Anticipation in Rider Nation.
Head Coach Corey Mace detected such a vibe among the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ players before, during and after the CFL team’s final full practice of the 2024 regular season.
“I think there’s just eagerness,” he said on Thursday at Mosaic Stadium. “We had some good compete periods today. The guys were out there competing their tails off and that’s the environment you look for.”
Especially with a home playoff game having been secured. (Tickets are available HERE.)
The immediate priority is Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Calgary Stampeders (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
A Roughriders win, coupled with a Montreal Alouettes victory over the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers earlier in the day, would give Saskatchewan first place in the West and hosting privileges for the division final on Nov. 9.
The other possibility is a second-place finish and a Saskatchewan-based West semi-final on Nov. 2.
“We’ve got a game versus Calgary this week,” Mace said, “so the guys are pretty dialed in on that.”
Attention is also being paid to the fine details that, given the way this season has unfolded, can spell the difference between victory and defeat.
“As we look through our season, there have been a lot of tight games,” Mace said. “The last time we played Calgary, we had a nice little lead and we kind of let it trickle back in, so we’re just working on different things to maintain ourselves through different situations.”
The Roughriders’ first-year chief strategist referenced a Sept. 20 game in Calgary, where the visiting side led 24-9 and 31-15 before the Stampeders narrowed the gap to 34-29.
Saskatchewan ultimately won 37-29 at McMahon Stadium to ignite a four-game winning streak the 9-7-1 Roughriders carry into this weekend.
Until the win in Calgary, the Roughriders were lamenting, but not sidetracked by, a winless streak that had stretched to seven games (0-6-1).
“We felt in camp like we had a pretty good team and that we were going to be able to compete,” said Mace, who guided the Roughriders to records of 4-0-0 and 5-1-0 before the team encountered an adversity-filled spell that included four games that were decided on the final play.
“I know we always go back to the stretch — and not the good one — but I was impressed with how the guys responded, with the morale, and with them understanding that it was a ‘bounce back or bounce backwards’ kind of deal.
“The games didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but when you watched the games, you knew that there were fixable tweaks to get over the hump.
“To make a bunch of drastic changes, that’s tough, because if you make one change, on paper it looks like there’s just one guy, but there are so many people playing around the one person being changed.
“Continuity is key in my thought process. The guys just responded well. We always believed we were still a good team, even when things were dark.
“To have that confidence in the first year of people being around each other is special. I’m happy with the way things have turned and with the position that we’re in now, but the confidence hasn’t wavered from when things were ugly for us.
“Now we kind of just use it as a scar that you’re proud, because I think it will make us better — and it has.”
Those experiences, unpleasant at the time, could pay immense dividends in the playoffs, when teams are often required to scratch and claw for a victory.
“That’s the scarring that we’re proud of,” Mace reiterated. “We’re better for it and we’re better from it.
“Those games that come down to the wire and that are tight, we’ve been in a lot of them, so we’re going to be comfortable in those situations.
“For us, it’s just nice to have been in so many different situations where we can say, ‘Fellas, we’ve been here before. This is how we have to handle it. We know how to handle it. Let’s go.’ ”
Regardless of the outcome, the Roughriders have tended to play down-to-the-wire games in 2024.
A notable exception was a 39-8 home-field victory over the B.C. Lions on Oct 12, in a game that preceded the Roughriders’ third and final bye week of the regular season.
“I think the first thing was to see what (a complete performance) looks like,” Mace said, “and that was our first one of the year.
“To have it this late in the season, I’m actually happy that we did, because now we have something to build off. We know what it’s supposed to look like.
“Now it’s just about reps and being able to emulate what we were just able to do. Without seeing it, you can hear it, but you’ve got to believe it.
“Those guys put in the effort and now they know what it looks like. They’ve seen it and, good or bad, the standard has been set.
“We’ve seen it as a staff as well, so the expectation is now that — and that’s the new bar.”
