By Mike Hardiman
Special to Stampeders.com

The Pregame

The Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos get set for the next chapter in the Battle of Alberta as the two teams meet in their annual Labour Day grudgematch.

Calgary rebounded from a Week 8 loss to the Lions win by beating the Argos 35-14 on Aug. 23. The win improved Calgary’s record to 6-2 and kept the Stamps in second place in the West.

Edmonton lost a squeaker 30-27 at home to the Riders and fell to 1-7, the club’s worst start since 1971. Edmonton has now lost six games in a row, tied for the longest active losing streak in the CFL.

Calgary swept the Eskimos in 2012, winning all four games played between the provincial rivals, though three of the games were decided by a field goal or less. Calgary is 6-3 in the last nine games played at McMahon against the Edmonton and is 3-2 in the last five Labour Day games dating back to 2008.

The Stamps won 31-30 in last year’s Labour Day clash as well as wins in 2009 and 2010. Calgary is 3-0 at home in 2013 and 2-2 against the West while Edmonton is 1-3 away from home and 0-4 within the West Division. 

The Kickoff

When/Where: Monday, Sept. 2 at 3 p.m. at McMahon Stadium in Calgary
Television: TSN, NBCSN
Radio: News Talk 770, Sirius Satellite Channel 157, XM Satellite Channel 160
Internet: www.newstalk770.com

The Stampeders 

Calgary gutted out a big win in Toronto last week, beating the Argos 35-14 despite numerous injuries, especially on offence.

Calgary played the game with seven offensive starters sidelined but continue to find ways to win games and score points. The Stamps offence is second in the CFL and has scored more than 35 points five times this season (5-0 in those games).

Calgary continued its winning formula of ball control, racking up 177 rushing yards, 24 first downs and 35 minutes of possession even with their top rusher Jon Cornish out of the lineup. RB Matt Walter and rookie RB Jon Williams combined for 138 of those ground-and-pound yards, with Walter setting a career high of 56 yards.

SB Jabari Arthur picked up some of the slack for an injured Nik Lewis, hauling in four passes for 42 yards. 

Calgary’s defence matched a season low in points allowed — giving up just 14 — and now averages 22.8 points per game allowed on the road. The Stamps gave up just 79 rushing yards and have allowed over 100 yards along the ground only twice this year (both times to Saskatchewan).

LB Keon Raymond led the way with five tackles and a pass knockdown while CB Fred Bennett had two tackles, a forced fumble and a pass knockdown.

Who to watch:          

Kevin Glenn, QB, #15
2013 stats – 148 attempts, 101 completions, 68.2% completion rate, 1,158 passing yards, 6 TDs, 2 INTs, 99.4 QB rating in five starts (4-1 record in those games)
Last Week – 20 attempts, 14 completions, 70.0% completion rate, 228 passing yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 141.3  QB rating – season-high in QB rating
2012 vs Edm. – 100 attempts, 71 completions, 71.0% completion rate, 956 passing yards, 6 TDs, 4 INTs in four games played – 292 passing yards in Week 14 was the highest total of the four games

Marquay McDaniel, SB, # 16
2013 stats – 36 catches, 419 yards receiving, 11.6 yard average, 3 TDs – 14th in CFL receiving, leads team 
Last Week – 7 catches, 106 yards, 15.1 yard average, 1 TD vs Tor. – led team in receiving
2012 vs Edm. – 13 catches, 179 yards receiving, 13.8 yard average, 0 Tds in three games played

Jon Cornish, RB, #9
2013 stats – 108 carries, 749 yards rushing, 6.9 yard average, 8 rushing TDs – second in CFL in rushing
Last Week – did not play due to injury
2012 vs Edm. – 63 carries, 505 yards rushing, 8.0 yard average, 3 Tds in four games played – had two games of over 180 yards rushing vs Edm.

Cordarro Law,  DE, #49
2013 stats – 16 tackles, 4 special teams tackles, 5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble – tied for team lead  in sacks
Last Week – 5 tackles, 2 sacks versus Toronto
2012 vs Edm. – did not play against Edmonton

Jamar Wall, HB, #29
2013 stats – 20 tackles, 2 INTs, 2 pass knockdowns – leads team in interceptions
Last Week  – 3 tackles, 1 INT  vs Tor.
2012 vs Edm. – 7 tackles, 1 sack in three games played

The Eskimos                                                                              

With the Eskimos at 1-7 and on a six-game losing streak, the temptation for the uninitiated might be to assume Edmonton is an easy win. That would be a mistake however as the Eskimos have shown signs of progress over the past few weeks.

After three initial losses in which the average margin of victory for the opponent was 15 points, the Eskimos have lost their last four games by a combined 12 points.

Edmonton has averaged 444 yards of total offence over the past three games due to a drastic improvement in its passing attack, which has seen its per-game average rise from 213.6 yards in the first five games to 376 yards in the last three.

QB Mike Reilly (#13) has a good receiving corps including veterans Fred Stamps (#2), Cary Koch (#84) and Marcus Henry (#89).

RB Hugh Charles will miss the game because of an injury so rookie John White will get the start in his place.

On defence, the Eskimos are last in the CFL in rushing yards allowed, giving up 136 yards per game. Edmonton has kept opponents to under 100 yard rushing just twice this season and have given up over 150 yards five times.

MLB J.C. Sherritt (#47) may return after missing time due to injury and the Eskimos defence still features plenty of veterans such as  DE Odell Willis (#41), LB T.J. Hill (#12), HB Chris Thompson (#29) and CB Joe Burnett (#22).

Who to watch:

Mike Reilly, QB, #13
2013 stats – 235 attempts, 147 completions, 62.6% completion rate, 2,031 passing yards, 12 TDs, 8 INTs, 93.1 QB rating – second in CFL in passing yards
Last Game– 29 attempts, 19 completions, 65.5% completion rate, 303 passing yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs, 106.0 QB rating vs Ssk.  –  third straight game of more than 300 yards passing
2012 vs Cgy. – 26 attempts, 19 completions, 73.1% completion rate, 261 passing yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, in one game played with BC, Week 18 in Calgary

Fred Stamps, SB, #2
2013 stats – 36 catches, 684 yards receiving, 19.0 average, 6 Tds – leads CFL in receiving yards   
Last Game – 8 catches, 111  receiving yards, 13.9 yard average, 2 TDs vs Ssk.
2012 vs Cgy. – 17 catches, 355 receiving yards, 20.8 yard average, 4 TDs in four games

Damaso Munoz, LB, #45
2013 stats – 49 tackles, 5 tackles for losses, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery – 3rd in CFL in tackles
Last Game  – 4 tackles vs Ssk.
2012 vs Cgy. – 23 tackles in four games

Stats

Here are the two teams’ offensive and defensive totals and league rankings after last week’s games

The CFL this Week

Friday, Aug. 30 – 8 p.m. – Hamilton (4-4) at BC (5-3)
Sunday, Sept. 1 – 2 p.m. – Winnipeg (1-7) at Saskatchewan (7-1)
Tuesday, Sept. 3 – 5:30 p.m. – Montreal (3-5) at Toronto (5-3)