Previews: Lions at Riders, Alouettes at Blue Bombers

REGINA – The B.C. Lions have an opportunity to clinch second place in the CFL’s West Division, and they’d prefer to do it without help.

Currently tied with the Calgary Stampeders for second place at 10-7, the Lions can clinch home field for the West semifinal on Nov. 1 by beating the first-place Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday in Regina. 

B.C. could also grab second spot if the Stampeders, playing in Edmonton on Friday night, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, hosting the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday afternoon, both lose their games. 

For B.C. quarterback Nathan Rourke, the preferred option is having the Lions take care of business Saturday. 

“Absolutely, we want to win the game. We understand that there’s meaningful consequences to the game and we would much rather have another game in B.C. Place in front of our fans and in our environment then go somewhere else,” Rourke said. 

“It’s hard to play everywhere else in this league, especially the teams that are still in it, so we’d rather avoid that. I’m glad that we have we control of our own destiny at this point.” 

The Lions had some issues early, starting off 1-3 and holding a 3-5 mark heading into July. B.C. has righted the ship and is currently on a five-game winning streak. 

“We certainly have confidence and belief in ourselves. We’ve had that since Day 1, even when it wasn’t as obvious maybe to other people,” Rourke said. “We’re going to continue to understand that we’re still trying to get better every single week. We want to take care of our business one week at a time, and I think the cards are going to fall in our favour.”

Rourke enters Saturday’s game with an opportunity to become just the second Canadian quarterback to lead the CFL in passing. Russ Jackson of the Ottawa Rough Riders led the league with 3,641 yards in 1969. 

Rourke currently sits at 4,922 passing yards, 110 yards behind Hamilton Tiger-Cats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. Rourke is 329 of 472 passing with 28 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He also is the top quarterback and eighth overall in the league with 559 rushing yards. 

Riders head coach Corey Mace said there are a number of reasons for Rourke putting up big numbers this season. 

“Being in a new system with (head coach) Buck (Pierce), just getting more comfortable in the system, he’s able to go out there and process,” Mace said.

“He can make all the throws. He makes a lot of really good decisions. I’d say this year he’s kind of opened it up a little bit with his legs, which watching his college stuff he was able to do that all the time. It’s not that it’s a secret, but I think just confirms he’s a hell of a football player.” 

While the Lions have motivation for Saturday’s game, the Riders are in a different position after clinching first-place in the West Division two weeks ago. In last week’s 17-16 loss to the Bombers, Mace rested a number of starters in advance of the Riders hosting the West Division final on Nov. 8. 

While some starters return to the lineup this week, including quarterback Trevor Harris and running back A.J. Ouellette, Mace is again juggling his roster for Saturday’s game. 

Defensive backs Rolan Milligan, C.J. Reavis and Marcus Sayles, receivers KeeSean Johnson, Joe Robustelli and Dohnte Meyers, defensive lineman Mike Rose and kicker Brett Lauther are among those sitting out Saturday.

“We just want to make sure that we’re not too rusty,” Mace said. “A lot of our guys will be playing this week, and it’s good for us. And I mean, we’re paid to play an 18-game schedule, and this is No. 18, so let’s go play.” 

This will be the third meeting of the season between the teams. Saskatchewan posted a 37-18 win at home on June 28 and followed up with a 33-27 victory in Vancouver on July 19. 

Their first meeting of the season was a battle of the backup quarterbacks with B.C.’s Jeremiah Masoli filling in for Rourke and Saskatchewan’s Jake Maier replacing Harris as both starters were injured. 

Rourke and Harris were back under centre for the rematch and both posted impressive numbers. Rourke went 27 of 41 passing for 337 yards with three touchdowns and one interception while Harris completed 23 of 30 passes for 395 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. 

B.C. LIONS (10-7-0) AT SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS (12-5-0) 

Saturday at Mosaic Stadium 

LUCKY LEE: Veteran defensive back T.J. Lee rejoined the Lions in mid-September, and the Lions are 5-0 since he returned to the lineup. Lee played the previous 10 seasons with B.C. but was not re-signed after the 2024 season. In five games this year, Lee has 25 tackles and one interception.

ALLEN’S ON A HEATER: Riders linebacker A.J. Allen had a career-high nine defensive tackles against the Bombers last week. He tied for fifth in the CFL in both defensive tackles (84) and defensive plays (106). 

HUGHES DEBUT: Riders rookie kicker Michael Hughes will be making his professional debut in place of Lauther, who has been dealing with a back issue. In four collegiate seasons with Appalachian State University, Hughes made 35 of 42 field goal attempts and all 120 of his extra-point attempts. 

(Canadian Press/Jeff DeDekker)

WINNIPEG – Mike O’Shea doesn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach is resting a number of starters for Saturday’s final regular-season game at home against the Montreal Alouettes.

“Years ago I think I made a mistake and didn’t enter a playoff game as fresh as we could have been,” O’Shea said after the team’s walk-through practice on Friday.

“So that’s part of what goes into it — the belief that healthy, fresh is ultimately important.”

Winnipeg isn’t dressing quarterback Zach Collaros, running back Brady Oliveira, offensive tackle Stanley Bryant and receiver Ontaria Wilson.

The defence will be without rush ends Willie Jefferson and James Vaughters, dime back Redha Kramdi and defensive back/kicker returner Trey Vaval.

Both teams have already clinched playoff spots, but their seeding will be determined by this weekend’s CFL games. 

The Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats each hold 10-7 records. The Ticats host the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday and would clinch first place in the East Division with a win.

Winnipeg (9-8) could finish third or fourth in the tight West. Fourth place would mean crossing over to play in the East semifinal for the first time in franchise history.

The Calgary Stampeders (10-7) are in Edmonton Friday night, while the B.C. Lions (10-7) travel to Saskatchewan to take on the Roughriders (12-5) on Saturday. 

O’Shea isn’t worried about his sitting starters being rusty for their first road playoff game since 2019.

“I just think that it’s some reps for a lot of guys, too, who could end up helping us,” he said.

Chris Streveler will start under centre for the Blue Bombers. Backup Terry Wilson will get some snaps determined by the flow of the game, O’Shea said.

Streveler’s last start in place of an injured Collaros was one fans who love passing will remember for all the wrong reasons.

Steveler only completed three of eight pass attempts for 54 yards with one interception in a 26-18 road win over the Ottawa Redblacks. He also rushed for 72 yards and one touchdown.

He was asked Friday if wanting to improve on that passing performance is motivating him against the Alouettes.

“We won the game,” Streveler said. “There’s always plays you want back. I didn’t play my best game, I don’t think anyone played their best game, but we won the game.

“I don’t use any of that for motivation. I work hard and all of us work really hard to be our best and you know it’s never going to be perfect, so you just want to go out there and put your best foot forward and have fun playing the game.”

The Ottawa victory was aided by Vaval’s franchise-record 128-yard missed field-goal return for a touchdown. He also helped field position with a 71-yard return off a missed field goal.

Now that Vaval is sitting out, Peyton Logan will take his place and play his third game of the season and first since the end of August.

Logan was Winnipeg’s big off-season signing, but the running back was hurt for the first nine games of the season and was also a healthy scratch.

“I just hope I do as good as Trey,” Logan said with a smile. “Man, he’s been doing spectacular this year.”

Vaval leads the league in punt-return yards (957) and is ranked fifth in kickoff-return yards (918). He’s also tops in missed field-goal return yards with 391, which set a Bombers record.

Montreal is riding a five-game win streak and has its regulars on the depth chart.

Alouettes head coach Jason Maas told reporters earlier this week there will be some game-time decisions, but not based on the outcome of the Hamilton game.

“It’s just going to be if they feel like they can go on game day, they’re going, and then from there we’re trying to win a football game,” he said.

He added quarterback Davis Alexander, who 11-0 as a starter, could have his playing time determined by the Hamilton game. It’s a decision that will be made with general manager Danny Maciocia.

“Will he play the whole game if it’s not for first place (in the East), I can’t answer that right now,” Maas said of Alexander.

RECORD-SETTING CROWD

It’s going to be another sellout of 32,343 fans at Princess Auto Stadium on Saturday, giving the Blue Bombers a franchise-first capacity crowd for every regular-season game.

The last club to sell out an entire season was Montreal, when it filled Percival Memorial Stadium from 2000-10. During that time span, the stadium held just over 23,400 fans.

Winnipeg is on a streak of 14 sellouts dating back to August 2024 and the West final.

(Canadian Press)