What a difference — and a differential — a year makes for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
After 17 regular-season games in 2023, the Green and White had a CFL-worst turnover ratio of minus-20.
This year’s differential is a league-best plus-25 as the Roughriders prepare for Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Calgary Stampeders (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
The Roughriders have already clinched a home playoff game. (Tickets are available HERE.)
In fact, Saskatchewan is still in the conversation for first place in the West Division.
For the Roughriders to claim top spot, two things have to happen:
• The Montreal Alouettes must defeat the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Saturday, 2 p.m.).
• The 9-7-1 Roughriders, who cannot finish any lower than second in the West, have to take care of business against Calgary.
The Roughriders have a solid shot at emerging from Saturday’s game with the highest single-season turnover differential in franchise history.
The record of plus-27 was set in 1994. A plus-3 on Saturday would move the 2024 team to the top of the list.
This is what Corey Mace had in mind when he took over as the Roughriders’ head coach and defensive co-ordinator in late November of 2023.
“Obsession for possession is what we talk about,” he said earlier this month.
“Defensively, if you don’t have it, go get it. If you have it, keep it.”
Keeping it has been another strong suit.
Quarterback Trevor Harris has the CFL’s best touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio (2.22:1).
Moreover, the Roughriders are in position to set a CFL record for fewest lost fumbles in a full season.
Saskatchewan has coughed up the football only four times as the regular-season finale looms. The league record of five, set by the Toronto Argonauts in 2023, could soon fall.
(Also worth noting: Saskatchewan lost only three fumbles over 14 games during the COVID-shortened season of 2021.)
Barring an atypically sloppy effort, the Roughriders will establish a Club record for fewest lost fumbles in a season.
The number to beat is seven — from 2012 and 2022.
Oddity: Even when the Roughriders’ schedule had game totals of eight (1946, 1947), 12 (1948), 14 (1949 to 1951) and 16 (1952 to 1985), the fumbles-lost total was invariably in the double digits.
Not until 2012 — 26 calendar years after the implementation of the 18-game schedule — did Saskatchewan lose fewer than 10 fumbles.
Teams in general are much more protective of the football than they once were.
That also applies to interceptions.
Gone, perhaps forever, are the days when a starting quarterback could serve up 20 (or even 30) picks and nobody would blink.
More than a decade has elapsed since any CFL quarterback was picked off 20 or more times.
Yet, at a time when interceptions are tougher to come by than ever, the Roughriders’ Rolan Milligan Jr. is enjoying a banner season.
With eight interceptions, he is the CFL’s leader entering the final weekend of regular-season play.
The eight picks already place him in a 10-way tie for the sixth-best total in franchise history.
Only Terry Irvin (11 interceptions in 1984), Dale West (10 in 1963), Ken McEachern (10 in 1980), Ed Gainey (10 in 2017) and James Patrick (nine in 2010) sit above Milligan Jr. and friends on the team’s All-Time list.
Milligan is also nicely positioned to become only the seventh Roughrider to lead the league interceptions.
As it stands, that exclusive group consists of West (10 interceptions in 1963), Bob Kosid (eight in 1968), Lorne Richardson (seven in 1976; four-way tie), McEachern (10 in 1980; two-way tie), Patrick (nine in 2010) and Gainey (10 in 2017).
TWIN 20s
Milligan Jr. and teammate A.J. Allen are tied for second in special teams tackles with one week left in regular-season play.
Toronto linebacker Jack Cassar has moved into the league lead, with 22. Milligan Jr. and Allen are two back.
Cassar has seven special teams tackles in a three-game span entering Friday’s matchup with the host Edmonton Elks.
A Roughrider has not paced the CFL in special teams tackles since 2005, when Walter Spencer was the co-leader with 29.
Saskatchewan linebacker Ray Bernard had a league-high 32 special teams tackles in 1992.
Milligan Jr. and Allen are the first Roughriders teammates to hit 20 in the same season since 2007 (Yannick Carter 22; Neal Hughes 21).
FINISHING KICK
Roughriders placekicker Brett Lauther has a number of statistical feats within his reach:
• He needs 19 points for 1,000 as a CFLer. He has registered 950 points with Saskatchewan, dating back to 2018, and 31 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (in 2013). With two 21-point performances in the past three games, he could very well take a run at 1,000 on Saturday.
• How about the 200-point club? Lauther’s 195 points this season already rank him seventh in Roughriders history. Dave Ridgway holds the top four spots, with totals of 233 (1990), 216 (1989 and 1991) and 215 (1988). Lauther (198 in 2018) and Ridgway (196 in 1993) round out the top six.
• Lauther could become the first representative of the Green and White to lead the league in scoring since, well, himself in 2018. Previously, six Roughriders have topped the points parade in Canadian professional football — Joe Aguirre (85 in 1954), Jack Hill (145 in 1958), Hugh Campbell (102 in 1966), Jack Abendschan (116 in 1970) and Ridgway (215 in 1988; 233 in 1990).
• Since 2015, when the CFL increased the distance for one-point convert attempts, only one Roughrider has made every extra point. That would be Tyler Crapigna, who went 47-for-47 in 2017. Lauther is 39-for-39 from 33 yards this season.
• And where will Lauther finish on the Roughriders’ All-Time list for field goals in a season? Two field goals on Saturday would give him the team’s highest total since 1991. To this point, the 50-plus club consists of Ridgway (59 in 1990; 55 in 1988; 54 in 1989; 52 in 1991) and Lauther (54 in 2018; 51 this year).
AND FURTHERMORE …
• Shea Patterson, who has seven rushing majors this season, could become the fifth — arguably sixth — quarterback to lead the Roughriders in touchdowns. The list so far: Kerry Joseph (13 in 2007), Kent Austin (11 in 1992; tied with slotback Ray Elgaard), Cody Fajardo (eight in 2022) and Darian Durant (six in 2016). Cornerback Nic Marshall, who for one season lined up as the quarterback in short-yardage situations, scored a team-best seven TDs in 2018.
• Harris could set a Club single-season record for completion percentage. Fajardo (71.46% in 2019) ranks No. 1 for the time being. Harris enters Saturday’s finale at 72.42%.
• Harris needs 23 completions to tie Michael Reilly (2,772) for 12th All-Time in the CFL. Harris is 20th on the career touchdown passes list, with 180 — one fewer than Reilly. Sam Etcheverry (186) and Russ Jackson (185) are also within Harris’s sights.
• Adam Korsak boasts the third-best average yards per punt (47.5) in Roughriders history after posting the second-highest figure (47.9) last season. Jon Ryan set the record of 48.8 in 2019.
• Samuel Emilus could take a run at the Roughriders’ single-season mark for receptions by a Canadian (Ray Elgaard, 94 in 1990). Emilus has 87 receptions for 1,064 yards. Yardage-wise, he set a career high of 1,097 last year.
