“J.J. Barnagel” the two-headed reason for Saskatchewan’s 1981 resurgence.
“On the Prairie” Cards for the 1981 Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders for Retro SOM Pro Football
It was a tale of two quarterbacks for the Green Riders, and of two seasons for the Stamps. Prior to 1981, they were coached by legendary player Ron Lancaster, who was a better QB than helmsman. Saskatchewan had finished 2-14 in both 1979 and 1980. The team switched to former Edmonton assistant Joe Faragalli for 1981, and he got instant results, particularly on offense.
The Roughriders offense had only scored 284 points while their defense allowed 469 points in the 1980 season. This poor performance on the field was part of a larger trend for the team during the late 1970s and early 1980s, which is often referred to by fans as the "Reign of Error". The team struggled financially during the early to mid-80s, requiring a telethon in 1987 to keep the franchise solvent.
What Faragalli did was install a two- quarterback system. The team was quarterbacked by two young throwers with two vastly different skill sets. QB1 Joe
Barnes was a highly mobile rollout artist, and while he could be an erratic thrower, Barnes averaged 5.8 yards a carry on scrambles and normally he didn’t make very many mistakes. When Barnes would get dinged up or he would hit the wall, former Denver Broncos signal caller and pocket passer John Hufnagel would come out of the bullpen just throwing ropes.
(There are several 1981 Western Rider games on YouTube and Hufnagel, once he got on a roll, well, he was very difficult to stop. Realistically only a tipped ball or a great play on defense would derail him. His delivery downfield was as smooth as a stick of butter. If you love Canadian-style football 🏈 at all, watching him fling it around Taylor Field while the fans are singing one of the many Saskatchewan team anthems is very entertaining.)
Taylor Field, Regina, Saskatchewan
It did not hurt that the Roughriders had four solid receivers in Joey Walters, Chris DeFrance, Emanuel Tolbert, and Dwight Edwards, a good all around runner in Lester Brown, as well as a more than capable offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks in the CFL. LB Vince Goldsmith terrorized enemy QBs with 17 sacks. Saskatchewan threw for 4,888 yards, behind only Edmonton and Winnipeg, and slot back Joey Walters set a team record of 1,715 yards receiving in 16 games. Walters also tallied 1,692 yards in 1982, and the higher figure still stands as the team record in the current 18 game schedule era. Walters, who also was an all-star in the USFL, was something special, he could break open or fight for the ball equally well.
“The Woz”, popular Saskatchewan defensive end Lyall Wosnesensky annoyed opponents with his frequent sack dances
On September 20th, Saskatchewan had a record of 7-4 and was in the key third place playoff spot after beating the Eastern Riders in a dandy game 26-23 at home. But the team took two tough losses in Regina to the tough Hamilton and Edmonton squads in the next three weeks to drop to 8-6. They then whipped Calgary 24-11 to set up a showdown match for third place and the playoffs against the B.C. Lions in the season’s final game at Empire Stadium in Vancouver in a torrential downpour. The monsoon nullified the 'Riders great passing attack, and in a tight tough contest the normally reliable Barnes and rb Greg Fieger missed a handoff deep in their end with less than two minutes to go in the game and B.C. recovered to cash the go ahead TD in a 13-5 win. The great season had ended, but Saskatchewan fans still remember this team and the run they made.
Contrast this with Calgary, who fielded one of the CFL’s better defenses (especially the secondary), but paired it with an anemic offense. The Stampeders actually had QB Ken Johnson and running back James Sykes, the leading rusher in the CFL, but they could not seem to put the pieces together. With a record of 5-4 on September 7th,
they lost three games in succession, starting with an understandable setback versus mighty Edmonton followed by two losses to (then) 0-11 Toronto and Montreal on a disastrous Eastern swing that turned out to be much harder to stomach.
Now 5-7 and more firmly ensconced in fifth place in the West, Calgary tipped their king and traded Johnson to the Alouettes, finishing up 1981 with a qb rotation of Bruce Threadgill and Jeff Knapple that did not exactly inspire fear in enemy secondaries or produce many wins. While Sykes was the one 1981 CFL runner to best 100 yards a game in combined yards from scrimmage, he was not enough to overcome the team’s minus 11 turnover ratio as the Stamps fell to a final record of 6–10.
Former Rice University product James Sykes ran for a thousand yards four times in the CFL.
Gamers might try their hand at improving this record; it might take some creativity. Calgary is excellent against the pass, but they also turn the ball over more than three times per game. Both teams can be entertaining; and with a little luck either could make the Western divisionals. But actually winning the West would mean beating Winnipeg or the other Prairie team, the elephant in the room, three-time Grey Cup champion Edmonton. And those Eskimos await another post.
Fred Bobberts
Initial Date of Publication: July 20, 2025
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