7 most exciting three-minute warning games of 2024

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The 2024 CFL season saw plenty of fab finishes in a bevy of games that were in doubt until the drama of the final moments had played out.

According to year-end stats, 49 of the 81 regular season games played had teams separated by a single score when the three-minute warning was given.

And lots of those games featured a number of lead changes and/or some memorable occurrences inside the warning.

Here are my top seven three-minute drill finishes from the 2024 season.

7. WEEK 21 TORONTO AT EDMONTON

They're not booing, they're "rooooouging."

That this game ended in overtime on a punt single would not be my favourite thing in the world, if I'm honest, but it doesn't take away from the fireworks that the final three minutes presented.

If I cheat a bit and include an Edmonton touchdown with three and a half minutes on the clock, you've got three lead changes and then a drive to tie as this one closed out.

The Elks took a 23-20 lead with a Justin Rankin rushing touchdown. The Argos drove back down the field when quarterback Nick Arbuckle threw a swing pass to Deonta McMahon for a nine-yard TD to put Toronto up 27-23 with under two minutes to go.

Then, we get the kind of Tre Ford magic that Elks' fans hope to see on a regular basis in 2025 and beyond.

The 26-year-old quarterback threw two perfectly-placed bombs of 50 (to Eugene Lewis) and then 40 yards (Zach Mathis), the second one getting the Elks a touchdown and a 30-27 lead.

By the time Arbuckle got the ball back in his hands, he had 26 seconds to work with, scrimmaging from the Toronto 38. Just 22 seconds later they were at the Edmonton nine-yard line, kicking the field goal that would send the game to overtime.

6. WEEK 16 HAMILTON AT TORONTO

They've got Lieggs. They know how to use him.

After beating the Toronto Argonauts twice already, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats secured a three-game sweep in exhilarating fashion, when kicker Marc Liegghio connected on a 47-yard attempt with zeroes on the clock, giving the Ticats a 33-31 win at BMO Field.

Prior to that moment, and inside the three minute warning, Hamilton had taken the lead with another Liegghio field goal, and then lost that lead when his Toronto counterpart Liram Hajrullahu connected from 29 yards to put the Argos up top by a score of 31-30. That field goal came just moments after Argos quarterback Chad Kelly overthrew a wide open DaVaris Daniels in the Hamilton end zone.

The Boatmen had left 56 seconds on the clock after that Hajrullahu field goal, and that was enough for Hamilton quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell to move his team the 35 yards they needed to put Liegghio in range for his game-winner.

5. WEEK 2 SASKATCHEWAN AT HAMILTON

The immaculate deflection.

A fortuitous bounce for the Roughriders helped them sneak out of Hamilton with a 33-30 win, capping a wild final three minutes that saw the Riders come back to shock the 'Cats, who'd been in control most of the game.

Trailing by a score of 30-23 and facing a second-and-seventeen from their own 15-yard line, quarterback Trevor Harris hit receiver Jerreth Sterns for a clutch conversion catch. Harris kept hitting receivers on the way down the field, finding Kian Schaffer-Baker in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown strike with less than a minute to go.

With 30 seconds on the clock, Hamilton quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell delivered a short, hot pass to receiver Tim White, but the ball bounced off White's hands and up into the air where Saskatchewan's C.J. Avery snatched it, giving the Roughriders the ball on the Hamilton 37.

Kicker Brett Lauther finished things off with a 43-yard field on the last play of the game.

4. WEEK 4 HAMILTON AT OTTAWA

It ain't over 'til it's over. And even then, just give it another sec.

With the Ticats leading by a score of 16-15, the REDBLACKS put together a touchdown drive to take a 21-16 lead when quarterback Dru Brown hit receiver Justin Hardy in the end zone with two minutes on the clock.

When Ottawa missed on the two-point convert attempt, it gave Hamilton a chance to put together a winning touchdown drive and it appeared as though they'd done it, with Bo Levi Mitchell firing a TD strike to rookie Shemar Bridges with only 28 seconds remaining.

Down by two, and facing a third-and-one from the Hamilton 49-yard line, Brown found Bralon Addison at the Hamilton 41, with Addison diving to the 38 with three seconds remaining.

Ottawa kicker Lewis Ward took it from there, splitting the uprights from 45, giving the REDBLACKS a 24-22 victory.

3. WEEK 13 WINNIPEG AT SASKATCHEWAN

We're all in a glass case of emotion.

Inside the three minute warning, the Blue Bombers held a 32-27 lead over the Roughriders. That lead was then stretched to 35-27 when Winnipeg kicker Sergio Castillo connected for a 56-yard field goal.

The Riders followed that by driving to the point where they were scrimmaging from the Winnipeg 27-yard line with just 29 seconds to play. But it was third and six, the Bombers blitzed just about everybody when Sasky quarterback Trevor Harris called for the ball. Under a torrent of pressure, Harris lofted a deep middle shot that a leaping Samuel Emilus pulled down at the one-yard line.

A touchdown plunge by Harris followed, but the two-point convert attempt was foiled by Winnipeg linebacker Tony Jones, so the Riders trailed by two with 14 seconds remaining.

After recovering an onside kick, Saskatchewan's hopes appeared dashed when Harris' next pass was picked off by defensive back Evan Holm. But wait a sec. A pass interference call gave the Riders one last shot and when kicker Brett Lauther's 60-yard attempt passed over the line of scrimmage, it was travelling dead straight down the middle.

But five yards short. Winnipeg hangs on, 35-33.

A whole lot of living and dying was done in those final three minutes.

2. WEEK 20 OTTAWA AT TORONTO

Do you believe in miracles?! Maybe! But, ultimately, not at this time!

It was 38-12 for the Argos when the three minute warning hit in this one. And though the REDBLACKS were scrimmaging first and goal from the Toronto seven-yard line, what of it? Game's way over, yeah?

It's absolutely bonkers to think that despite trailing by 26 points inside the warning, the Ottawa REDBLACKS' offence would have the ball with a chance to put together a touchdown drive to tie things up in the final few seconds.

Ottawa scored a touchdown and completed a two-point convert to make the score 38-20. Then, they recovered an onside kick at the Toronto 51-yard line. They marched in for a TD and another two-point convert.

With the score now 38-28 – and with just over two minutes remaining – the REDBLACKS executed and recovered another onside kick, this time at their own 52. Wait, what? TWO onside kicks? That's like seeing two Loch Ness Monsters nevermind one.

After collecting a field goal to make the score 38-31, Ottawa tried a third straight onsider, only this time Toronto's Daniel Adeboboye made the recovery.

Yet it wasn't over until it was over. A two-and-out by the Argos gave the REDBLACKS the ball once more, scrimmaging from their own 12 yard line with 30 seconds to play.

Four plays later – and with four laterals on the final play – Ottawa had a first down at the Toronto 38-yard line. But no time left.

Nearly a miracle. A 'nearacle,' if you will.

1. WEEK 21 WINNIPEG AT MONTREAL

The wind was angry that day, my friends.

I mean, it was just other-worldly, the way things played out that afternoon in Montreal. The stuff of legend.

Trailing the Alouettes by a score of 27-25, and only 75 seconds left on the clock, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers faced third-and-ten from the Montreal 53. Bombers head coach Mike O'Shea felt he had to give kicker Sergio Castillo a shot at a 61-yarder to take the lead. Castillo had made two 60-yard kicks earlier in the season.

But this one would be a real prayer, seeing as how a pretty decent wind was pushing straight into Castillo's face.

After he missed – not by much, it should be pointed out – the Alouettes were looking good to do no worse than run a couple of plays and then hoof it with that wind at punter Joseph Zema's back. That's how they played it.

And that's when it happened.

As Zema readied to punt from inside his own 10-yard line, TSN play-by-play man Marshall Ferguson exclaimed: "All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the wind cranks up like crazy and the flags are completely twisting."

You could see a torrent of leaves race from left to right across your TV screen and you could hear the crowd gasp as well as the wind buffeting the sideline microphones.

The play clock was draining. Montreal did not have a timeout remaining. So, Zema kicked and the wind that seconds previously would have been his buddy was now his chief enemy and it knocked the stuffing out of his punt. It went out of bounds at the Montreal 44-yard line.

Two plays later, with the wind now at his back, but with a hard rain falling, Castillo crushed a 50-yarder to give Winnipeg a 28-27 walk-off win, clinching first place in the West.

I'd never before seen anything like that.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Week 21 | Hamilton at Ottawa: Week 21 was wild. This is the third game from that week I've included here. The REDBLACKS win by stopping the Ticats three times at the goal line to end it.

Week 12 | Saskatchewan at Toronto: A weirdo of a finish. The Riders converted a critical second-and-17 from their own one-yard line with less than a minute to play in a tie game. But that play was nullified by them calling a timeout just prior to the snap. The Argos win on a last-play single on a wide field goal.

Week 4 | Winnipeg at Calgary: The Bombers tie it with 40 seconds to play. The Stampeders get an end zone pick by Demerio Houston in overtime and win it on a 52-yard field goal from Rene Paredes.

Week 6 | Ottawa at Edmonton: The Elks tie it with eight seconds left but Edmonton's Boris Bede pops the ensuing kickoff out of bounds. From there, Ottawa's Dru Brown completes a 29-yarder to Kalil Pimpleton and kicker Lewis Ward hits from 38 yards to give Ottawa a 37-34 victory.

Week 17 | Hamilton at BC: The Ticats drove the field for a go-ahead touchdown with a minute left in the game. They connected on a two-point convert as well and that was a good thing, considering that the Lions then marched right back to kick a game-tying field goal, rather than a game-winner. Hamilton went on to score a major to take the victory in overtime.