The best game of college football's opening weekend was an important game you likely didn't know was happening

The weekend of games has been played since 1949, which predates the founding of what we now know as the CFL. The Roughriders and Blue Bombers play this game yearly in Regina, Saskatchewan, at Mosaic Stadium, with the rematch called the Banjo Bowl taking place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, at Princess Auto Stadium.

Both teams have some recent players from the college football ranks. The Roughriders have former Memphis running back Mario Anderson and the Blue Bombers have former Western Kentucky wide receiver Jerreth Sterns, former Kansas State wide receiver Dalton Schoen. Arguably the biggest name is Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros, who was college roommates with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

I know exactly what you might be thinking at this point, but this was easily the best game of the weekend. There are a couple of things that you need to know about the rules that factor into why this game was so good at the end.

• 1 point safety (Rouge): This can happen on a punt return where the momentum of the returner goes into the end zone, and he isn't able to get out. It's one of many ways to convert a Rouge.
• 2 point conversion return: If you force a turnover on a two-point conversion attempt, you can score two points. It's the same as the NFL.
• Timing rules: The CFL has a 3-minute warning instead of a 2-minute warning. The clock also stops after plays and starts once the ball is set.

In the fourth quarter, the Blue Bombers made multiple mistakes in a row, which resulted in a turnover and vaulted the Roughriders to a 31-17 lead. There were 10 minutes left to go at this point, but things can happen quickly in the CFL.

After a failed possession, the Blue Bombers struck, and it came from Collaros. He's a very streaky quarterback, and had a sequence of throws where he underthrew a wide open deep ball by 10 yards and followed it up with two consecutive deep ball completions. With just over four minutes to go, he found Keric Wheatfall for a touchdown in the back corner of the end zone.

With the time rules of the CFL and only having three downs, the Blue Bombers were in a position where they could get the ball back one or two times before the end of the game. The Roughriders held the ball for nine plays before they ended up pooch punting it. This is where the fun began.

The punt from the Roughriders' starting quarterback, Trevor Harris, pooch-punted, and the Blue Bombers weren't ready. As mentioned above, a single point can be scored as a safety like it was here, as the returner Deatrick Nichols' momentum carried him from the two-yard line into the end zone. Failing to get off resulted in a rouge, giving the Roughriders one point.

The interesting thing here is the Roughriders could have tried a normal punt and gotten a rouge by kicking it through the end zone, but they went for the element of surprise, and it worked really well.

Down eight points, the Blue Bombers had just 1:21 on the clock and no timeouts to score a touchdown. It took Collaros 70 yards on six plays to find Schoen for a touchdown. Last year's Labor Day Classic was a two-point game with the Blue Bombers winning 35-33 with a late score, and it was setting up to be the same here.

This is where the chaos comes into play. Collaros has a player open in the flat for the two-point conversion, and was late on it, allowing the Roughriders to take it for two points.

This is pretty similar to a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons in 2016, when he did the same thing.

The chaos didn't end there, as the Blue Bombers were inches away from recovering an onside kick to have a final shot at winning the game. It was nearly the 2014 NFC Championship Game where the Seattle Seahawks ended up coming from behind to get the win.

If this game were between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl, it would have been talked about as an all-time game in the pantheon of the sport. That's how good this game was, and it's a shame that you probably didn't know it was happening, because the CFL isn't a priority for the American sports fan.

I highly recommend you check this out (it will likely be on YouTube early this week), as it has everything that makes college football and the NFL so great: pageantry, hatred, respect, and great play on both sides.

The CFL has everything college football does, and the Labor Day Classic just sent a message to the college football world with its excellent game.

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