{"id":212490,"date":"2025-10-14T14:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/212490\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T14:19:10","slug":"mmqb-4-keys-to-the-roughriders-success-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/212490\/","title":{"rendered":"MMQB: 4 keys to the Roughriders’ success in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this time two years ago, the Saskatchewan Roughriders were in the middle of a seven-game losing skid to finish their season. In fact, it was the second consecutive year the Riders had a promising campaign sewered by seven straight losses down the stretch.<\/p>\n

That seems like ancient history now.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to October 2025 and things feel significantly different. With Friday\u2019s 27-19 win over Toronto to kick off Week 20, Saskatchewan clinched top seed in the division, first place overall, and an automatic berth in the Western Final next month.<\/p>\n

With so much still to be decided elsewhere in the final two weeks of the season, it feels like a good time for a little appreciation for what this team has accomplished. With that in mind, here are the biggest keys to this impressive Riders resurgence.<\/p>\n

\"WESTJETWESTJET THANKSGIVING WEEKEND
\u00bb\u00a03 stats that defined Saskatchewan\u2019s WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend win over Toronto<\/a>
\u00bb Roughriders defeat Argonauts to lock up top spot in the West<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Buy Tickets for the 2025 season<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Subscribe to the CFL\u2019s official YouTube channel<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Subscribe to the CFL\u2019s newsletter for exclusive offers and league updates<\/a><\/p>\n

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HEAD COACH COREY MACE\u00a0<\/p>\n

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It just seemed like the right move when Saskatchewan chose Mace as head coach in November 2023. Mace had nothing but success in two seasons as defensive coordinator in Toronto and five prior as Calgary\u2019s defensive line coach. Yes, Mace\u2019s ascension to head coach may have been rapid, but there was just no denying how well players responded to him.<\/p>\n

Under Mace and general manager Jeremy O\u2019Day, the Roughriders retooled quickly with key additions like Jermarcus Hardrick<\/a>, Jameer Thurman<\/a>, and AJ Ouellette<\/a> in 2024 free agency. And on the field, Saskatchewan almost instantly took on the personality of their new coach, specifically on the defensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n

In their first season under Mace, the Riders got out to a 5-1 start and eventually advanced to the 2024 Western Final. Along the way, Saskatchewan finished at or near the top of the league in defensive categories like points against, opponent net offence, and rushing yards against. Not surprisingly, the Roughriders find themselves at or near the top of those very same categories a season later while building on their win total.<\/p>\n

IMPROVING THE OFFENSIVE LINE
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OL Jermarcus Hardrick is part of a Roughriders offensive line that ranks third in sacks allowed (Arthur Ward\/CFL.ca)<\/p>\n

A glaring weakness for a number of seasons, especially in Cody Fajardo<\/a>\u2019s final ones at quarterback, Saskatchewan\u2019s offensive line has now turned into one of the league\u2019s best. From the signing of Hardrick to the development of local product Logan Ferland<\/a>, and jackpot finds like Payton Collins<\/a> and Jacob Brammer<\/a>, the Riders have made massive strides up front.<\/p>\n

The statistics tell a similar story. After finishing fourth overall with 35 sacks allowed last season, Saskatchewan has improved to third with just 22 sacks against so far this season. Furthermore, the Riders sit fourth overall averaging 107.3 rushing yards per game.<\/p>\n

THE LEAGUE\u2019S BEST SECONDARY<\/p>\n

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Saskatchewan arguably boasted the league\u2019s best defensive backfield last season, and that\u2019s only improved in 2025. Following week 19, Tevaughn Campbell<\/a> is tied for the league lead with six interceptions while Rolan Milligan Jr.<\/a> sits at four. But it goes beyond just interception totals, even though the Riders lead the league in that category, too.<\/p>\n

Thanks to his stellar work at field corner in his return to Canada, our friends at Pro Football Focus ranked Campbell as the CFL\u2019s top defensive back entering the weekend. Marcus Sayles<\/a>, Campbell\u2019s counterpart at boundary corner, and Milligan Jr. also rank in PFF\u2019s top ten this season.<\/p>\n

A HEALTHY TREVOR HARRIS<\/p>\n

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For the first time in his tenure with the Riders, Trevor Harris<\/a> has been healthy and available all season. With consistent, high-end quarterback play to go along with an elite defence, it\u2019s no coincidence Saskatchewan\u2019s win-loss record has improved as dramatically as it has.<\/p>\n

In 15 starts, Harris sits third with 4,437 passing yards, fourth with 24 passing touchdowns, and second with a 110.5 quarterback rating. And at PFF, Harris ranks second among quarterbacks behind only BC\u2019s Nathan Rourke. At the age of 39, this is perhaps Harris\u2019 best season as he tries to win his first Grey Cup as a starting pivot.<\/p>\n

QUICK HITS<\/p>\n

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Make it four straight wins for the Montreal Alouettes after a convincing 30-10 win over Ottawa to wrap up WestJet Thanksgiving Weekend. As we alluded to last week, it\u2019s almost impossible not to get 2023 vibes from this Als team right now. They\u2019re getting outstanding quarterback play to go along with elite work defensively as their hopes to claim first in the East Division remain slim but alive.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s more than an outside chance of a three-way tie in the West Division with 9-7 BC, 9-7 Calgary, and 8-8 Winnipeg all sitting with two games remaining. With no more matchups between the three teams, the race for second place in the West Division and a home playoff game could come down to the wire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At this time two years ago, the Saskatchewan Roughriders were in the middle of a seven-game losing skid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-212490","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\/212490","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=212490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}