# 2002 BC Lions season

The 2002 BC Lions finished in third place in the West Division with a 10–8 record. After beginning the season with a 1–5 record, general manager Adam Rita fired head coach Steve Buratto and coached the team on an interim basis for the rest of the year. He guided the group to a 9–3 turnaround which led to an appearance in the West-Semi Final. Despite the turnaround, Rita was fired as general manager/coach after the playoff loss.

## Offseason
### CFL Draft

| Rd | Pick | Player | Position | School |
| 1 | 4 | Jason Clermont | SB | Regina |
| 1 | 6 | Paul Cheng | DE | SFU |
| 2 | 17 | Brett Romberg | OL | Miami |
| 3 | 22 | Chris Gayton | LB | Kentucky |
| 4 | 31 | John Williams | RB | Edinboro |
| 5 | 41 | Atnas Maeko | WR | St. Mary's |
| 6 | 53 | Joel Orel | WR | Manitoba |

## Preseason

| Week | Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Record |
| B | June 12 | at Calgary Stampeders | 24–8 | Loss | 0–1 |
| C | June 18 | vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 27–4 | Win | 1–1 |

## Regular season
### Season standings

West Division :
| Team | GP | W | L | T | OTL | PF | PA | Pts |
| Edmonton Eskimos | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 516 | 450 | 26 | Details |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 566 | 421 | 24 | Details |
| BC Lions | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 480 | 399 | 20 | Details |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 435 | 393 | 18 | Details |
| Calgary Stampeders | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 438 | 509 | 14 | Details |

### Season schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Record |
| 1 | June 25 | at Montreal Alouettes | 27–21 | Loss | 0–1 |
| 1 | June 29 | at Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 27–15 | Loss | 0–2 |
| 2 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | 0–2 |
| 3 | July 9 | vs. Toronto Argonauts | 30–22 | Loss | 0–3 |
| 4 | July 18 | vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 51–21 | Win | 1–3 |
| 5 | July 26 | at Edmonton Eskimos | 37–27 | Loss | 1–4 |
| 6 | August 1 | vs. Calgary Stampeders | 23–15 | Loss | 1–5 |
| 7 | August 9 | at Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 29–21 | Win | 2–5 |
| 8 | August 15 | vs. Ottawa Renegades | 22–18 | Win | 3–5 |
| 9 | August 21 | vs. Montreal Alouettes | 48–37 | Win | 4–5 |
| 10 | August 30 | at Ottawa Renegades | 28–4 | Win | 5–5 |
| 11 | Sept 8 | at Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 44–28 | Loss | 5–6 |
| 12 | Sept 13 | vs. Edmonton Eskimos | 23–18 | Win | 6–6 |
| 13 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | 6–6 |
| 14 | Sept 27 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 38–28 | Win | 7–6 |
| 15 | Oct 5 | at Toronto Argonauts | 23–18 | Win | 8–6 |
| 16 | Oct 11 | vs. Calgary Stampeders | 37–14 | Win | 9–6 |
| 17 | Oct 20 | at Saskatchewan Roughriders | 13–11 | Loss | 9–7 |
| 18 | Oct 26 | at Calgary Stampeders | 16–15 | Loss | 9–8 |
| 19 | Nov 1 | vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders | 28–3 | Win | 10–8 |

## Player stats
### Passing

| Player | Att. | Comp | % | Yards | TD | INT | Rating |
| Damon Allen | 474 | 268 | 56.5 | 3987 | 22 | 10 | 90.9 |
| Rickey Foggie | 36 | 13 | 36.1 | 235 | 1 | 3 | – |
| Geroy Simon | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 71 | 1 | 0 | 158.3 |
| Ortege Jenkins | 5 | 1 | 20.0 | 42 | 0 | 1 | – |
| Gus Ornstein | 2 | 1 | 50.0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | – |

### Rushing

| Player | Att. | Yards | Avg. | Longest | TD |
| Sean Millington | 170 | 740 | 4.4 | 37 | 14 |
| Damon Allen | 70 | 479 | 6.8 | 22 | 4 |
| Lyle Green | 60 | 343 | 5.7 | 29 | 3 |
| Willie Hurst | 55 | 288 | 5.2 | 31 | 1 |
| Chris Wright | 25 | 82 | 3.3 | 12 | 0 |

### Receiving

| Player | No. | Yards | Avg. | Long | TD |
| Ryan Thelwell | 48 | 815 | 17.0 | 53 | 5 |
| Alfred Jackson | 39 | 785 | 20.1 | 109 | 7 |
| Geroy Simon | 50 | 754 | 15.1 | 42 | 2 |
| Jason Clermont | 46 | 735 | 16.0 | 41 | 6 |
| Bret Anderson | 28 | 406 | 14.6 | 33 | 1 |

## Awards and records

* Jason Clermont, Outstanding Rookie

### 2002 CFL All-Stars

* Brendan Ayanbadejo, Linebacker
* Eric Carter, Cornerback
* Barrin Simpson, Linebacker

### Western Division All-Star Selections

* Brendan Ayanbadejo, Linebacker
* Eric Carter, Cornerback
* Steve Hardin, Offensive Guard
* Carl Kidd, Linebacker
* Derick (Bo) Lewis, Defensive Back
* Herman Smith, Defensive End
* Barrin Simpson, Linebacker
* Jamie Taras, Centre

## Playoffs
### West Semi-Final

| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 30 |
| BC Lions | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |