The only blemish on the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ record this season is a loss against the Calgary Stampeders in Regina — an unusual game delayed a day because of poor air quality last month.
On Saturday, the Stamps have a chance to make another loud statement — and put themselves in position to make a run for first in the West in the second half of the season.
The Stampeders, sitting 6-3 after being projected to finish near the bottom of the standings prior to the season, host the Roughriders (8-1) in a Week 12 finale featuring the top two teams in the CFL.
If the Stamps win, they’ll sweep the season series and own the all-important tiebreaker against the Roughriders heading into their traditional Labour Day home-and-home series with the last-place Edmonton Elks. The Roughriders also have their own long-standing holiday back-to-back against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-4).
“We’re excited for the challenge, even though we know it’s a huge challenge,” Stamps general manager and coach Dave Dickenson told reporters this week. “It’s always good to see where you’re at in the season, especially in (Game) 10.”
On Calgary’s victorious afternoon in Regina, Stamps QB Vernon Adams Jr. threw for 428 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those majors and 156 of those yards were on his connections with 2025 first-overall draft pick Damien Alford, who appears ready to return from a hamstring injury this week.
Dedrick Mills also rushed for 85 yards against a Roughriders defence that ranks at the top of the league in several key categories and has held opponents without a touchdown the past two weeks.
“When they go back and watch (the film of) what we identified as our worst game of the year, they’re going to have to see that over and over and over again,” Roughriders head coach/defensive co-ordinator Corey Mace said. “We’ll see if that makes a difference.”
There is plenty of familiarity between key figures in the game.
Mace and Roughriders offensive co-ordinator Marc Mueller were both on Dickenson’s staff before heading east for promotions in Saskatchewan before the 2024 season.
“Being a part of his inaugural staff, seeing how he wanted to build it from his vision, to be a part of that, just super, super grateful for the opportunity he afforded myself and my family,” Mace said. “Certainly, what he’s been able to do throughout his career, not only as a player, but as a play-caller and ultimately a head coach, he’s been a winner for a long time. It’s nothing but respect.”
Adams Jr., meanwhile, had similar things to say about Roughriders counterpart Trevor Harris, even though the latter took over his starting role in Montreal with the Alouettes in 2022.
Both quarterbacks have thrived since their time together and are now two of the front-runners for the league’s most outstanding player award. The 39-year-old Harris is seven years older than Adams Jr.
“Trevor was the first quarterback to really sit me down and tell me this is how you’re supposed to be a quarterback, this is how you’re supposed to prepare and things like that,” Adams Jr. said. “I give a lot of respect and props to Trevor because he never held anything back from me. I give a lot of my success to him.”
The niceties, of course, will end once the first ball is kicked in front of what should be an energized crowd — more than 25,000 tickets were sold as of Wednesday, presumably many to Roughriders fans, who always make their voices heard at McMahon Stadium.
The Riders are riding high after a convincing win over the East-leading Hamilton Tiger-Cats last week.
“We know that we’re better than (how they played last time against the Stamps),” Roughriders linebacker C.J. Reavis told the Regina Leader-Post. “I feel like we’ve got a good chance to come out there and get our lick back.
“It’s always good getting hit in the mouth … I think it was a good reality check for us and at the perfect time.”
While the Roughriders clearly have been the class of the league so far this season, one big concern has to be kicking.
In what has been a great year for kickers across the league, Canadian veteran Brett Lauther has been the exception.
The seventh-year Roughrider has made just 22 of 33 field goals for a career-low rate of 66.7 per cent (his career average is 81.4).
On Wednesday, the Roughriders signed another Canadian kicker — Campbell Fair, who was on Saskatchewan’s practice roster in 2023 and was cut by the Elks at this year’s training camp.
Taylor Shire of the Leader-Post reported Fair hit a 56-yard field goal in his first practice on Wednesday.
Mace was asked if Lauther will kick Saturday.
“That’s the anticipation but you never know how that goes,” he said. “I’d love to say everybody’s going to play but still got a couple days of practice.”
Fair, a former University of Ottawa player, certainly wants a chance to show his stuff.
Because of the now resolved Air Canada strike, Fair told Shire he couldn’t get a direct flight from Toronto to Regina.
Instead, he went “Buffalo to Newark, to Denver to Minot (North Dakota) and then (drove) up to Regina,” he said. “I left Monday night at around 9:30 and I got here last night at 3 a.m. so I’ve had like four hours of sleep over the last little while.”
Not only are the struggling Alouettes down to their fourth starting quarterback (James Morgan) for Thursday’s home game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, they’re missing stalwarts like receivers Austin Mack and Tyson Philpot, and safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy, too.
The good news is the Alouettes (5-5) still are second in the weak East, just two points behind the idle Tiger-Cats (6-4). The Blue Bombers, meanwhile, have looked vulnerable in recent weeks, well off the top form that has seen them advance to the past five Grey Cup games.
If the Als get some of the injured players back after next week’s well-timed bye, there’s no reason they can’t be a Grey Cup contender
“Four QBs is a new one,” head coach Jason Maas told reporters Wednesday. “I’ve dealt with injuries through the course of playing and through coaching many times, where your roster gets depleted at different positions, but it’s hard to (remember going) through four quarterbacks and having a fifth and a sixth in the building (Shea Patterson and Cameron Dukes) that really haven’t played at all.”
Thursday, Aug. 21: Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-4) at Montreal Alouettes (5-5), 7:30 p.m. ET
Friday, Aug. 22: Edmonton Elks (3-6) at Ottawa Redblacks (3-7), 7:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, Aug. 23: B.C. Lions (5-5) at Toronto Argonauts (2-8), 3 p.m. ET
Saturday, Aug. 23: Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-1) at Calgary Stampeders (6-3), 7 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. MT
