 42 Chris Hodgson DL Saint Mary's

Preseason

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Week Date Opponent Score Result Attendance Record
A Wed, June 15 at Calgary Stampeders 24–0 Win 8,235 1–0
B Wed, June 22 vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders 34–6 Win 18,742 2–0
 #  Games played with white uniforms.

Regular season

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Standings

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Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
BC Lions 18 11 7 0 511 385 22 Details
Edmonton Eskimos 18 11 7 0 427 401 22 Details
Calgary Stampeders 18 11 7 0 511 476 22 Details
Saskatchewan Roughriders 18 5 13 0 346 482 10 Details

Season schedule

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Week Date Opponent Score Result Attendance Record
1 Thurs, June 30 at Montreal Alouettes 30–26 Loss 22,317 0–1
2 Fri, July 8 vs. Calgary Stampeders 34–32 Loss 22,738 0–2
3 Sat, July 16 at Edmonton Eskimos 33–17 Loss 32,297 0–3
4 Fri, July 22 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats 39–31 Loss 24,117 0–4
5 Thurs, July 28 at Winnipeg Blue Bombers 25–20 Loss 29,533 0–5
6 Fri, Aug 5 vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders 24–11 Win 25,238 1–5
7 Sat, Aug 13 vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers 30–17 Loss 24,131 1–6
8 Fri, Aug 19 at Edmonton Eskimos 36–1 Win 35,216 2–6
9 Bye 2–6
10 Fri, Sept 2 at Toronto Argonauts 29–16 Win 19,593 3–6
11 Sat, Sept 10 vs. Toronto Argonauts 28–6 Win 25,263 4–6
12 Sat, Sept 17 at Calgary Stampeders 32–19 Win 29,929 5–6
13 Sat, Sept 24 at Saskatchewan Roughriders 42–5 Win 30,048 6–6
14 Fri, Sept 30 vs. Edmonton Eskimos 33–24 Win 50,213 7–6
15 Sat, Oct 8 vs. Calgary Stampeders 33–31 Win 30,622 8–6
16 Sun, Oct 16 at Saskatchewan Roughriders 29–18 Win 30,048 9–6
17 Sat, Oct 22 at Hamilton Tiger-Cats 42–10 Loss 25,536 9–7
18 Sat, Oct 29 vs. Edmonton Eskimos 29–20 Win 29,749 10–7
19 Sat, Nov 5 vs. Montreal Alouettes 43–1 Win 35,454 11–7
 #  Games played with colour uniforms.
 #  Games played with white uniforms.
 #  Games played with alternate uniforms.

Roster

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2011 BC Lions roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Slotbacks

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Injured list

Practice roster


Italics indicate import players.
Roster updated 2011-11-28
Depth chartTransactions
46 active

More rosters

Coaching staff

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2011 BC Lions staff
Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

 

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

Coaching Staff
More CFL staffs

Player stats

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Passing

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Player Att. Comp % Yards TD INT Rating
Travis Lulay 583 342 58.7 4,815 32 11 95.8
Jarious Jackson 39 18 46.2 263 1 2 55.8
Mike Reilly 2 1 50.0 12 0 0 68.8
Paul McCallum 2 0 00.0 0 0 2 −414.6

[12]

Rushing

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Player Att. Yards Avg. TD Fumbles
Andrew Harris 96 458 4.8 1 2
Travis Lulay 47 391 8.3 3 1
Tim Brown 64 376 5.9 5 3
Jamal Robertson 63 296 4.7 3 0
Shawn Gore 12 85 7.1 0 1
Jarious Jackson 22 80 3.6 0 2
Kierrie Johnson 7 53 7.6 0 0

[13]

Receiving

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Player No. Yards Avg. Long TD
Geroy Simon 84 1,350 16.1 63 8
Arland Bruce 58 859 14.8 100 8
Shawn Gore 60 836 13.9 51 1
Akeem Foster 33 593 18.0 56 6
Andrew Harris 30 395 13.2 63 7
Kierrie Johnson 20 235 11.8 29 0

[14]

Awards and records

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2011 CFL All-Stars

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Western All-Stars

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Milestones

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  • On September 10, 2011, Lions receiver Geroy Simon became the franchise's all-time touchdowns leader when he scored his 88th touchdown as a BC Lion, surpassing Willie Fleming.[15]

Playoffs

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Schedule

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Week Game Date Time Opponent Score Result Attendance
20 Bye
21 West Final Nov 20 1:30 PM PST vs. Edmonton Eskimos 40–23 Win 41,313
22 Grey Cup Nov 27 3:30 PM PST Winnipeg Blue Bombers 34–23 Win 54,313
 #  Games played with colour uniforms.

Bracket

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November 13:
Division Semi-Finals
November 20:
Division Finals
November 27: 99th Grey Cup
BC Place Stadium – Vancouver
         
E3 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 3
East
E1 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 19
E3 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 52*
E2 Montreal Alouettes 44
E1 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23
W1 BC Lions 34
W2 Edmonton Eskimos 23
West
W1 BC Lions 40
W3 Calgary Stampeders 19
W2 Edmonton Eskimos 33

*-Team won in Overtime.


West Final

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Edmonton at BC
1 234Total
Eskimos 0 3614 23
• Lions 6 2077 40
Winnipeg vs. BC
1 234Total
Blue Bombers 0 6314 23
• Lions 11 31010 34

References

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  1. ^ a b "Restoring the roar: B.C. Lions win 99th Grey Cup". CFL.ca. 27 November 2011. Archived from the original on 29 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  2. ^ "BC Lions Game Notes" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
  3. ^ Grey Cup champion B.C. Lions named team of the year
  4. ^ B.C. Lions named The Canadian Press's team of the year
  5. ^ "B.C. Lions to Train in Kamloops!". Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2011-02-05.
  6. ^ "Lions clinch playoff spot: post-season trivia". Archived from the original on 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
  7. ^ a b https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/lions-caps-play-bc-place-waiting-game/article1884193/ Lions, 'Caps play B.C. Place waiting game
  8. ^ "BC Lions :: Official Site of the BC Lions". Archived from the original on 2011-02-10. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
  9. ^ http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=188882771141305 [user-generated source]
  10. ^ "Lions pick Harvard's Iannuzzi 6th overall". Archived from the original on 2015-05-26. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  11. ^ "Ellis picked by Lions in Supplemental Draft". Archived from the original on 2012-09-21. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  12. ^ "Passing 2011 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". www.cfl.ca. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  13. ^ "Rushing 2011 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". www.cfl.ca. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  14. ^ "Receiving 2011 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". www.cfl.ca. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  15. ^ "Lions bid adieu to Empire with win over Argos". Archived from the original on 2012-05-13. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
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