MONTREAL- It’s an absolute doozy of a matchup to begin Labour Day weekend in the Canadian Football League. Following a productive practice week in Ottawa, the BC Lions take their five-game winning streak into Percival Molson Stadium and a Friday night battle with the CFL-leading Montreal Alouettes. This one is ripe with storylines: two of the best quarterbacks finally going head-to-head, the Lions looking to stay hot and measure themselves against a league juggernaut, just to name a few. With more, we present our 5 Things To Know Game Preview.
Game 12: BC Lions (6-5) at Montreal Alouettes (9-2).
Friday, September 4. 4:30 pm PT, Percival Molson Stadium.
TV: Canada: TSN/RDS.
Stream: CFL+ (U.S. & International)
Radio: 730CKNW, Lions Audio Network, Sher-E-Punjab Radio AM 600 & Sirius XM 167 Canada Talks.
A Clash Of The QB Titans
Despite combining for 67 regular season starts heading into this contest, Nathan Rourke and Davis Alexander will lock horns for the very first time. Despite admitting he was pretty sore during the week after leaving briefly against the Blue Bombers, Alexander is expected to be behind centre for the home team. We’ve outlined more on this great QB showdown in this piece earlier this week. While most quarterbacks will downplay it, given they don’t actually face each other on the field at the same time, all CFL observers should be glued to this battle. Rourke and Alexander represent two of the best at their positions. The league is in good hands with these two competitors. And dare we say that this could be a game where the last one of them with the ball will pull it out? Buckle up. Alexander has yet to lose back-to-back games in his young career, while Rourke has beaten the Alouettes in all three of his tries.
The Lions and Alouettes kick off Labour Day weekend in the CFL with a doozy of a matchup.
A Stiff Test For The Elite Lions Defence
The number one defence in the CFL gets its biggest test to date against Alexander and company. With the quarterback on pace to throw for a shade under 6,000 yards, his chemistry with Tyson Philpot will be something Mike Benevides’ unit should be concerned about. Philpot leads the CFL in receptions (90), yards (1,316) and is one behind teammate Tyler Snead for the CFL lead in touchdown catches with ten. As the secondary continues to get healthy, this will be a nice little chess match to see how they match up with and contain the Alouettes’ elite playmakers. The solution? Continue to bring more pressure on the quarterback. Montreal running back Travis Theis enters this week third in the CFL with 819 rushing yards, adding another element for the defence to key in on.
‘C’ is for Capitalize
The Lions offence was a perfect 6-for-6 on red-zone opportunities in Ottawa and is 30-for-42 overall inside the opponent’s 25-yard line this season, good for the third-best percentage in the Canadian Football League. With Rourke, the bruising Zander Horvath and a collection of elite receivers, that production should serve as no surprise. It should be a priority to continue that trend on Friday. A big key to coming away from Montreal with an upset will be to punch more of those chances into the end zone and not settle for short field goals.
O-Line Shuffle
The depth of the improved Lions’ offensive line will be put to the test as Brandon Yates returns, this time at right guard after Chris Schleuger went down at Wednesday’s practice. Schleuger got tangled up with Lorenzo Mauldin in a late team session. The big boys up front have played a major role in Horvath’s heroics and enabling the offence to extend drives.
What They’re Saying
“We’re excited for the opportunity. It presents an awesome opportunity for our teammates to spend more time together and that’s what I’ve said all year. Some of the best things about this league are these short weeks, these eastern trips for a western team to come out and play a good, physical football team, but also spending the week together.”- Buck Pierce on the extended stay out east and what It can do for team chemistry and morale.
“I try to take emotion and personal feelings out of it. I had an amazing time there. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I loved the city of Montreal. They treated me well. It’s just all business though, at the end of the day. If you start getting your feelings involved and start to take things personally, you start to not play your best football.”- Darnell Sankey on his emotions going back to Montreal after spending three seasons and winning a Grey Cup there in 2023.
Extra Points
Other lineup changes for the visitors have Jonah Tavai back at defensive tackle in place of David Gusta. Ronald Kent Jr. makes his return to the secondary at the expense of Stantley Thomas-Oliver. And lastly, the Lions hope to get another jolt to the return game with Lawrence Woods III making his 2026 debut. Ralen Goforth comes off the roster to make room for Woods.
Friday marks the 89th regular season meeting between these two teams. The Lions hold the all-time edge at 56-31-1.
The Lions have won their last three trips to Montreal, with their last defeat coming in September of 2022. It was Antonio Pipkin starting at quarterback for the Leos that night after Vernon Adams Jr. was acquired from the Alouettes only days before. Dating back to 2015, the Lions are an impressive 8-2 in their last ten visits to Percival Molson Stadium. In another quirky stat in this rivalry, the Lions hold an overall edge of 15-3 since the start of 2015.
The Lions franchise is one victory away from 600 since joining the WIFU in 1954. Last week in Ottawa, they moved above .500 all-time at 599-598-24.
Rourke enters this week holding a 28-17 record as a starter. He has eclipsed 300-passing yards in each of his four outings since returning from injury.
Big Cat turns out big performances: since returning from injury four games ago, Jevon Cottoy has 18 catches on 19 targets for 292 yards, including a pair of 100-plus-yard outings.
T.J. Lee continues to climb the record books. The ageless defensive back has 660 career tackles, just two shy of Calvin Tiggle for 13th on the CFL’s all-time list and seven behind Don Wilson for 12th.