The Saskatchewan Roughriders have three chances to clinch the CFL’s West Division title and earn a first-round bye in the playoffs.
But as they prepare to host the Toronto Argonauts Friday night in Regina, Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris figures: Why make everyone wait three weeks when you can take care of business in one?
“If you can win a fight in the first round of three rounds, you do it,” he said. “I think it’s most important for us to be trending in the right direction, heading to be the team that we want to be to win the whole thing.”
Saskatchewan (11-4) put itself at the brink of a title with last week’s 20-13 win at Ottawa that gave it a 2 1/2-game lead on second-place BC, which is idle this week. The Roughriders could only lose the division by dropping the last three games while two of three teams below them — BC, Calgary and Winnipeg — win out to set up a complicated tiebreaker.
Saskatchewan coach Corey Mace has preached a simple message to his team this week.
“Just win the next one, man,” he said. “That’s really always the same message throughout the entire season.”
While the Roughriders chase playoff positioning, Toronto (5-11) can only chase the season’s end in three weeks. It was eliminated from the playoff hunt Saturday with a 47-29 home loss to Hamilton that saw quarterback Jarret Doege toss four interceptions.
Doege will be in there this week as well because Nick Arbuckle (shoulder) has been shut down for the season’s remainder.
How does fifth-year coach Ryan Dinwiddie — who raised the Grey Cup last year in Vancouver when the Argos routed Winnipeg — plan to motivate his team for the last two games?
“You tell the players and coaches that they’re playing and coaching for jobs,” he said. “We’ve got some young players who have some opportunities for us to evaluate them and put some play on tape.”
The teams played a wild game on June 20 in Toronto, Saskatchewan prevailing 39-32 when Mario Alford returned a kickoff for a touchdown with nine seconds left.
–Field Level Media
