On their first drive, the Saskatchewan Roughriders executed 10 offensive plays inside Montreal Alouettes territory.
Montreal ran 10 offensive plays on Saskatchewan’s side of midfield the entire game.
That, as much as anything, underlines the lopsidedness of Saturday’s CFL contest at Montreal’s Percival Molson Memorial Stadium — a once-forbidding territory that the Roughriders treated like a playground en route to winning 34-6 and entering a bye week with a league-best 7-1 record.
It was utter domination from the outset.
The tone was set when Dohnte Meyers returned the opening kickoff 46 yards. Scrimmaging the ball on the Alouettes’ 54-yard line, the Roughriders advanced to the end zone in 10 plays while consuming six minutes 48 seconds.
Saskatchewan had not devoured so much time on their opening possession since July 14, 2012, just a few hours after the official announcement that a new Mosaic Stadium would be built.
Just over 13 years ago against the visiting B.C. Lions, the Roughriders travelled 63 yards in 13 plays before Chris Milo kicked a 32-yard field goal. That prolonged possession devoured 7:11.
The 2012 season was also the first in Canadian professional football for then-Toronto Argonauts quarterback Trevor Harris, who is now a third-year Roughrider.
Harris dissected a highly regarded Alouettes defence on Saturday, completing 19 of 27 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns.
He helped Saskatchewan own the time of possession (36:52) during the team’s most complete outing of the season.
Five of the Roughriders’ previous six wins had been registered in games that were decided by seven or fewer points. The total margin of victory in those five nailbiters: 26 points.
Saturday’s margin of victory: 28.
“We had a focused group,” Harris told TSN after the game. “We came off a close win last week (21-18 over the Edmonton Elks) and we know we’re kind of building into the team we want to be.
“You kind of hate to have a bye at this point in time, because we feel like we’re getting so much momentum and we’re starting to grow a little bit more.
“We left some stuff on the table here offensively tonight. I could be better. There are quite a few plays I want back.
“But anytime you can get a win against this type of a team on the road — a Grey Cup-calibre team — we’ll take it, obviously, going into the bye week at 7-and-1.”
FUN FACT: Tom Harris, Trevor’s father, was a Little League catcher in Waldo, Ohio the first time the Roughriders were 7-1. That was back in 1970, when the Roughriders finished at 14-2 and established an enduring franchise record for victories.
Saskatchewan next sported a 7-1 slate during the championship season of 2013.
The Roughriders are now celebrating the third 7-1 start in franchise history.
The team has enjoyed a torrid start even though the offensive line and receiving corps have been ravaged by injuries.
Saskatchewan’s defence has been comparatively healthy.
On Saturday, it was beyond compare.
The Roughriders did not surrender a touchdown in a regulation-length road game for the first time since Oct. 20, 2017, when the Calgary Stampeders fell 30-7.
Saskatchewan surrendered a mere 168 yards of net offence in that game at McMahon Stadium. The Alouettes’ net offence on Saturday (169) was the lowest by a Roughriders opponent since the aforementioned 2017 contest.
Montreal averaged 13 yards per possession.
The Alouettes ran 50 plays from scrimmage and not one of them crossed the Roughriders’ 46-yard line.
The Roughriders, by contrast, scrimmaged the ball 29 times within 46 yards of the home team’s end zone.
That includes nine such plays on the game’s opening possession, during which the Roughriders systematically advanced toward the goal line before short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens scored a one-yard major.
Percival Molson Memorial Stadium’s playing surface remained tilted the rest of the way.
