CFL Week 10 Preview

Article by Duncan Gray

 

Week 10 will see half of the regular season completed and everything's still to play for in the CFL. Even the 0 & 8 Roughriders still have a chance to catch the Winnipeg and BC teams ahead of them and maybe sneak into the play-offs.
Once again the Thursday, Friday and Saturday night games are live on BT Sport, for a bit of variety BT Sport 2 has the Thursday night game.

 

In the news this week:

The surprise of last weekend was the sacking of Montreal Alouettes head coach Tom Higgins by owner Bob Wettenhall, Apparently he's dissatisfied that the Als aren't currently an elite team. General Manager Jim Popp, who's been with the team since they played in Baltimore back in the 1990s, is taking over as interim head coach. This is the fourth time that Popp has become interim HC, three of those were after sackings.
One of the changes being made in Montreal is that Anthony Calvillo, the CFL's all-time leading passer, is moving from receivers to quarterbacks coach and will work on developing Rakeem Cato.

 

This week's at Tim Hortons Field Hamilton the Tiger-Cats will retire the number 68 jersey in honour of Angelo Mosca. Mosca played defensive tackle for Hamilton for 12 of 15 seasons between 1958 and 1972 and was regarded as the face of the franchise. A hard man who became a professional wrestler after he retired, he's best remembered for an infamous out of bounds hit during the 1963 Grey Cup game and then getting into a fight about it at a charity lunch 48 years later (look it up on YouTube).

 

A push is on to move Grey Cup tickets in Winnipeg with a danger the game might not sell out, despite the seating capacity being reduced to 36,634. There have been the usual moans about ticket prices but doesn't help that the host team and their nearest neighbours, the Roughriders who're still a seven hour drive away, look to be struggling to make the play-offs never mind the final. Then there's the question of the weather. In late November on the Prairies the temperature can drop a long way below zero....

 

For the first time this season the Nissan Titan Power Rankings are unchanged from week to week.

1	Hamilton Tiger-Cats	Last week 1
2	Calgary Stampeders	2
3	Toronto Argonauts	3
4	Edmonton Eskimos	4
5	Ottawa REDBLACKS	5
6	Montreal Alouettes	6
7	BC Lions	7
8	Winnipeg Blue Bombers	8
9	Saskatchewan Roughriders	9

 

This week's TV Schedule   Montreal Alouettes at Hamilton Tiger-Cats - LIVE Friday morning August 28, 00:30 hrs – BT Sport 2 repeat: Friday Evening 21:45 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Toronto Argonauts at Edmonton Eskimos – LIVE Saturday morning August 29, 02:00 hrs – BT Sport ESPN repeat: Monday morning 06:00 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Calgary Stampeders at Winnipeg Blue Bombers – LIVE Saturday Night August 29, 23:00 hrs - BT Sport ESPN repeat: Monday morning 09:30 hrs –  BT Sport ESPN Saskatchewan Roughriders at Ottawa Redblacks – recorded Noon on Monday August 26, 12:00 hrs – BT Sport ESPN

 

Game of the Week

The Saskatchewan Roughriders (0 & 8) have dropped to this sorry record despite having generated more offence than any other team in the league. They have the most offensive yardage and they lie 4^th in point scoring. Stand in quarterback Brett Smith is developing well and, if only the defence can lend enough support, they're overdue for a win. This week they're visiting the 4 & 4 Ottawa Redblacks, the team who've scored the fewest points so far and have lost their last two games. Last week they improved on their dismal performance at Calgary, led by Henry Burris who passed for 426 yards but, and here's a problem, no touchdowns. Penalties have been another problem and they've released DB Brandon McDonald who led the league in getting flagged.
This is chance for the 'Riders to break their duck but a sell out Ottawa crowd will be there to make it difficult for them.

 

The other games

They might not be clear leaders but the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (6 & 2) are becoming clear favourites for this year's championship. Their quarterback Zach Collaros has hit top form in the last couple of games and it doesn't seem to matter who's injured, two or three running backs and receivers will step up to torment the opposition. Montreal Alouettes (3 & 5), fresh from a win at BC and their coach sacking, will provide the opposition at Tim Horton's field on Thursday night. The Alouettes may have won when these two met back in Week 4 but the chances of them being the first visiting team to win at Tim Hortons Field are pretty remote.

 

There's a lot at stake in Friday night's game at Commonwealth Stadium. After last week's defeat Edmonton Eskimos (5 & 3) need to get back to winning ways before their “home and home” games against Calgary, their rivals for the West Division. Toronto Argonauts (6 & 2) need to win this to keep pace with Hamilton, their rivals for the division and before their “home and home” series. The news out of Edmonton is that James Franklin is fit and will make his first start at quarterback in place of Matt Nichols. Linebacker Brandon Isaac will miss this one for Toronto.

The defending champions, the Calgary Stampeders, are hitting their stride now. Three straight wins have lifted them to the top of the West Division and they'll expect to come away from the  Winnipeg Blue Bombers with another two points, just as they did from Saskatchewan last week. The Bombers have had the week off to rebuild from their injury problems. Robert Marve has established himself ahead of Brian Brohm in the depth chartwill start again at quarterback.

 

BC Lions are on their bye week.