1979 Ottawa Rough Riders season

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The 1979 Ottawa Rough Riders finished in second place in the Eastern Conference with an 8–6–2 record. Prior to the 2015 season, the 1979 season was the last time that an Ottawa-based CFL team had a winning season.

In May 1979, Tom Clements was traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The Clements-Holloway quarterback combination would be no more. From 1975–78, under Holloway and Clements, the Rough Riders compiled a 38–24–2 record, which included two Eastern Division championships and a Grey Cup win in 1976 over Saskatchewan. This lent to the credence of the "two number-ones" stratagem and both quarterbacks' team-first attitude.^[1]

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Record
A	June 12	at Montreal Alouettes	36–20	Loss	0–1
B	June 18	vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers	13–12	Win	1–1
C	June 24	at Edmonton Eskimos	30–27	Win	2–1
D	July 4	vs. Toronto Argonauts	18–13	Loss	2–2

Regular season

Standings

**Eastern Football Conference**
Team	GP	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pts
Montreal Alouettes	16	11	4	1	351	284	23
Ottawa Rough Riders	16	8	6	2	349	315	18
Hamilton Tiger-Cats	16	6	10	0	280	338	12
Toronto Argonauts	16	5	11	0	234	352	10

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Record
1	July 11	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	30–19	Win	1–0
2	July 24	at Toronto Argonauts	31–2	Win	2–0
3	July 31	vs. Toronto Argonauts	18–16	Loss	2–1
4	Aug 8	at Calgary Stampeders	27–17	Loss	2–2
5	Aug 14	vs. Edmonton Eskimos	24–24	Tie	2–2–1
6	Aug 20	at Montreal Alouettes	32–14	Loss	2–3–1
7	Aug 29	vs. Montreal Alouettes	31–29	Win	3–3–1
8	Sept 3	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	16–9	Loss	3–4–1
9	Sept 8	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	44–4	Win	4–4–1
10	Sept 15	at Winnipeg Blue Bombers	22–19	Win	5–4–1
11	Sept 30	vs. Montreal Alouettes	29–29	Tie	5–4–2
12	Oct 7	at Saskatchewan Roughriders	20–19	Win	6–4–2
13	Oct 14	vs. BC Lions	28–26	Win	7–4–2
14	Oct 21	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	21–3	Loss	7–5–2
15	Oct 27	at Montreal Alouettes	24–8	Loss	7–6–2
16	Nov 3	vs. Toronto Argonauts	23–6	Win	8–6–2

^[2]

Postseason

Round	Date	Opponent	Score	Result	Record
East Semi-Final	Nov 11	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	29–26	Win	9–6–2
East Final	Nov 17	at Montreal Alouettes	17–6	Loss	9–7–2

Player stats

Passing

Player	Attempts	Completions	Completions	Percentage	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions
Condredge Holloway^[3]	238	128	53.8	1965	17	8

Receiving

Player	Games Played	Receptions	Yards	Average	Long	Touchdowns
Jeff Avery	15	27	402	14.9	53	4
Tony Gabriel^[4]	16	48	761	15.9	44	8

Awards and honours

Ron Foxx, Linebacker, CFL All-Star
Tony Gabriel, Tight End, CFL All-Star

References

^ "HISTORY >> CFL Legends >> Condredge Holloway | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
^ "Ottawa RedBlacks historical Canadian Football League (CFL) scores, schedules, and analytics". Archived from the original on 2009-03-13. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
^ "HISTORY >> CFL Legends >> Condredge Holloway | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
^ "HISTORY >> CFL Legends >> Tony Gabriel | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2017-08-23.