Hogan: Franklin and Manziel set for rematch.

When The Toronto Argonauts acquired James Franklin in the off-season there was quite a bit of hype. Not Johnny Manziel-to the-CFL level mind you, but much was made about the trade from Edmonton to The 6ix.

Both QBs have also made in-season news. Manziel for being traded from Hamilton to Montreal, Franklin for losing the starting job in Toronto before winning it back a week ago.

The two will be the starters for their respective teams when the Alouettes visit BMO Field this Saturday (4:00, TSN, TSN 1050), but it’s not the first time the two have started against one another.

On November 30, 2013, Franklin’s Missouri Tigers hosted Johnny Football’s Texas A&M Aggies at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri, a game filled with future CFLers.

The Aggies Derel Walker, currently with Edmonton, gave A&M a second quarter lead, catching a 32-yard pass from Manziel. After the Tigers took a 21-14 lead, former Argo Ben Malena tied things up with a 7-yard TD run, before Henry Josey, another former Argo, scored the game winning TD on a 57-yard run with just three-and-a-half minutes left to play. Another former Alouette, Michael Sam, recorded five tackles and half a sack.

Franklin remembers the game, although it didn’t start out the way he had hoped.

“I came back from a separated shoulder,” recalled the QB, “At the beginning of the game I missed two guys with throws and I heard BOOOOO!” Apparently the crowd of 67,124 wasn’t in the mood to let Franklin find his groove, and with good reason, the pre-game hype for this game was immense.

“All week it was ‘Franklin vs Manziel’ even though it’s a team sport,” said the Corrinth, Texas product. “It was packed. We had to beat A&M to go to the SEC Championship Game. It was an exciting game, the fans were into it. The atmosphere was pretty special. I got to speak to Manziel a little bit after the game and he was nothing but complimentary. The energy that he brought, just by being there, that’s something that everyone appreciated. It was really cool to be a part of that.”

It turned out to be a good day for Franklin. The Tigers won, and he threw for more yards and more touchdowns than his higher-profiled opponent, while also outrushing him.

Fast forward to today. The Argos are prepping to play the Alouettes and a quarterback that presents challenges because of his athleticism and his ability to make big plays.

Argos Defensive Coordinator Mike Archer is prepping his group to play Manziel and company, and says the Canadian game with its bigger field and offense-friendly motion rules is perfectly suited to the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner’s skill set.

“I think the game is made for him,” Archer told Argonauts.ca. “His ability to move around, scramble and extend plays is something he has done very well since college and it’s an element we have to be very cognizant of.”

Keeping the at-times elusive QB in the pocket is paramount. They did a better job of that last week against Jeremiah Masoli and the Ticats, but this week there’s a different challenge with Manziel.

The Argos want to get penetration from the ends, but if they get too deep it simply opens up another lane for the Montreal QB to either pass or run through, though the DC explained that one of Manziel’s first options is different than that of the mobile quarterback they faced last week.

“You want to get pressure, you want to get up the field,” explained Archer, “But then if you get up the field too far, he does a great job of stepping up inside and going right down the middle, whereas Jeremiah would fake in the middle and go outside. So you have to be very disciplined in your pass-rush lanes. You’ve got to be coordinated. You can’t have somebody up the field and somebody on the second level, your levels have to be consistent and that’s what we’ve tried to stress all week.”

Justin Tuggle won’t be at defensive end against the Als, he’ll start at middle linebacker, in for the injured Bear Woods, who is officially out for the season.

“We have to do a good job containing (Manziel) and just trying to confuse him as much as we can,” said the second-year Argo. “We have our hands full, we’re excited for the challenge though.”

The linebacker/defensive end has a unique perspective to evaluate Manziel. Tuggle was a quarterback when he started his NCAA career at Boston College, before finishing his college days as a linebacker at Kansas State. It also gives him an instinctive advantage as to what an opposing quarterback is thinking.

“I like being in the middle because you’re in the centre of it,” said Tuggle. “You’re the quarterback of the defence, so I sit back there and I try to read the plays from the opposite side, and try to make as many plays as I can from a different perspective, almost a 180 perspective.”

Tuggle and company will be hard-pressed to contain Manziel, but watching how they attempt to do it will be one of the best subplots of Saturday’s game.