Mitchell Blair
For some in the Saskatchewan Roughriders dressing room, they know exactly what can happen when a 7-1 team takes on a 1-7 team at Mosaic Stadium on Labour Day. In 2011, the Riders were struggling after back-to-back Grey Cup appearances and changes had been made. Ken Miller had replaced Greg Marshall as head coach going into the Labour Day Classic against a Bombers team that was 7-1 and feeling quite good about themselves as they referred to themselves as “Swaggerville”. You wouldn’t have known what team had what record though at the end of the day as the Riders won that game 27-7.
Just two years later, the records are reversed as Saskatchewan is arguably the best team in the league while the Bombers are the worst. Those that endured that 2011 season and got a win on Labour Day knows exactly what is going through the Bombers mind as the two teams get set to go at it in a 2 o’clock kickoff Sunday afternoon.
“Just get a win,” quarterback Darian Durant proclaimed. “What better team to get a win against than a team that has the best record in the league. Those guys will come in here fired up and it will be a great test for them. They will look at it as ‘its us against the world so lets shock the world’. You just can’t overlook those guys.”
Head Coach Corey Chamblin admits its tough trying to develop a game plan against a struggling Bombers squad because they have undergone so many changes in the course of the season.
“The toughest part is the personnel they have.” Chamblin said. “ It makes you uneasy because when you step out there you are guessing until they show what they are going to do and then you have to make your adjustments based off what you see.”
One of the keys according to Chamblin is that his guys with the record they have aren’t getting high on themselves and are keeping themselves grounded.
“These guys want to win and they want to make sure they are doing the right things to win football games whether it be by double digits or by three points.”Chamblin said. “You have to be humble and approach every opponent the same, you don’t look at their record because any team can win at any time and our guys realize that. We just concentrate on winning our game every week and we do that by playing hard and practicing hard.”
Linebacker Rey Williams is one of those who are remaining humble.
“I’ll be honest with you, I’m scared of these guys,” Williams admitted. “This is a desperate team so they could be doing anything whether it be gambling on 3rd down or faking this or faking that. They are looking for a win and they would love nothing more than to get one here. We can’t take this team for granted or else.”
Once again, the game will be sold out and the atmosphere in the park will be something perhaps only seen when the playoffs happen. Weston Dressler has now been a part of many Labour Day games against the Bombers at Mosaic. He says it is still a surreal moment coming out of the tunnel.
“Our focus isn’t any different, but it does seem as if the fans are a little bit louder on Labour Day if that’s possible.” Dressler said. “I don’t know what it is as to why the buzz for this game is greater than others, but its one of those days that brings a lot of excitement into the stadium. We look forward to it and giving the fans something to shout about.”
The game will be played in front of the second largest crowd to ever watch a game at Mosaic Stadium as all 44,910 seats have been spoken for. For those unable to be at Mosaic, they can watch everything on TSN or they can tune in to 620 CKRM for the play-by-play with Rod Pedersen and Carm Carteri. 620 CKRM’s pre-game coverage will begin at 11:30 with “Roughrider Gameday” and Michael Ball. That program can also be seen live on www.riderville.com as we will stream the program live from Pilsner Place.
GAME NOTES:
- A win by the Riders would make them 8-1 for the first time in franchise history
- This will be Darian Durant’s 9th start against Winnipeg. He is 7-1 against them.
- The Riders have won 9 straight games against the Bombers at Mosaic Stadium
- In a year where not many interceptions have been thrown, the Riders go into the week tied for the league lead with BC at 9.
