Marquee matchup. Marquee players.
What more could you want from a game in mid-August?
“If you’re a CFL fan, you really look forward to watching a game like this,” Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris said leading up to Saturday’s showdown with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
Saskatchewan versus Hamilton is a clash of the current division leaders. The Roughriders are atop the West with a league-best 7-1 record. Hamilton (6-3) is first in the East, having won six of its past seven games.
“Incredible, incredible matchup,” Roughriders Head Coach Corey Mace said.
“They’re a good team. We believe we’re a good team. We know it’s going to be a battle, but we’re playing with one extra here. The fans are showing up for this one, so it’s going to be fun.”
This is the second meeting of the season between the Roughriders and Tiger-Cats. Saskatchewan won 28-23 at Hamilton Stadium on June 14.
Hamilton rebounded from an 0-2 start with six consecutive victories. Saskatchewan has the CFL’s longest active winning streak (three games).
Both teams boast a starting quarterback who is widely touted as a candidate to be named the league’s Most Outstanding Player.
Harris has been the CFL’s top-rated quarterback, in the appraisal of Pro Football Focus, in three of his past four games. He leads the league in quarterback efficiency rating (119.7).
Hamilton’s Bo Levi Mitchell has the most passing yards (2,856) and touchdown passes (21) in the CFL this season, along with the lowest interception rate (0.9 per cent).
“I’ve always admired Bo from afar,” Harris said. “Watching him play, he makes the game look easy. He never gets sped up. His touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio is as good as I’ve seen since I’ve been up here.
“He has done a tremendous job of kind of reinventing himself in terms of always wanting to take shots and push the ball down the field, no matter what, to taking what the defence gives him.
“When you find quarterbacks who can do that and take shots down the field, it becomes a problem. You can see that he has become a problem across the league.
“I have a lot of admiration and respect for Bo but, at the same time, I’m not going to be too worried about what he’s doing in the game. I’ve just got to make sure that I’m operating our offence as best we can, going against a really good defence.”
PASSING PROWESS
Harris and Mitchell enter Saturday’s game with a combined 77,120 career passing yards.
Mitchell (41,879) is ninth All-Time. Harris (35,331) is 14th.
Saturday’s game will be only the fifth in Roughriders history in which both starting quarterbacks have 35,000-plus career passing yards.
Kevin Glenn started for Saskatchewan in the first four games of that description.
On Sept. 19, 2015, Glenn and the Roughriders played host to the Ottawa REDBLACKS, who were quarterbacked by Henry Burris.
Glenn’s opposite number was Ricky Ray when Saskatchewan faced the Toronto Argonauts three times in 2017 (on July 29, Oct. 7 and Nov. 19). The latter contest was the Eastern Final, in which the Roughriders participated as a crossover team.
Burris retired with 63,639 yards (third All-Time). Ray, a fellow Canadian Football Hall of Famer, is fourth at 60,736. Glenn (52,867) is seventh.
On Saturday, Harris and Mitchell will both cross paths with a key figure from their CFL past.
Hamilton Head Coach Scott Milanovich was the Argonauts’ bench boss when Harris broke into the league with Toronto in 2012.
That was also the rookie season for Mitchell, who was the Stampeders’ third-string quarterback and short-yardage specialist in 2012.
In the latter capacity, Mitchell threw his first of 247 career touchdown passes — a one-yarder to Mace, who was typically a defensive tackle, in a short-yardage situation.
Jokingly, Mace was asked how much credit he deserves for kick-starting Mitchell’s steady stream of touchdown passes.
“Zero … absolutely zero,” the Roughriders’ chief strategist replied. “Looking back, we all saw what he had. I’m not shocked at the career he has had.
“He’s a special talent. He does a lot of really good stuff and he has been able to do it for a long time.
“Nothing but respect for ol’ Bo.”
And for Harris as well.
“In my personal opinion, they’re two future Hall of Famers,” Mace said of Saturday’s signal-callers. “Just to see them compete at a high level among their teammates will be fun to take in for people who are coming to watch it.
“Having spent time around both of those guys, they’re super-competitive. They’re going to do everything possible to push their team forward. I have nothing but respect for both guys so, yeah, that should be a good one.”
FUN WITH 7-AND-1
Jorgen Hus is a member of a 7-1 team for the first time since 2009, when he was a graduating member of the PFC’s Saskatoon Hilltops.
“Obviously, it feels good, but I’m still humble,” the Roughriders’ 10th-year long snapper said. “The worst thing we can do is get complacent.
“Personally, I really don’t care what our record is. Until we beat the teams that we need to beat and cross them off, we’re going to remain humble. We’ve got work to do. It’s just the first half of the season.
“Obviously, it’s a good start. We’ve put ourselves in a good situation, but we have to beat the teams down the road that we know we need to beat.”
Saskatchewan’s next four games are all against teams that currently sport winning records.
After the Hamilton game, the Roughriders will turn their attention to an Aug. 23 appointment with the host Stampeders (6-3). Calgary is the only team with a victory over Saskatchewan this season.
Also down the road is the annual home-and-home set with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-4). The arch-rivals are to meet Aug. 31 at Mosaic Stadium and Sept. 6 in Winnipeg. The Blue Bombers have represented the West Division in the past five Grey Cup Games.
The Montreal Alouettes (4-4) pay a visit on Sept. 13. Saskatchewan improved its record to 7-1 by winning 34-6 in Montreal on Aug. 2.
“I think we’re playing all-around good football,” Hus said.
“(Offensive Co-ordinator) Marc Mueller’s doing a heck of a job. Trevor is playing great football and making good decisions. The defence is playing well. It’s just a team effort. There’s a lot of good energy in here. It’s a fun place to come to work.
“I think we’re just doing a lot of things right but just like anything in pro sports — and pro football, especially — it’s a razor blade between winning and losing, so you’ve got to stay on it and you’ve got to stay hungry.”
OUELLETTE’S A THREAT
When the Roughriders and Tiger-Cats last met, A.J. Ouellette was the centrepiece of a one-play, 47-yard touchdown drive.
His second-quarter scoring sprint put the Roughriders on the board at 11:32 of the second quarter. Overall, he rushed for 96 yards on 13 carries.
The win in Hamilton ignited a three-game run in which Ouellette rushed for 96, 91 and 139 yards.
Over the past three games, he has recorded 72, 62 and 74 yards to increase his season total to 564 — second-best in the league.
Impressive, yes, but there is the potential for more.
“I think we can do a better job of establishing the run and getting A.J. going,” Harris said.
“Those 100-yard games that we were seeing earlier in the year, they’re going to happen again, because our offensive line is a tremendous offensive line. They’re playing viciously well this year.
“We just want to see those games pop again for A.J. and make sure we’re running the football effectively.”
CROWD COUNT
A sellout crowd will be on hand at 33,350-seat Mosaic Stadium for Saturday’s game.
“It’s everything. It’s incredible,” Mace said of Rider Nation’s robust response to the 7-1 start. “I’m hoping this is going to be a weekly thing for us, every home game.
“I know that it helps the team, yes, but the team certainly wants to give back to the fan base for them coming out here and supporting us.
“The best way as a team that we can support them is to continue to play football that they’re proud of.
“The more eyes that can see it in person and make it tough for the opponent, we’re all for that.”
Green-clad fans will undoubtedly do their utmost to create a decibel level that will disrupt the Tiger-Cats’ offence. The trade-off, though, is that the Roughriders’ defence will also have to account for the noise.
“It’s nice playing in Mosaic and having Rider Nation cheer for us,” safety Nelson Lokombo said.
“It does get loud, so we’ve just got to make sure we’re keyed in on what everybody’s doing. Hand signals are really important and pre-snap communication is also important.
“It is tough, but we love it. It’s tough for the offence. Both of us can’t hear, but it’s cool.”
