{"id":775938,"date":"2026-07-02T17:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T17:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/775938\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T17:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T17:40:14","slug":"2024-game-against-ottawa-was-a-catalyst-for-roughriders-dhel-duncan-busby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/775938\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 game against Ottawa was a catalyst for Roughriders\u2019 Dhel Duncan-Busby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dhel Duncan-Busby<\/a> will arrive in Ottawa for Friday\u2019s game knowing that he arrived against Ottawa.<\/p>\n

The Ottawa REDBLACKS were the visiting team when he enjoyed his breakout game as a CFLer, catching seven passes for 92 yards to help the Saskatchewan Roughriders register a 29-16 home-field victory on Sept. 28, 2024.<\/p>\n

Until that point, Duncan Busby \u2014 the Roughriders\u2019 third-round selection (23rd overall) in the 2024 CFL Canadian Draft \u2014 had two catches for 34 yards to show for his first three games of professional football.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a big game, it was definitely great for the confidence,\u201d said Duncan-Busby, who started the Roughriders\u2019 final six games (playoffs included) as a rookie out of Bemidji State.<\/p>\n

Duncan-Busby followed up by starting 14 games in 2025, when he caught 29 passes for 355 yards and two touchdowns for the Grey Cup champions.<\/p>\n

His first touchdown in the pro ranks was scored on June 28 of last year against the B.C. Lions. The 42-yard TD pass was thrown by Jake Maier, who is to start at quarterback against Saskatchewan at Ottawa\u2019s TD Place on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cJake\u2019s a great guy,\u201d Duncan-Busby said. \u201cI obviously love him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be fun. There will be a lot of (former teammates) on the other team that we\u2019ll be going up against on the defensive side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duncan-Busby is also excited about returning to the lineup after missing two games with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I would have loved to have been out there, but I\u2019m feeling better now and that\u2019s what\u2019s important,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m loving it and I\u2019m having fun being out there with the guys again.\u201d<\/p>\n

DISREGARD THE RECORD<\/p>\n

The Roughriders aren\u2019t paying any attention to the fact that they are about to face a winless opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no bad football teams in the CFL,\u201d quarterback Trevor Harris said. \u201cIt\u2019s all good football teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t bring your \u2018A\u2019 game, it can come back to bite you. The same goes for when you play us. If you don\u2019t bring your \u2018A\u2019 game, we\u2019ll come back and bite you. This league has a ton of parity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that (the REDBLACKS) are scrapping and fighting and clawing, and so are we.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ottawa has an 0-3 record. Saskatchewan is 2-1.<\/p>\n

OLD-HOME WEEK<\/p>\n

Harris still has warm feelings for Ottawa, where he played for the REDBLACKS from 2016 to 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my second-favourite place to play in the CFL,\u201d he said. \u201cI love TD Place. It\u2019s a good atmosphere, a good environment and a good area. It was rockin\u2019 when I played there and there were definitely great times. It really feels like football there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be fun, but as long as the field is 110 yards with 20-yard end zones and there\u2019s three-down football, we\u2019ll go out and play no matter where it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

EXTRA POINTS<\/p>\n

\u2022 The additions of receiver Johnny Johnson III<\/a> and receiver\/returner Mathew Sexton<\/a> increase the Roughriders\u2019 All-Time list of active-roster players to 2,169.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Effective on Friday, 23 Johnsons will have suited up for at least one regular-season game for the Roughriders or Regina Rugby Club. Three of the Johnsons will play in Ottawa \u2014 Johnny III, KeeSean (receiver) and Daniel (offensive lineman). Johnny Johnson III steps in for Jaylen Johnson, a starting receiver for the Roughriders\u2019 first three games this season. Jaylen has a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Roughriders are 12-7-1 against the REDBLACKS, who debuted as an expansion team in 2014. Counting games against the Rough Riders and Renegades, Saskatchewan is 50-30-1 versus Ottawa.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Harris is poised to play in his 199th CFL game. The 200th will be on July 12 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium). Tickets are AVAILABLE HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dhel Duncan-Busby will arrive in Ottawa for Friday\u2019s game knowing that he arrived against Ottawa. The Ottawa REDBLACKS…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-775938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775938","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=775938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}