By Mike Hardiman
Stampeders.com

The Pregame

The Calgary Stampeders head back on the road for the first time in three weeks as they head to Regina to tangle with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Calgary (5-2) kept pace with the Eskimos for first place in the West last week with a 48-3 whipping of the visiting Ottawa Redblacks. The 48 points scored by the Stamps were the most scored by the team in a single game since Week 18 of the 2010 season and the 45-point margin of victory was the biggest for Calgary since a 47-point win over Edmonton on Labour Day of the same year.

The Riders (0-7, last place in the West) had a bye last week and lost 30-26 to the Argos in Toronto in Week 7.

Calgary is currently on a two-game winning streak and has won four straight against the Riders dating back to 2013. The Stamps beat the Riders at Mosaic Stadium last season by a 31-24 score and have won five of the eight regular-season games played there over the past five seasons.

Calgary is 0-2 on the road and 1-0 against the West,while the Riders are 0-4 at home and also 0-4 against Western teams. 

The Kickoff

When/Where: Saturday, Aug. 22 at 5 p.m. MDT at Mosaic Stadium in Regina
Television: TSN, ESPN3
Radio: Newstalk 770, SiriusXM Channel 167
Internet: www.newstalk770.com

The Stampeders

Calgary will be looking once again to get the running game going this week as the Stamps’ once-dominant rushing attack has been slow to come around in 2015.

The Stamps have only rushed for more than 100 yards in a game once in 2015 (Week 4 against Winnipeg), this after topping the century mark in 16 of 18 games last season. They’ve come close in the past two games however with totals of 94 and 92 yards. Calgary has rushed for 324 yards in its last two wins in Regina but totalled only 139 rushing yards in its last two losses.

In the passing game, Calgary QB Bo Levi Mitchell has averaged 296.6 yards passing in his past three games and has five TDs and no interceptions in that span. The Stamps have not had a 300-yard passing game in Regina in the past seven visits.

Calgary’s o-line will need to keep the Riders’ improving d-line off Mitchell as Saskatchewan has 14 sacks in its last three games while the Stamps have given up 10 sacks in their last three games. The Stamps offence has been clean its past two games in terms of giveaways and will want to continue that trend against a Riders defence that is on record pace for fewest takeaways.

A big challenge for the Stampeders defence will be controlling the Riders’ potent ground attack as Saskatchewan has five straight 100-yard rushing games at home against Calgary. The Stamps have only given up two 100-yard rushing games this year (both to Montreal).

Calgary gives up an average of 392.5 total yards on the road, both losses, compared to just 287.4 total yards at home, all wins.

Calgary collected five sacks last week against Ottawa and will want to pressure the Riders’ rookie QB into making mistakes as the Riders have four turnovers in their past two games under Brett Smith.

Who to watch:

Bo Levi Mitchell – QB, #19
2015 stats – 219 attempts, 141 completions, 64.4% completion rate, 1, 865 passing yards, 9 TDs, 4 INTs,  97.3 QB rating – third in CFL passing yards
Last game – 25 attempts, 17 completions, 68.0% completion rate, 243 passing yards, 2 TD , 0 INTs,  125.9 QB rating –  season high in rating; Week 8 vs Ottawa, named a CFL Top Performer for Week 8
2014 vs Ssk. – 31 attempts, 21 completions, 67.7% completion rate, 231 passing yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 86.9 QB rating – one game

Matt Walter – RB, #14
2015 stats – 25 carries, 110 rushing, 4.4 yard average, 1 TD
Last game – 10 carries, 41 rushing yards, 4.1 yard average, 1 TD – Week 8 vs Ottawa
2014 vs Ssk. – 19 carries, 95 yards, 5.0 yard average, 2 TDs – two games

Eric Rogers – SB, #80
2015 stats – 32 receptions, 555 receiving yards, 17.3 yard average, 6 TDs – leads team in receiving yards, second in CFL receiving, leads CFL in receiving TDs
Last game – 5 receptions, 92receiving yards, 18.4 yard average, 1 TD –  led team in receiving, fifth straight game with a TD catch; Week 8 vs Ottawa
2014 vs Ssk. – 5 receptions, 72 receiving yards, 14.4 yard average, 0 TDs – one game

Junior Turner – DT, #7
2015 stats – 14 tackles, 3 tackles for losses, 1 sack, 3 pass knockdowns
Last game – 3 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass knockdown – Week 8 vs Ottawa
2014 vs Ssk. – 7 tackles, 1 sack,  1 pass knockdown – two games

Rob Maver – P, #6
2015 stats – 56 punts, 2,637 yards, 47.1 yard punting average, four singles – second in CFL punts and punting yardage, third in CFL punting average
Last game – 12 punts, 547 yards, 45.6 yard punting average, 1 single – Week 8 vs Ottawa
2014 vs Ssk. – 14 punts, 650 yards, 46.4 punting average, 1 single – two games

The Roughriders                                               

The Riders have yet to win a game in 2015 but have only been blown out in one of their seven contests.

The Riders have lost five games by a combined 16 points and were either tied or held the lead heading into the fourth quarter in five games.

Saskatchewan’s offence leads the CFL in five main statistical categories but is only fifth in scoring. Rookie QB Brett Smith (#16) has started the past two games after season-ending injuries to Riders’ veteran QBs Darian Durant and Kevin Glenn and has passed for 442 yards and two TDs.

Saskatchewan still can pound the ball on the ground, leading the CFL in rushing and hitting 140 yards or more on the ground five times in seven games. RB Jerome Messam (#33) is the main ball carrier but the Riders still boast a talented group of receivers such as SB Chris Getzlaf (#89), WR Ryan Smith (#2) and SB Weston Dressler (#7) for Smith to work with.

The Riders defence, on the other hand, hasn’t been as productive, sitting in the bottom third of most of the main categories. The main concern for the Green and White is a lack of takeaways, with only two in seven games (the CFL record for fewest takeaways in a season is 25).

The Riders also started slow in sacks with only four in the first four games but do have 14 in their past three outings. DE John Chick (#97), DE Alex Hall (#0) and S Tyron Brackenridge (#41) are names familiar to Stamps fans but LB Jeff Knox Jr.  (#49) and MLB Jake Doughty (#50) are newcomers worth keeping an eye on. 

Jerome Messam – RB, #33
2015 stats – 57 carries, 417 rushing yards, 7.3 yard average; 31 receptions, 316 receiving yards, 10.2 yard average, 1TD – leads team in rushing and receptions,  second in CFL rushing
Last game – 9 carries, 61 rushing yards, 6.8 yard average, 0 TDs – Week 7 at Toronto
2014 vs Cgy. – 8 carries, 22 rushing yards, 2.8 yard average, 1 TD – two games

Weston Dressler – SB, #7
2015 stats – 28 receptions, 416 receiving yards, 14.9 yard average, 2 receiving TDs – leads team in receiving yards; seventh in CFL receiving
Last game – 2 receptions, 28 receiving yards, 6.5 yard average, 0 TDs – Week 6 at Edmonton
2014 vs Cgy. – 4 receptions, 15 receiving yards, 3.8 yard average, 0 TDs – one game

Jeff Knox Jr – LB, #49
2015 stats – 41 tackles, 6 special teams tackles, 1 tackle for loss – leads team in tackles, fourth in CFL tackles
Last game – 3 tackles – Week 7 at Toronto
2014 vs Cgy. – did not play, 2015 CFL rookie

Stats

Week 9 in the CFL

Thursday, Aug. 20, 8 p.m. – Montreal 23 at BC 13
Friday, Aug. 21, 7 p.m. – Hamilton 49 at Edmonton 20
Sunday, Aug. 13, 2 p.m. – Ottawa (4-3) at Toronto (5-2)

Bye – Winnipeg