By Mike Hardiman
Stampeders.com

The Calgary Stampeders play their second-last road game of the 2012 regular season this week as they make the trip to Winnipeg to do battle with the Blue Bombers.

The Stampeders (8-6) were tripped up by a 27-22 score last week at BC Place by the Lions and missed out on a chance to gain a share of first place. The Bombers (4-10) pulled off what might be the upset of the year by knocking off the Alouettes in Montreal by the same score of 27-22.

The Stamps now sit four points back of the division-leading Lions with four games to go and are now tied with the Riders for second place. Calgary has lost the season series with the Lions and so must finish ahead of BC if the Stamps hope to host the West final. They have the second-place edge thanks to the tie-breaker advantage over Saskatchewan.

The Stamps are 1-2 since a four-game winning streak in late August and early September. Calgary is 3-3 against the East with two games to go (Winnipeg, Hamilton at home). Calgary is 3-4 on the road while Winnipeg is 3-4 at home and a dismal 1-6 against teams from the West.

Calgary beat the Bombers badly back in Week 12 , 44-3 at McMahon, and the Stamps have won two in a row in Winnipeg after victories of 21-20 in 2011 and 35-32 in 2010. It’s scheduled to be the last game for Calgary at Canad Inns Stadium as the Bombers hope to open the 2013 season in a new facility.

THE KICKOFF

This week’s game is scheduled for an 11 a.m. MDT start on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Canad Inns Stadium in Winnipeg. The game will be televised on TSN and RDS2 and can be heard on the radio at QR77 (AM 770 on the radio dial and www.qr77.com on the Internet) and on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, channel 157 and channel 160 for XM subscribers. Fans in the U.S. can catch the game via webcast on ESPN3 (www.espn.go.com). The game will also be seen the next day at www.tsn.ca on TSN’s video-on-demand page.

THE OFFENCE

Calgary’s offence last week followed the pattern set by previous losses this season, proving again how important success in the run game is to success in the win column. The Stamps failed to rush for 100 yards in the game (61) for the seventh time this season and saw their record fall to 1-6 in those games. That compares to their perfect 7-0 record when topping the century mark in rushing.

Calgary had only 16 first downs in the loss, including only two rushing first downs. Calgary is 0-3 when gaining fewer than 20 first downs and dropped to 1-5 when possessing the ball on offence for less than 30 minutes.

RB Jon Cornish had all of Calgary’s 61 rushing yards and still leads the CFL in rushing with 1,188 yards and nine touchdowns.

QB Kevin Glenn passed for 242 yards (the first time in six games that he has passed for less than 250 yards), one touchdown, two interceptions and had a passer rating of 62.9, a season low. Glenn has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns in a game only four times this season and the Stamps are 1-3 in those games.

SB Nik Lewis led the team once again with six receptions for 77 yards and surpassed the 1,000-yard plateau for the ninth straight season, a club record. Lewis leads the CFL with 84 catches and has posted good numbers against Winnipeg in his career with 1,435 yards and seven touchdowns in 18 career games.

WR Johnny Forzani and WR Romby Bryant each had four receptions, with Bryant also scoring a touchdown. Despite the tough showing for the Stamps offensively, they remain second in the CFL in points scored (28.4 per game), touchdowns (38), and total offence (383.7 yards per game). Calgary averages 340.4 yards of offence per game on the road compared to 427 yards of offence at home and has topped the 400-yard mark on offence just once on the road compared to four times at home.

THE DEFENCE

Calgary’s defence may have deserved a better fate last week after holding the Lions to respectable totals of 388 yards of offence and 27 points, not to mention scoring a touchdown of its own. It was the defensive unit’s third score this season.

Calgary is now 3-5 when allowing more than 20 first downs in a game (26 last week), 1-5 when allowing the opposing offence more than 30 minutes of possession, 3-5 when giving up more than 100 yards rushing (140 against the Lions) and 4-5 when surrendering more than 300 yards of total offence.

Calgary has given up more than 100 rushing yards in three of the last four games. The Stampeders remain third in points allowed (23.5 points per game), third in total offence allowed (340.3 yards per game) and fourth in touchdowns allowed (33, with eight in the last three games compared to just nine in the previous six games). Calgary forced only one turnover (but scored on the play) and is last in takeaways with 21 and seventh in turnover ratio at minus-9. The Stamps are the only team with a winning record to be negative in the turnover ratio (while Edmonton is the only team with a losing record to be positive at plus-8).

The Stampeders allowed a first-possession touchdown for only the second time this season and for the first time since Week 2. The Stamps have allowed only 17 first-drive points this season total and have allowed only 45 first-quarter points, an average of 3.2 points per game.

LB Malik Jackson led the team in tackles last week with seven while MLB Juwan Simpson was next with six. Simpson also collected his second sack of the season.

Charleston Hughes was his usual active self with four stops, a pass knockdown and his league-leading fifth forced fumble of the year. DB Brandon Smith returned that fumble for a touchdown and also had four tackles.

THE SPECIAL TEAMS

K Rene Paredes was three-for-three in field-goal attempts and has now kicked seven straight field goals since his last miss back in Week 13 against the Riders. Paredes has only missed three field goals in all of 2012 and has streaks of seven, eight and 11 consecutive field goals. Paredes is tied for third in scoring with 124 points and is only 15 points off the league lead, currently held by Paul McCallum.

KR Jason Armstead totaled 108 yards on kick returns including a long punt return of 33 yards.

THE OPPOSITION

The Bombers are last in the CFL at 4-10 but are 2-1 in the three games played since they last met the Stamps, with wins at home over Hamilton and on the road over Montreal. Winnipeg is last in the CFL in points scored (19.6 per game), touchdowns (13) and total offence (324.5 yards per game) but the Bombers average 29.0 points scored in their four wins.

Three of their four wins have come at home and Winnipeg averages 26.1 points scored per game at Cand Inns.

QB Joey Elliott (#14) was the star of the Bombers’ upset win over Montreal, passing for 335 yards and three touchdowns. Elliott is the only Bombers QB with multiple victories (two) and has passed for 741 yards, four TDs and no interceptions in his two wins. RB Chad Simpson (#5) is fourth in the CFL in rushing with 783 yards in only 11 games and second in average yards-per-game at 71.2 yards.

The Bombers have two receivers in the CFL’s top 10 — rookie WR Chris Matthews (#13) is sixth with 64 receptions for 974 yards and six touchdowns (six catches for 143 yards and a TD in last week’s win) while veteran SB Terrence Edwards (#82) is eighth with 57 catches for 846 yards and three majors.

On defence, the Bombers rank seventh in points allowed (30.6 per game) and touchdowns (38) and sixth in offence allowed (388.1 yards per game) despite good personnel. Winnipeg leads the CFL in sacks with 32 and the unit is led by DE Alex Hall (#96), who leads the league with nine sacks, and DT Bryant Turner (#92) who has six.

DB Jonathan Hefney (#23) leads the team in tackles with 59 and is followed by fellow DB Alex Suber (#21), who has 49. MLB Henoc Muamba (#10) is third with 43 tackles and leads the CFL with in forced fumbles with five (tied with Calgary’s Charleston Hughes).

The Bombers are tied with Calgary for sixth in interceptions (10) with CB Brandon Stewart (#8, a former Stampeder) and CB Johnny Sears (#0) tied for the team lead with two. KR Demond Washington (#15) has two punt-return touchdowns.

THE OTHER GAMES

The Lions (10-4, first place in the West and the first team to clinch a playoff spot) travel east to Hamilton for a date with the Ticats (5-9, third place in the East) on Friday Night Football.

It’s a doubleheader on Saturday with the Riders (8-6) visiting Edmonton (6-8, fourth place) looking to knock the Eskimos out of the West playoffs with a win (if combined with a Calgary victory).

Montreal (8-6, first place in the East) is on the road in Toronto for a first-place showdown with the Argos (7-7, second place) on Sunday.

NEXT UP

The Stampeders return home for a two-game stand beginning with the return of Henry Burris as the Hamilton Ticats invade McMahon on Saturday, Oct. 20. Calgary beat the Ticats 31-20 back in Week 7 and also won the last game played at home against the Tabbies, a 32-20 win in 2011.