# 1976 Ottawa Rough Riders season

The 1976 Ottawa Rough Riders finished in first place in the Eastern Conference with a 9–6–1 record and won the 64th Grey Cup. This would be the last time in their franchise history that they would win the Grey Cup. The Ottawa Redblacks would subsequently win the 104th Grey Cup game at the conclusion of the 2016 CFL season, ending a 40-year Grey Cup drought for the City of Ottawa, which begun subsequent to their Grey Cup victory in 1976 (this ended what was arguably the longest Grey Cup drought in the CFL, though the City of Ottawa was without a CFL team between 1997 and 2001 and again between 2006 and 2013).

## Offseason
### 1976 CFL Draft

In the first round of the 1976 CFL Draft, Ottawa selected Bill Hatanaka. Bob O'Billovich was hired as an assistant coach.

## Preseason

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record |
| A | June 28 | vs. Edmonton Eskimos | W 40–25 | 1–0 |
| B | July 5 | vs. Montreal Alouettes | L 22–26 | 1–1 |
| C | July 8 | at Calgary Stampeders | L 37–39 | 1–2 |
| D | July 14 | at Toronto Argonauts | W 20–9 | 2–2 |

## Regular season
### Standings

Eastern Football Conference :
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pts |
| Ottawa Rough Riders | 16 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 411 | 346 | 19 |
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 269 | 348 | 16 |
| Montreal Alouettes | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 305 | 273 | 15 |
| Toronto Argonauts | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 289 | 354 | 15 |

### Schedule

| Week | Game | Date | Opponent | Result | Record |
| 1 | 1 | July 21 | at Hamilton Tiger-Cats | W 42–16 | 1–0 |
| 2 | 2 | July 27 | vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers | W 38–27 | 2–0 |
| 3 | 3 | Aug 3 | vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders | L 16–29 | 2–1 |
| 4 | 4 | Aug 11 | at Toronto Argonauts | W 27–16 | 3–1 |
| 4 | 5 | Aug 16 | vs. Montreal Alouettes | W 45–9 | 4–1 |
| 5 | 6 | Aug 21 | at Edmonton Eskimos | W 20–18 | 5–1 |
| 6 | 7 | Aug 24 | at BC Lions | L 11–23 | 5–2 |
| 7 | 8 | Sept 1 | vs. Toronto Argonauts | W 40–27 | 6–2 |
| 8 | 9 | Sept 11 | vs. Montreal Alouettes | W 21–13 | 7–2 |
| 9 | 10 | Sept 19 | vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats | L 21–28 | 7–3 |
| 10 | 11 | Sept 26 | at Montreal Alouettes | L 2–23 | 7–4 |
| 11 | 12 | Oct 2 | at Toronto Argonauts | T 20–20 | 7–4–1 |
| 12 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 13 | 13 | Oct 16 | vs. Calgary Stampeders | W 37–36 | 8–4–1 |
| 14 | 14 | Oct 24 | at Hamilton Tiger-Cats | W 48–10 | 9–4–1 |
| 15 | 15 | Oct 31 | vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats | L 6–25 | 9–5–1 |
| 16 | 16 | Nov 6 | at Montreal Alouettes | L 17–26 | 9–6–1 |

## Postseason
### Playoffs

| Round | Date | Opponent | Result | Record |
| East Final | Nov 21 | vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats | W 17–15 | 1–0 |
| Grey Cup | Nov 28 | vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders | W 23–20 | 2–0 |

### Grey Cup

In the final minute, Saskatchewan punted into a strong wind. Ottawa would have the ball on the Saskatchewan 35-yard line. With 44 seconds left, Ottawa quarterback Tom Clements passed to tight end Tony Gabriel, and Ottawa was at Saskatchewan's 20 yard line. The next pass would win the game, as Gabriel caught the ball in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.
| Teams | 1 Q | 2 Q | 3 Q | 4 Q | Final |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 0 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 20 |
| Ottawa Rough Riders | 10 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 23 |

## Player stats
### Passing

| Player | Attempts | Completions | Percentage | Yards | Touchdowns | Interceptions |
| Tom Clements | 327 | 196 | 59.9 | 2856 | 20 | 13 |
| Condredge Holloway | 106 | 59 | 55.7 | 973 | 9 | 6 |

### Receiving

| Player | Games Played | Receptions | Yards | Average | Long | Touchdowns |
| Jeff Avery | 16 | 21 | 338 | 16.1 | 62 | 2 |
| Tony Gabriel | 16 | 72 | 1320 | 18.3 | 62 | 14 |
| Art Green | | 53 | 508 | 9.6 | 31 | 2 |

### Rushing

| Player | Rushes | Yards | Average | Touchdowns | Long |
| Art Green | 234 | 1257 | 5.4 | 13 | 69 |

## Awards and honours

* CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Tony Gabriel (TE)
* Grey Cup Most Valuable Player, Tom Clements, (QB)
* Tom Clements, All-Eastern Quarterback
* Art Green, Running Back, CFL All-Star
* Tony Gabriel, Tight End, CFL All-Star
* Mark Kosmos, Linebacker, CFL All-Star
* Jim Reid, Fullback, Rookie of the Year Award