{"id":216610,"date":"2025-10-16T05:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T05:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/216610\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T05:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T05:54:11","slug":"west-division-drama-drives-the-penultimate-week-of-cfls-regular-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/216610\/","title":{"rendered":"West Division drama drives the penultimate week of CFL\u2019s regular season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Winnipeg Blue Bomber Ethan Ball (29) hangs onto Edmonton Elk Javon Leake (22) during their game in Edmonton this past Saturday.AMBER BRACKEN\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about West Division races in the CFL\u2019s Week 20.<\/p>\n

Behind the Saskatchewan Roughriders home and dry with first place and the division final locked in, the B.C. Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Elks jockey for playoff stakes that include a crossover berth to the East Division for the first time since 2019. <\/p>\n

The Roughriders (12-4-0) have the luxury of resting quarterback Trevor Harris and other starters Friday in Winnipeg, where the Blue Bombers (8-8-0) seek to rebound from last week\u2019s loss to the Elks (7-9-0) who aren\u2019t playoff dead yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo win these games, you\u2019ve got to play at an incredibly high level,\u201d Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros told reporters this week in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to clean a lot of things up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lions (9-7-0) are playoff bound, but their grip on the No. 2 spot in the division isn\u2019t yet secure. B.C. is coming off a bye week after winning four in a row.<\/p>\n

The Lions host an Elks team Friday that\u2019s gone 6-3 in its last nine and lost two of those games by a combined three points.<\/p>\n

Calgary (9-7-0) needs the win Saturday against the Toronto Argonauts (5-12-0) to clinch a playoff spot, as well as some outside help to catch the Lions.<\/p>\n

So round and round it goes in the West in the penultimate week of the regular season. <\/p>\n

The Argonauts and Ottawa Redblacks are out of the playoff picture and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (10-7-0) atop the East are on a bye week. <\/p>\n

The Montreal Alouettes (9-7-0) will try to catch the Ticats in a Saturday rematch with Ottawa (4-12-0) after dumping the Redblacks 30-10 on Monday.<\/p>\n

Edmonton Elks at B.C. Lions (Friday night)<\/p>\n

The Elks are proving to be a tough out in the back half of 2025 and this is a must-win to stay in playoff contention. The Lions are on a heater, led by quarterback and Most Outstanding Player candidate Nathan Rourke. His legs are as dangerous as his arm with 477 yards on ground and nine rushing touchdowns. B.C.\u2019s offence leads the league in touchdowns (53), average net offence (428.5) and average yards per play (7.93). <\/p>\n

Elks running back Justin Rankin is coming off a big game of 138 yards and a touchdown against Winnipeg. He\u2019s compiled 1,608 receiving and rushing yards this season. <\/p>\n

Pick: Lions<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan Roughriders at Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Friday night)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s urgency for the Blue Bombers and none for the Roughriders. Reports are Saskatchewan backup Jake Maier gets the ball and several starters will rest. A question mark for Winnipeg is the status of 1,000-yard receiver Nic Demski, who left last week\u2019s loss to the Elks in the first half with a hamstring injury. Led by Brady Oliveira (1,088 yards), Winnipeg\u2019s ground game is solid. Collaros is tied for the league lead in interceptions (15) with Toronto\u2019s Nick Arbuckle.<\/p>\n

Pick: Blue Bombers<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ottawa Redblack Keelan White, centre, is tackled by Montreal Alouette Kabion Ento, left, as Wesley Sutton (37) moves in during their game in Montreal, on Thanksgiving Monday.Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Montreal Alouettes at Ottawa Redblacks (Saturday afternoon)<\/p>\n

A short week for both clubs after a Thanksgiving Monday clash. The Als seek to stay in the hunt for the division lead. Montreal quarterback Davis Alexander is 10-0 in CFL starts bolstered by a defence that holds the opposition to a league-best 6.24 yards per play. <\/p>\n

Redblacks starter Dru Brown (knee) has been shut down, so Dustin Crum gets his seventh start this season for Ottawa sitting outside the postseason for the fifth time in the last six years.<\/p>\n

Pick: Alouettes<\/p>\n

Toronto Argonauts at Calgary Stampeders (Saturday night)<\/p>\n

The Stampeders play their first home game in almost a month after three straight road games. Calgary halted a four-game losing streak in Hamilton and host the Argonauts in Toronto\u2019s last game of 2025 because of a bye. <\/p>\n

CFL rushing leader Dedrick Mills (1,225 yards) is coming off a two-touchdown effort for Calgary. With Arbuckle (shoulder) shelved, Argos quarterback Jarret Doege took a couple hard hits from Saskatchewan last week and didn\u2019t play the second half. Third-stringer Tucker Horn finished the game.<\/p>\n

Pick: Stampeders<\/p>\n

Last week: 3-1<\/p>\n

Overall: 45-28<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Winnipeg Blue Bomber Ethan Ball (29) hangs onto Edmonton Elk Javon Leake (22)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-216610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216610","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=216610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}