While they’re not in serious danger in the standings, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders need some momentum heading toward the playoffs.

To that end, the struggling clubs each made a key roster change this week.

Starting with the league-leading Roughriders (10-4), who have lost two in a row. For most of the season, kicking has been a huge weakness. Veteran Brett Lauther has had a miserable year, converting on a league-worst (by far) 68.9 per cent of his field goals and 90.9 per cent of his converts.

While the Roughriders have managed to win most of their games in spite of the Canadian’s struggles, they’re finally going to at least give a look to another kicker on Friday. Campbell Fair, signed to the practice roster earlier this season, has been promoted to the active roster for the Roughriders’ game in Ottawa against the Redblacks.

It will mark the CFL regular-season debut and a homecoming for Fair, 25, who played in the OUA at the University of Ottawa. Lauther has been placed on the one-game injured list with a back injury.

Two games ahead of the Stamps in the race for first in the West with two games left, the Roughriders are very much in control of their own destiny. But in a province where the Roughriders mean so much, the players understand the fans have some nerves.

“When you have a passionate fan base, when things are great, nothing’s better. When things are bad, nothing’s worse,” quarterback Trevor Harris told reporters in Regina. “I love that. That’s how it should be. We should be held accountable. We’re representing this province and this city. It’s on us to make sure we represent well.”

If the Roughriders can’t beat the league-worst Redblacks, expect a state of panic in Saskatchewan.

“It’s super important, (even when) you lose one to bounce back,” Roughriders head coach Corey Mace said. “When you win and you don’t win you want, you’ve got to bounce back. For us there are two options, bounce back or bounce backwards. We’ve got to go ahead and (regroup) here and set the trajectory upwards.”

The Stamps, meanwhile, have lost three in a row after being the surprise of the league for the first half of the season.

Dominant on defence until their current slump, the Stamps have been hit hard by injuries and given up an average of just over 40 points a game during the skid.

One of the biggest losses has been defensive end Foralin Orimolade, who is expected to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. In an effort to get more production up front, the Stampeders sent a fourth-round draft pick to Ottawa earlier this week to acquire defensive end Lorenzo Mauldin IV, an all-CFL team member in 2022 and ’24 and the league’s top defensive player in 2024.

“Just felt like we needed that veteran guy, a guy that’s shown me on a consistent basis that he can win one-on-one matchups and impact football games,” Stamps GM/head coach Dave Dickenson told reporters in Calgary earlier this week.

The Stamps (8-6) are barely holding off the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-7) and B.C. Lions (8-7) in the battle for second in the West, and the Lions host Calgary in a big game on Saturday.

However, all four teams are likely to qualify for the playoffs, with the fourth-place finisher in good position to earn the crossover post-season berth by finishing ahead of the third-place team in the East — currently the Toronto Argonauts (5-10).

It’s worth noting, though, that no crossover team has ever advanced to the Grey Cup. The Stamps’ best chance of making a run would see them holding on to second in the West.

“It’s October — we’ve got to start improving and then winning some of these close games and doing the little things better, which hopefully then translates into a better performance,” Dickenson said, per Todd Saelhof of Calgary Postmedia.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are coming off a woeful effort in a 40-3 loss in Winnipeg last week.

Like the Roughriders, the East-leading Ticats (9-6) are in good shape in the standings despite the loss, sitting one game ahead of the Montreal Alouettes while owning the tiebreaker.

The Ticats can get the bad taste out of their mouths with a win in Toronto against the slumping Argonauts on Saturday.

“It was a punch in the face,” Ticats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell told reporters. “We’ve got to wake up from it and go out there and play better football.”

Friday, Oct. 3: Saskatchewan Roughriders (10-4) at Ottawa Redblacks (4-10), 7 p.m. ET
Saturday, Oct. 4: Hamilton Tiger-Cats (9-5) at Toronto Argonauts (5-10), 3 p.m. ET
Saturday, Oct. 4: Calgary Stampeders (8-6) at B.C. Lions (8-7), 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT

Byes: Montreal Alouettes (8-7), Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-7), Edmonton Elks (6-9)