On July 14, 1994, fans attending the CFL game at Winnipeg Stadium were in for quite the night. In a rematch of the previous year’s Grey Cup, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers hosted the Edmonton Eskimos. Edmonton had beaten Winnipeg in that game and were the defending Grey Cup champions. No doubt the Winnipeg faithful were eager for revenge.
The game featured two of the CFL’s best quarterbacks at the time. Edmonton’s offence was led by Damon Allen. Leading the charge for Winnipeg was Matt Dunigan. Two future hall of famers.
Dunigan’s go-to receiver on this night was clearly Alfred Jackson. Jackson, who previously played on defence, caught seven passes for 325 yards. He ended up scoring four touchdowns in the game. Winnipeg was up only 7-3 after the first quarter. It was during the second quarter when Dunigan and the Bombers really ramped up the aerial attack. Dunigan had already passed for over 300 yards by halftime. The dominance continued throughout the second half. After the final whistle, the game was over.
Final score. Winnipeg 50 Edmonton 35. And a new record. Matt Dunigan passed for 713 yards, breaking the CFL record for most yards passed in a single game and easily surpassing Danny Barrett’s 601-yard record set just one year earlier.
Here are some of the quotes that appeared in the newspapers that help put the spectacular performance in perspective:
“That’s a lot of yards. Oh my, that’s a lot. That’s about as well as I’ve ever seen anyone play.”
– Winnipeg Head Coach Cal Murphy
“That was impressive. When Matt is hot, he is dynamite.”
– Edmonton Head Coach Ron Lancaster, a former quarterback himself
“Something happened out there. I don’t know what it was. They were catching everything. I was throwing everything. It just happened.”
– Matt Dunigan
“They were ungodly numbers…I’ve never seen anything like that.”
– Winnipeg Offensive Coordinator Mike Kelly
By the way, the record still stands.
One of my favourite quarterbacks to play the game is Matt Dunigan. His style of play was so exciting to watch. The man played quarterback like a linebacker.
I was over the moon when he joined the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1996. After one particular game, we fans were invited onto the field to meet the players and get autographs.
Of course, I like everyone else made a beeline towards Dunigan. I was a tall, lanky first year university student. When I finally made it to the table where Dunigan was sitting, he looked up and remarked at my height. He then stood up and came to the other side of the table to stand next to me. Towering over him by several inches he looked up and said something along the lines of “that’s how I like my receivers.”
Sources:
Winnipeg Sun, 15 July 1994
Leave a Reply