By Mike Hardiman
Special to Stampeders.com

The Pregame

The Calgary Stampeders head out on the road this week to face the Edmonton Eskimos with a chance to clinch first place in the West.

Calgary improved its record to 12-3 with a 40-26 win over the BC Lions last week and, in doing so, set up an opportunity to clinch at least a home playoff date with a win over Edmonton (3-12).

A Calgary win combined with a Saskatchewan loss at home against the Lions on Saturday would mean the Stamps would finish in top spot and host the West final.

Calgary and Edmonton have played twice already in 2013, with the Stamps sweeping the Labour Day home-and-home series by score of 37-34 at home and 22-12 in Edmonton.

Calgary is 7-2 in the nine games played at Commonwealth under head coach John Hufnagel and has won the last six straight dating back to 2010.

The Stampeders have a 5-2 road record this season — the fourth time in the last five seasons that they have won at least five games on the road — and are also 5-2 against West teams while Edmonton sports a 1-7 record at home and is winless in seven games against the West. 

The Kickoff

When/Where: Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton
Television: TSN, NBCSN (delayed)
Radio: News Talk 770, Sirius Satellite Channel 157, XM Satellite Channel 160
Internet: www.newstalk770.com

The Stampeders 

Calgary played to its strengths in a win over BC last week and, statistically speaking, the night ended up being a typical home-game performance. The Stamps scored 40 points, had 26 first downs, rushed for 145 yards and had 34:26 of possession, all numbers consistent with the production in seven home wins this season.

RB Jon Cornish continues to have an outstanding season and has left himself with a shot at the team record for rushing yards in a season, currently held by Willie Burden at 1,896 yards. 

For this week’s game with the Eskimos, two key statistical matchups favour Calgary — rushing and sacks. Calgary matches their league-leading rushing attack, averaging 143.3 yards per game, against Edmonton’s eighth-ranked run defence (135.1 yards per game). The Stamps are also second in the CFL in sacks with 49 while the Eskimos are seventh in sacks allowed at 48. Calgary racked up 14 sacks in the two previous games against Edmonton this year.

Calgary’s big improvement on defence last week was against the run as the Stamps allowed only 56 yards.

The Stamps are 8-1 this season when allowing less than 100 yards rushing.

Who to watch:          

Jon Cornish, RB, #9
2013 stats – 215 carries, 1,545 yards rushing, 7.2 yard average, 11 rushing TDs – leads CFL rushing, yards from scrimmage and touchdowns (13); set season records for rushing yards and yards from scrimmage by a Canadian
Last Week – 15 carries, 130 yards, 8.7 yard average, 1 TDs vs BC – third straight game of over 100 yards rushing; named CFL Canadian player of the week
2013 vs Edm. – 31 carries, 191 yards, 6.2 yard average, 0 rushing TDs in two games

Kevin Glenn, QB, #15
2013 stats – 284 attempts, 191 completions, 67.3% completion rate, 2,308 passing yards, 16 TDs, 6 INTs, 102.0 QB rating
Last Week – 37 attempts, 22 completions, 59.4% completion rate, 259 passing yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, 87.6 QB rating vs BC
2013 vs Edm. – 11 attempts, 8 completions, 72.7% completion rate, 108 passing yards, 1 TDs, 0 INTs, 133.9 QB rating in Week 10 – left game due to injury  

Maurice Price, WR, #17
2013 stats – 48 receptions, 700 receiving yards, 14.6 yard average, 7 TDs – second on team in receiving
Last Week – 6 receptions, 68 yards, 13.6 yard average vs BC
2013 vs Edm. – 10 receptions, 208 yards, 20.8 yard average, 3 TDs in two games

Charleston Hughes, DE, #39
2013 stats – 30 tackles, 3 tackles for losses, 13 sacks, 1 INT, 3 pass knockdown, 3 forced fumbles  – leads team in sacks, second in CFL
Last Week – 1 tackle, 1 pass knockdown vs BC
2013 vs Edm. – 6 tackles, 5 sacks in two games

Chris Randle, CB, #33
2013 stats – 26 tackles, 6 special teams tackles, 1 sack, 3 INTs, 1 TD, 9 pass knockdowns, 1 forced fumble
Last Week  – 4 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD, 1 pass knockdown versus BC
2013 vs Edm. – 3 tackles, 2 special teams tackles in two games

The Eskimos                                                                  

The Eskimos have been eliminated from the post-season and will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

Edmonton has won only three games this season but has lost six games by less than five points, so the Eskimos are not that far off from being a contending team.

QB Mike Reilly (#13) gives the team hope at the most important position and, with the likes of SB Fred Stamps (#2), Adarius Bowman (#4) and RB Hugh Charles (#7), Edmonton still has weapons.

Protecting Reilly has been an issue and consistency in the run game is a must going forward for the Green and Gold.

The same story can be told on defence where the Eskimos have had their issues despite good personnel. DE Marcus Howard is fourth in the CFL in sacks with 10 while DB T.J. Hill is tied for fifth in tackles with 73 and DB Chris Thompson (#29) is tied for second in the league with four picks.

Veteran DE Odell Willis (#41) has eight sacks while MLB Rennie Curran (#35) has 47 tackles filling in for the injured J.C. Sherritt. Edmonton is minus-10 in turnover differential and is seventh in takeaways with 28. 

Who to watch:

Mike Reilly, QB, #13
2013 stats – 432 attempts, 262 completions, 60.6% completion rate, 3,589 passing yards, 15 TDs, 21 INTs, 89.0 QB rating – leads all QBs in rushing with 581 yards
Last Game – 34 attempts, 17 completions, 50.0% completion rate, 244 passing yards, 1 TDs, 2 INTs, 49.1 QB rating vs Saskatchewan
2013 vs Cgy. – 61 attempts, 32 completions, 52.4% completion rate, 430 passing yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTS, 12 carries, 112 rushing yards in two games

Fred Stamps, SB, #2
2013 stats –  61 receptions, 1,127 receiving yards, 18.5 yard average, 11 TDs – leads CFL in receiving and receiving TDs
Last Game –  2 receptions, 41 receiving yards, 20.5 yard average, 0 TDs vs Saskatchewan
2013 vs Cgy. – 4 receptions, 81 receiving yards, 20.2 yard average, 1 TD in two games

Damaso Munoz, LB, #45
2013 stats – 73 tackles, 5 tackles for losses, 3 sacks, 2 pass knockdowns, 1 forced fumble, 2 fumble returns, – tied for team lead in tackles, tied for 5th in CFL in tackles
Last Game  – 4 tackles, 1 pass knockdown vs Saskatchewan
2013 vs Cgy. – 11 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 fumble return in two games         

Stats

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

The CFL this Week

Saturday, Oct. 19, 1:30 p.m. – Toronto (9-6) at Winnipeg (3-12)
Saturday, Oct. 19, 5 p.m. – BC (9-6) at Saskatchewan (10-5)
Sunday, Oct. 20 , 11 a.m. – Hamilton (8-7) at Montreal (6-9)