Two years ago, Beau Levi Mitchell was the backup quarterback for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Eastern Semi-Finals loss to the Montreal Alouettes. he didn't foresee that he would return to the Steel City.
“At a time when [then-senior assistant coach Scott Milanovich] benched me for a playoff game, did I get mad? Certainly. I am a multiple Gray Cup winner, defender. I wanted to make the playoffs no matter what happened.” Mitchell said.
“But I loved it when he showed me the evidence of why he does it. I knew he was a great coach – there's a reason he does what he does and I'm going to get better at playing football if I stay with him.”
Back-to-back 5,000-yard passing seasons later, Mitchell is the starter for the Ticats as the Black and Gold host the Als in the East final on Saturday. He experienced a career renaissance that few outside of Hamilton Stadium believed in.
“It takes a lot of trust from Scott. [Milanovich], [Orlondo Steinauer]Scott Mitchell and then myself and these guys who are going to keep their word as well, it definitely worked,” Mitchell said.
“I'm proud of us, how we turned things around. I did it because I believed in Scott in what he was trying to do. He was willing to get this opportunity to let me stay, I had the opportunity to come back and I jumped at it.”
After earning more than $500,000 in an injury-filled 2023, Mitchell stood by his words by agreeing to a $147,500 pay cut ahead of the 2024 season. ($357,500), then led the league with 5,451 passing yards and 32 touchdown passes. He raised $17,300 for the 2025 campaign. ($374,800) and again won the CFL passing crown with 5,296 yards and 36 touchdown passes.
Most importantly, Hamilton went from last place in the East Division at 7–11 in 2024, Milanovich's first season as head coach, to an 11–7 record and a first-place finish under his leadership in his second year. The Ticats are hosting the East Final for the first time since 2019.
Davis Alexander will lead Montreal into hostile territory on Saturday after missing both regular-season games against Hamilton. Milanovich was asked if the Als are a different team since he starts at QB.
“I don’t know what you want me to tell you, we know what they are capable of and we know what we are capable of,” the 52-year-old said. “We're more concerned about what we're doing.”
Alexander is performing his ideal performance as a starter at Hamilton Stadium. He is 12-0 to start his CFL career and is 11-0 in the regular season, a league record. Mitchell began his league days down three at 7–0 and also became the fastest QB in history to 100 wins, doing so in 143 starts.
“You know you're going to lose at some point, but you can't go through your entire career undefeated, so I don't think you feel the pressure of possibly losing,” Mitchell said. “He's got the record, it's his, all he can do is build on it. When defeat comes, it's going to be expected at some point. I'm sure that just builds confidence.”
The Tigercats (11-7) will host the Alouettes (11-8) in the Eastern final on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Hamilton Stadium, with kickoff scheduled for 3:00 p.m. The Als defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Eastern semi-finals, 42-33.while the Ticats were left on the sidelines after finishing atop the East Division standings.
The weather forecast in Hammer calls for a high of six degrees with a 30 percent chance of showers. The game will be broadcast on TSN, TSN2, CTV and RDS in Canada and CFL+ worldwide. Radio listeners can tune into TSN 690 in Montreal and the Ticats Audio Network.
