Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell reacts after the Stampders defeated the Edmonton Eskimos to win the CFL's Western Final football game in Calgary, Alberta, November 23, 2014.TODD KOROL/Reuters
On the day after the Calgary Stampeders qualified for the Grey Cup with a resounding win over their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Eskimos, Bo Levi Mitchell was standing in front of the assembled microphones, answering the obligatory look-ahead questions about Sunday's championship game against Hamilton.
"Damn, there's a lot of you all here," said Mitchell in that familiar drawl of his, a smile slowly playing across his face. "Must be no hockey today."
Gotcha. For one week anyway, Mitchell's team will push the improving Calgary Flames out of the spotlight, as the Stampeders chase their first Canadian Football League championship in six years. Mitchell, a 24-year-old quarterback from Katy, Tex., with disarming southern charm, won the starter's job in training camp over the more experienced Drew Tate and never looked back.
The Stamps' brain trust is peopled with ex-quarterbacks, including head coach John Hufnagel and offensive co-ordinator Dave Dickenson (Grey Cup MVP in 2006), which has helped Mitchell learn and improve.
Moreover, prior to this season, Mitchell made a commitment to further upgrade his understanding of the CFL game by attending, at his own expense, an off-season quarterback camp run by former Stampeders' QB Jeff Garcia in California. Garcia won a Grey Cup MVP award in 1998, and went on to make four Pro Bowl appearances as an National Football League starter.
This regular season, his third in Calgary, Mitchell was the epitome of consistency, connecting for 22 touchdown passes against just eight interceptions – and then adding four more TDs in the playoff against Edmonton; he finished with a 146.8 quarterback rating and earned the league's offensive-player-of-the-week award. The 43 points scored by Calgary was the second-highest playoff point total in team history. He has a record of 16-2 as a CFL starter.
Mitchell attended Eastern Washington University near Spokane, where he played two seasons before signing with the Stampeders as a free agent in April, 2012. In 2010, he led EWU to an NCAA division championship (formerly known as Division 1-AA) with a 20-19 win over the University of Delaware, and was selected the game's outstanding player. He also won a state high school championship in football-mad Texas.
So Bo clearly knows winning.
The Grey Cup may not be the Super Bowl, and a lower-tier college championship is not the BCS title game, but championships matter to athletes, whatever happens to be at stake.
"It's something you work for and take pride in," said Mitchell. "This is what we do. This is what we love. Winning the championship is the biggest deal. It's what you imagine yourself doing when you're young, acting like you're Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas – just going out there and winning the big game."
According to running back Jon Cornish, what sets Mitchell apart from other QBs is his consistency.
"Bo is a champion," Cornish said. "He's proved that at the lower levels, as a lot of guys have. I think a lot of people don't give him as much credit as he's due."
While many other teams were derailed by quarterback injuries this year, Mitchell was the reliable glue that kept the Stampeders offence clicking all season long. He didn't make his first CFL start until July of last year, but he was on the roster the last time the Stamps were in the Grey Cup two seasons ago, and threw a touchdown pass in relief in a losing effort.
Mitchell found the hoopla around that Grey Cup week difficult, but not for the reasons you think. "I had broken ribs, so it was tough just getting through practice," said Mitchell.
The team's focus on getting to the Grey Cup began, he said, when the Stamps were upset by Saskatchewan in last year's Western Division final. "It's tough when you know you have the talent and when you know you have the best team in the league, and don't finish it," said Mitchell. "So in our minds, we made sure that every single game was important to us. We played every single game this year as if it was the Grey Cup.
"In saying that, we're not going to treat the Grey Cup any differently. We're not going to act as if this game is any bigger than it is. It's all that matters and it's what we're judged on, but from the first kickoff, we've got to understand it's just another football game. We've got to go out and play it the same, and play our way … because we're playing a very good, tough football team. It's going to be a good game."