By Max Campbell
Stampeders.com

When the Ottawa RedBlacks pay a visit to McMahon Stadium on Saturday evening, the Red and White will be ready to take on a high-quality opponent in a Week 8 battle of first-place teams.

After a disappointing 2-16 record in their inaugural campaign, Ottawa made numerous offseason upgrades — including the additions of former Stampeders wideouts Maurice Price and Brad Sinopoli — which have helped propel the RedBlacks to an impressive 4-2 start in 2015.

A July 24 contest at TD Place saw Calgary squander a fourth-quarter lead as Ottawa claimed victory on home field. Now with a chance for payback, the Stamps will look to remain unbeaten this season in Southern Alberta.

“They played well and we weren’t playing good enough out there,” said fullback Rob Cote of their prior meeting. “That was a tough stretch of games for us. Now we’re coming off a bye week fresh and hungry to get one back on them.”

Brandon Smith shared similar sentiments as the eight-year veteran will again have his hands full with the RedBlacks’ revamped receiving corps.

“First of all, you always want to win every game you play, but when you lose one early in the season to a team, you always want to make up for that loss,” the all-star defensive back explained. “It was a heartbreaking loss losing in overtime, so we just have to reload and kind of put that in the past and focus on what we’ve got coming up. We have to do the (important) things to come away with a victory, especially at home in front of our fans.”

Despite two dominant victories over Ottawa in 2014, the Stampeders fully expected the RedBlacks to respond with a vengeance in Year No. 2 and their Week 5 matchup merely backed up the belief that the team from the Nation’s Capital would quickly become legitimate contenders.

“I thought they were a good football team (last year),” Cote stated, who led the team in rushing when playing host to Ottawa last season. “They lost some close ones last year and they’re winning some close ones this year. They league has got a lot of parity. There are a lot of good football teams. Whether you win them all or lose them all, it doesn’t mean they weren’t close. They’re a good team and it’s good that they’re having a good year.”

Projecting substantial improvement on behalf of the RedBlacks was Smith, who played under defensive coordinator Rick Campbell in Calgary before the longtime CFL assistant was given his first head coaching position when hired by Ottawa in December of 2013.

“They just couldn’t put the pieces together and it was their first year in the league,” remarked Smith on the RedBlacks’ inability to produce wins early on in the franchise’s existence. “Coming back for a second year, they’re putting things together and they’re working well as a unit. The have a good offence, good defence, good special teams and they’re well coached, so I knew that they’d pick things up this year. They were one of the (teams) that I kind of thought would be a better team this year, among the tops in the East. As of now, they’re doing as expected.”