Losers of the previous two Grey Cups, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats gave their long suffering fans something to celebrate with an unexpected dominant performance over the Edmonton Eskimos.
Hamilton's defence, which was led by Grover Covington and Ben Zambiasi, sacked Edmonton quarterbacks' Matt Dunigan and Damon Allen a total of 10 times. They also forced eight turnovers to tie a Grey Cup record.
Hamilton jumped out to a 29-0 lead at halftime. They got it going early when Covington forced a Dunigan fumble, the ball recovered by Leo Ezerins. This set up quarterback Mike Kerrigan's 35-yard touchdown pass to Steve Stapler. The game was just 1:35 old. The Tiger-Cats then got a big play from their special teams when Mark Streeter blocked Tom Dixon's punt attempt, which Jim Rockford recovered for another touchdown.
Hamilton then rode the boot of kicker Paul Osbaldiston, who kicked five of his record-tying six field goals in the first 30 minutes, two of which came off turnovers; one on Howard Fields' interception off Allen, and another on a Dunigan fumble forced by Covington. Edmonton's offence produced minus-one yard in offence in the first 30 minutes.
The Tiger-Cats continued their assault in the second half, when Kerrigan hit Ron Ingram with a 44-yard touchdown pass.
The Eskimos finally got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter courtesy of a blocked punt by Larry Wruck which Craig Shaffer recovered at the Hamilton 37. Quarterback Matt Dunigan got the Eskimos to six yards from the goal line, and backup Damon Allen ran it in from there. The Eskimos would add another major in the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late. Allen hit Brian Kelly with a 13-yard touchdown pass then ran it in for a two-point convert.
Osbaldiston added his sixth field goal, a 47-yarder in the game's final minute on what was an already decisive Grey Cup win.
It was Al Bruno's second Grey Cup triumph, and his first (and only title) as a head coach. Bruno won one as a player with the 1952 Toronto Argonauts.
This was the only professional sports championship of any sort won by a team under the sole ownership of Harold Ballard, who is better remembered for his controversial (and, at least so far as on-ice results are concerned, largely unsuccessful) ownership of the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, Ballard was part owner of the Leafs when they won their four most recent Stanley Cups in the 1960s. He is one of seven individuals with their names engraved on both the Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup.
This was the last Grey Cup to use the dual CBC/CTV commentator sets (with one network's crew calling one half, and the other's calling the other half), a practice that dated back to 1971. CTV ceased airing CFL games after this game and season (the CTV network ended a 24-year association with the league); in CTV's place came the Canadian Football Network, a syndication service run by the CFL itself, which operated from 1987–90 and aired the Grey Cup, but with their own commentator sets calling the games in their entirety separately from the CBC. CTV would return to the grey cup in 2024.
On the blocked punt, Jim Rockford ripped the seat of his pants rolling into the end zone to score. He left the field and went to the locker room to change.