With Ray and Calvillo out, Toronto-Montreal showdown becomes about Collaros and Marsh

It's a matchup few would have expected at the start of this season, but one that could still prove quite interesting. Most of the clashes between the Montreal Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts over the last two years have been billed as quarterback duels between Anthony Calvillo and Ricky Ray, but those two are out for Tuesday's game (7:30 p.m. Eastern, TSN/NBCSN). They'll be replaced by 24-year-old Montreal backup Tanner Marsh and 25-year-old Toronto backup Zach Collaros, making their first and second CFL starts respectively. However, that doesn't mean they're entering this game on equal footing. Collaros would seem heavily favoured to do better here, so the question is if Marsh can raise his game enough to pull out another miracle for Montreal.

While Collaros isn't Ray, he's still a pretty solid option under centre. He turned in a terrific debut in his first CFL start back in Week Five, and he hasn't been too bad in relief. On the season, he's completed 70.8 per cent of his passes while throwing for 675 yards and four touchdowns with just one interception. He's also looked effective as a scrambler, frequently evading pressure and rushing 32 times for 120 yards and two touchdowns. It's his experience that's most reassuring for Toronto, though: Collaros joined the Argonauts last year and has had a full season-plus of learning under Ray and head coach Scott Milanovich. Moreover, Toronto's short-passing-focused, high-accuracy scheme seems well-suited to Collaros' game. He's not their preferred option obviously, given how well Ray has played, but he's far from a bad Plan B.

Marsh is a little more concerning. Yes, he threw an incredible Hail Mary to set up the buzzer-beating field goal to beat B.C. last week, but his overall stats in that game weren't great. While he threw for 329 yards in relief of Josh Neiswander, Marsh completed just 14 of 32 passing attempts (43.8 per cent) and threw four interceptions against one touchdown. He converted on some long bombs, but couldn't seem to get into sync with his receivers on the shorter routes the Alouettes have been trying to emphasize since the firing of former head coach Dan Hawkins. That's not all that surprising, as this is Marsh's first CFL season; it typically takes American quarterbacks quite a while to adjust to all the different elements in the Canadian game, including the 12-a-side play, the three downs, the bigger field and the expanded motion. That game marked Marsh's first significant action, too, so growing pains are understandable, and it's impressive that he didn't give in after his turnovers. Still, Montreal fans shouldn't get too confident about him.

Odd things can happen in the CFL, though, so an Argonauts' win is far from guaranteed. The Montreal defence came up big late last week against B.C., and if they can pressure and pick off Collaros, that could certainly be helpful. Alouettes' running back Jerome Messam has also been reasonably effective lately, and a strong ground game could take some pressure off Marsh. Moreover, the Rogers Centre on Tuesday night (an odd schedule, but one required by the Blue Jays playing at home through Sunday; there wasn't enough time to convert the field for football before Monday, which is why the CFL only had one Labour Day game for the first time in league history this year) doesn't sound like a terribly-intimidating atmosphere; it would seem likely to be even less-populated than normal, and that could help Marsh. Still, this sets up as a game where Collaros and the home team should be favoured in the battle of the backups. We'll see if they can live up to that.