Bo Levi Mitchell has a chance to upstage Joe Theismann in Grey Cup

Bo Levi Mitchell does not think the pressure of being a first-year starter will get to him in Sunday’s Grey Cup.
The Calgary Stampeders quarterback will try to gain the upper hand, almost literally, against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Sunday’s CFL championship game here in Vancouver.
But Mitchell, 24, is used to excelling on football’s big stages.
“I think I’ve already dealt with (pressure),” he said Thursday following a Stampeders luncheon with media. “I’ve showed I can play the way I play, especially in the big games. I don’t really think there’s a game out there that’s too big for me. It’s the confidence that I have in the guys around me. It makes it so easy when I have guys around me that I know and trust.”
Still, Mitchell added, he can’t compare Sunday’s contest to his personal experiences.
“It’s a professional-level championship game,” he said. “Obviously, I’ve played in a state championship and won, I’ve played in a college championship and won, but you can’t compare it to anything, because it’s professional.”
Mitchell guided his hometown Katy, Tex., high school squad to the state title in 2007 and went on play collegiately at Southern Methodist and Eastern Washington. In 201, he led Eastern Washington to the NCAA Division I FCS national championship with a 20-19 come-from-behind victory over Delaware. It was Eastern Washington’s first-ever national crown in football.
After signing as a free agent with the Stampeders, he spent two seasons in third-string and backup roles. This season, he won his first seven games as a starter, tying former Stamp Jeff Garcia’s CFL record.
He has dressed for 17 games (14 starts), while battling injury, and completed 264 of 417 passes (63.3%) for 3,389 yards and 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He led all CFL quarterbacks with a 98.3 pass-efficiency rating while also carrying the ball 35 times for 232 yards and four touchdowns.
Pressure or no pressure Sunday, he feels very fortunate to be where he is.
“I’m very blessed to have the teammates that I do around me and my coaching staff,” he said. “I don’t think any guy in their first year as a starter has ever walked into the situation I’ve walked into.”
Actually, Mitchell was mistaken on that point.
In 1971, rookie Joe Theismann quarterbacked the Toronto Argonauts to the Grey Cup, when the game was also played in Vancouver, and the Stampeders happened to be the opposition. As you might have heard (countless times, depending on your age), it was a wet day, and Argos running back Leon McQuay fumbled the ball as he attempted to run it into the end zone for what would have been the winning touchdown in the game's closing moments.
As a result, the Stampeders prevailed 14-11, and a veteran quarterback named Jerry Keeling received the laurels instead.
Things still turned out all right for Theismann, though. The former Notre Dame star went on to a standout career in the NFL with the Washington Redskins and led them to a Super Bowl in 1982. But his CFL experience left him unfulfilled on the championship front.
The 1971 Grey Cup was played at since-demolished Empire Stadium, an outdoor facility. It has been raining again this week in Vancouver, but the game will be played at BC Place Stadium and, if necessary, the roof will be closed.
Therefore, Mitchell won’t have to worry about wet or cold conditions, and he will have a better chance to accomplish what Theismann could not.