OTTAWA \u2014 The Ottawa Redblacks, stuck at the bottom of the CFL standings, will face their toughest test this of the season Friday night when they host the league-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders. <\/p>\n
Not only will the Redblacks be looking for an upset, they will be fighting to keep their season alive.<\/p>\n
The chances of Ottawa (4-10) making the playoffs are slim, but a win against Saskatchewan (10-4) would at least give the Redblacks hope. A loss officially puts them out of contention.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn life all you want is an opportunity,\u201d said head coach Bob Dyce. \u201cAnd these guys have a fantastic opportunity, we all have a fantastic opportunity in front of us, and we plan on going out and seizing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defensive back Adarius Pickett says the team\u2019s focus remains firmly on the task at hand rather than what lies ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been the main focus all week,\u201d Pickett said. \u201cYou worry about next week when it comes, but you know, you can\u2019t get the next week without getting through tomorrow. I think that\u2019s the most important part for us right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Roughriders will be looking to snap its two-game losing streak after falling 27-25 to Edmonton last week.<\/p>\n
Ottawa will want to try and get to Riders quarterback Trevor Harris, who has thrown four interceptions in his last three games. The challenge will be doing it without defensive lineman Lorenzo Mauldin IV, who was traded to Calgary earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
Mauldin was a key member of the Redblacks defence, but Dyce says it\u2019s not up to just one player to fill the gap.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a team effort,\u201d said Dyce. \u201cOne of the areas that we think we have a lot of talent is the D-line and I think it\u2019s going to take all those guys\u2026it\u2019s about the whole group.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Redblacks will look to quarterback Dru Brown for another big outing after he sparked the offence with an opening-drive touchdown and finished with 406 yards and two touchdowns in the last game.<\/p>\n
Brown, who has been limited to just nine starts this season due to injury, has full respect for the Roughriders but is confident his team can meet the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a great team for reasons that everybody knows, but anyone can be beat,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI think we showed that we could play with everybody. It\u2019s just we\u2019ve got to limit our mistakes in critical situations. So, you know, I think everyone\u2019s looking forward to competing against one of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Special teams were a weak spot for Ottawa in its last game, as Bombers\u2019 returner Trey Vaval ran back two missed field-goal attempts for touchdowns. In many ways it sums up Ottawa\u2019s season. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to find ways to win in this league,\u201d said fullback Marco Dubois. \u201cWe owe it to the fans to be better in crucial moments. You look at games and we\u2019ve been playing good and then some crucial plays happen, explosive plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dubois said the team has allowed far too many game-changing plays and need to have more urgency in those situations.<\/p>\n
Running back William Stanback returns to Ottawa\u2019s lineup after missing last game. Safety Bennett Williams, who hasn\u2019t played since Week 12, also returns, as does punter Richie Leone, after missing the last game to attend his mother\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n
After missing nearly the entire season, Canadian receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker returns to the Roughriders\u2019 lineup for the first time since Week 1. Also returning from injury are running back Thomas Bertrand-Hudon and linebacker Melique Straker.<\/p>\n
ROUGHRIDERS (10-4) AT REDBLACKS (4-10)<\/p>\n
Friday, TD Place Stadium<\/p>\n
REST IS A WEAPON: The Redblacks have a perfect record after a week off in 2025.<\/p>\n
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: Saskatchewan\u2019s A.J. Ouellette has scored a touchdown in each of his last four games and has averaged 82 rushing yards in his last six.<\/p>\n
LET\u2019S MAKE IT 1,000: Ottawa\u2019s Eugene Lewis needs 103 yards to reach 1,000 for the fourth time in his career. Lewis is the CFL\u2019s active leader in receiving yards (7,158) and touchdowns (46).<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2025.<\/p>\n
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 The Ottawa Redblacks, stuck at the bottom of the CFL standings, will face their toughest test…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-187379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}