Saskatchewan Roughriders' general manager Jeremy O'Day knows the importance of routine as a former player, so he wants to help his players adjust in Winnipeg for the 112th Grey Cup.
"Everything is different. Every day of the week, day one during the regular season was the same routine. You'd walk in, you'd have breakfast, you know where the coffee was, you know where to go get taped, and you know where the bathrooms were on the floor of the meeting rooms. When you first get started, everything is brand new," O'Day said to voice of the Green and White, Dave Thomas.
"What we do is we try to alleviate as many of the questions that they have as possible. You really put yourself in their shoes, figuring out what they would be looking for, making sure that simple things like coffee are available, and providing them with a list of places they can order food from, whether it's in the hotel or local restaurants. Dan Farthing is involved with that, to create some healthy choices for the guys to eat. Everything's changed. You're living out of a hotel. Most of the guys have a roommate, so you've got a roommate that you're with, that you're normally not with, and it's a little bit of adjustment. Usually after day one or day two, you're focused in and you've figured everything out."
Last year, the Riders finished second in the West Division with a 9-8-1 record, and beat the B.C. Lions 28-19 in the West Semi-Final before getting eliminated by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the West Final 38-22. In 2025, Saskatchewan finished with a 12-6 record and finished first in the West. With first place, the Riders faced the Lions in the West Final at Mosaic Stadium and defeated them 24-21. The Roughriders face the Montreal Alouettes in the 112th Grey Cup. The last time Saskatchewan was there was in 2013 when the Riders defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23.
"We made the decision after last year, we wanted to bring a lot of our guys back, as many as we could, and add a few additions that we did in the offseason. We felt like we had some momentum going," O'Day explained.
"Last year, Corey [Mace's] first year as a head coach, Marc [Mueller's] first year as a coordinator, Corey's first time calling it for our team, so we felt like that year was very valuable for us. Going into this year, they could understand the schemes, they'd understand what to expect. We really felt like we had some momentum coming out of last year, even though it didn't end the way we liked it."
O'Day elaborated on what it means for Saskatchewan-born players like Logan Ferland, Jaxon Ford, Jorgen Hus, D'Sean Mimbs, and Mitchell Picton to be on the team and in the Grey Cup.
"I think anytime you go to a Grey Cup, naturally you start to think about the players that were from the province that you're in. You can see it all in their eyes after the game, what it means when they know that they're going to the Grey Cup and what it means from their perspective, their family's perspective," O'Day said.
"We've always said it, as long as I've been here, that the fans deserve more championships, they deserve more Grey Cups because they've supported us so well for so long. That's our way of giving back and I feel that this is a great opportunity for us to do that."
The 112th Grey Cup between Saskatchewan and Montreal goes on Sunday at 5 p.m. Make sure to catch the 620 CKRM Rider Broadcast Network pre-game show at 2 p.m. featuring Dave Thomas, Luc Mullinder, Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk, and Wes Cates.
