Murray Wood: Are Saskatchewan Roughrider fans still the best in the CFL?
Murray Wood says attendance at Rider seems to be down, even though the team guards the numbers. But with a strong record...
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are looking to avoid a case of the post-bye week blues.
Saskatchewan has a 7-1 CFL record with the only loss coming against the Calgary Stampeders — a 24-10 loss that came after the team’s first bye week. After that game, head coach Corey Mace said they were out-physicaled in the game.
So, following the second bye week, the first practice back on Tuesday saw the players strap on the pads to provide an energy boost.
Mace admitted that how they played against Calgary did play a small part in that decision.
“It was just to get us humming after some time off. It’s good competition and I thought the guys enjoyed it, so it worked out good,” Mace said.
The Riders will host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (6-3) on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium. Kickoff for the game is set for 1 p.m. The Green Zone pregame show begins at 11 a.m.
Mace said the team needs to learn from its past mistakes to avoid another disappointment following this bye week.
“I don’t want to take anything away from Calgary — as we know they are a good team — but as far as our effort was concerned and how we looked, it didn’t look like us,” Mace said.
“Just learn from that and just put in the front of your mind the same thing we talk about — you have to prove it every week and can never let your foot off the gas,” Mace said.
This week’s game also features two of the top candidates for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award. Riders quarterback Trevor Harris is 6-1 in starts this season and has thrown for 2,183 yards, 13 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Meanwhile, on the opposing sideline, Bo Levi Mitchell has turned back the clock and is once again playing at an elite level. He has thrown for 2,856 yards, 21 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
“His touchdown-to-interception ratio is as good as I have seen up here since I have been up here,” Harris said. “He has done a tremendous job in kind of reinventing himself in terms of always wanting to take shots and push the ball down the field, no matter what, to taking what the defence gives him. When you find quarterbacks who can do that and take shots down the field, it becomes a problem.
“You can see he has become a problem across the league. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Bo, but at the same time, I’m not going to be too worried about what he is doing in the game. I just have to make sure I am operating our offence as best we can and going against a really good defence.”
The Riders beat the Ti-Cats 28-23 back in Week 2.
