In 2025, the Saskatchewan Roughriders had a fairytale season, defeating the Montreal Alouettes in Winnipeg for their fifth Gray Cup victory in franchise history.
Although the team didn't win the CFL championship until mid-November, it was an earlier trip to Princess Auto Stadium that made them believe it was all possible.
“We lost to Winnipeg quite often in big games, so to say it wasn’t important for us to win the series against Winnipeg, I’d be lying.” O'Day told media in Regina.
“Winning the Labor Day (classic) and then winning the Banjo Bowl in Winnipeg, I think that's when we felt like, 'We're going to give it a try.' Back then it was just a matter of winning enough games to get into first place, and to do that a couple of weeks before the playoffs was a huge achievement.”
The Blue Bombers made their first of five straight Gray Cup appearances after defeating Saskatchewan in the Western final at Mosaic Stadium in 2019. The Roughriders then went 2-11 in the regular season and playoffs against Winnipeg from 2021 to 2024, including two Western Final losses.
However, Saskatchewan flipped the script in 2025, holding on to win the Labor Day Classic after briefly building a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter. Tevon Campbell sealed the 34-30 victory when he intercepted Zach Collaros on a two-point conversion and returned the ball for the score with 30 seconds left.
The following week, Campbell put in another monster performance at the Banjo Bowl as he recorded two of Saskatchewan's four interceptions from Zach Collaros and Chris Streveler to help secure a 21-13 victory.
It wasn't the prettiest win—the Roughriders settled for five field goals—but it didn't matter. It was Saskatchewan's first Banjo Bowl win since 2018 and it clinched the season series in favor of the Green and White, all but guaranteeing they won't have to return to Princess Auto Stadium in the postseason unless it's for the Gray Cup.
That's exactly what happened after the Roughriders beat the BC Lions in the Western final. After many disappointing trips to Manitoba's capital, O'Day will always remember his team's 25-17 championship win in Winnipeg over the Alouettes.
“After we hit that last pass, I don't want to say I blacked out, but it was chaos. We wanted to get on the field as quickly as possible because we were on top. You know the season is over, but you know you've just won the championship and there's elation, there's excitement, a little bit of relief, a lot of happiness,” he said.
“Then there's some kind of celebration, which I think everyone understands is important. These guys work so hard at what they do and the opportunity to celebrate a championship doesn't come around very often.”
For much of the past decade, the Blue Bombers have been the measuring stick for every other CFL team, including Saskatchewan.
After recording their best regular season record and winning their 112th Gray Cup, the Roughriders now take on that role as leaders.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders finished atop the West Division standings in 2025 with a 12-6 record, finishing first in the West Division for the first time since 2019. The team then defeated the Montreal Alouettes in the 112th Gray Cup in Winnipeg, the team's first championship in 12 years. Trevor Harris went 11-5 as a starter, throwing for 4,549 yards, 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
The Roughriders ranked second in net offense, second in net defense and third in turnover differential of plus eight. The club's leading rusher was AJ Ouellette with 1,222 yards, the leading receiver was KeSean Johnson with 1,159 yards, and the leading tackler was AJ Allen with 91 tackles. Saskatchewan ranked second in attendance with an average attendance of 28,427, up 2.7 per cent from the previous year.
