1976 BC Lions season

1976 BC Lions season
General managerBob Ackles
Head coachCal Murphy
Home fieldEmpire Stadium
Results
Record5–9–2
Division place4th, West
Playoff finishdid not qualify
Uniform

The 1976 BC Lions finished in fourth place in the Western Conference with a 5–9–2 record and failed to make the playoffs.

The Lions platooned quarterbacks in 1976 in order to find the replacement for Don Moorhead who had 3 knee surgeries in two years and retired in July. These quarterbacks included journeymen Eric Guthrie, Rick Cassata, and UCLA star John Sciarra. However, the result was the Lions had by far the league's worst passing attack with only 2476 yards in passing offence and 46% completion percentage.

After only one win in the final 10 games, head coach Cal Murphy was fired in December after 18 months as head coach and a 10–14–2 record.

Defensive End Bill Baker won the Schenley award for Most Outstanding Defensive Player and rookie John Sciarra (who was converted from quarterback to slotback early in the season and was the Lions top receiver) won the Schenley Rookie award with 563 yards receiving.

Centre Al Wilson and Baker made the CFL All-star team for the second consecutive season.

Uniform changes included new orange-coloured facemask (the Lions were the first CFL team to introduce a coloured facemask, two years after the Kansas City Chiefs and then-San Diego Chargers did the same in the NFL), a double orange helmet stripe and new trimmed numbers to complete the look that most fans remember from the 1970s

Harry Spring is elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in the Builder category.

Offseason

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CFL Draft

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Round Pick Player Position School

Preseason

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Game Date Opponent Results Venue Attendance
Score Record

Regular season

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Season standings

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Western Football Conference
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Saskatchewan Roughriders 16 11 5 0 427 238 22
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 16 10 6 0 384 316 20
Edmonton Eskimos 16 9 6 1 311 367 19
BC Lions 16 5 9 2 308 336 12
Calgary Stampeders 16 2 12 2 316 422 6

[1]

Season schedule

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Week Game Date Opponent Results
Score Record
1 1 July 22 vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders L 8–35 0–1
2 2 July 29 vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats W 39–14 1–1
3 3 Aug 4 at Edmonton Eskimos L 12–19 1–2
4 4 Aug 11 at Calgary Stampeders W 13–9 2–2
5 5 Aug 17 vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers W 22–14 3–2
6 6 Aug 24 vs. Ottawa Rough Riders W 23–11 4–2
7 7 Aug 30 at Montreal Alouettes L 9–30 4–3
8 8 Sept 6 at Saskatchewan Roughriders L 14–17 4–4
9 9 Sept 12 vs. Calgary Stampeders W 30–15 5–4
10 10 Sept 19 at Winnipeg Blue Bombers L 20–22 5–5
11 Bye
12 11 Oct 2 vs. Edmonton Eskimos T 27–27 5–5–1
13 12 Oct 11 at Edmonton Eskimos L 12–16 5–6–1
14 13 Oct 17 vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders L 15–28 5–7–1
15 14 Oct 24 at Calgary Stampeders T 31–31 5–7–2
16 15 Oct 30 at Toronto Argonauts L 16–25 5–8–2
17 16 Nov 6 vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers L 17–23 5–9–2

[2]

Offensive leaders

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Player Passing yds Rushing yds Receiving yds TD
Eric Guthrie 1399 59 0 1
Rick Cassata 984 0 0 0
Mike Strickland 1119 358 11
Lou Harris 784 166 7
John Sciarra 105 92 563 1
Merced Solis 0 329 1
Jim Young 0 327 2

Awards and records

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1976 CFL All-Stars

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References

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  1. ^ "CFL.ca". Archived from the original on 2009-09-23. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  2. ^ "British Columbia Lions All-Time Canadian Football League (CFL) Records". Archived from the original on 2009-03-11. Retrieved 2009-03-08.


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