{"id":828000,"date":"2026-07-26T22:23:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/828000\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T22:23:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T22:23:34","slug":"3downnation-cfl-best-bets-week-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/828000\/","title":{"rendered":"3DownNation CFL best bets: Week 8"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2048\" height=\"1365\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Dedrick-Mills.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"Dedrick Mills\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto courtesy: Calgary Stampeders<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re now a third of the way through the Canadian Football League season, and injuries continue to have a major impact across the league.<\/p>\n<p>We had another 2-2 week last week, so let\u2019s try to break out of this 50\/50 run we\u2019ve been having lately as we start with a massive game out west.<\/p>\n<p>Eligible sports bettors in <a href=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/sports-betting\/ontario\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ontario<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/sports-betting\/alberta\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alberta<\/a> can find relevant information for wagering on the games by clicking on their respective jurisdiction. Please bet responsibly.<\/p>\n<p>3DownNation Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>\t\tToday\u2019s CFL news in your inbox every day at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>\t\tBy signing up you agree to receive daily emails from 3DownNation, as well as our<br \/>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/terms-of-service\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">terms of service<\/a> and<br \/>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/privacy-policy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">privacy policy<\/a>. Unsubscribe anytime.<br \/>\n\t\t1900 Rose St, Regina SK S4P 0A9.<\/p>\n<p>Edmonton Elks at Saskatchewan Roughriders \u2014 Thursday, July 23 at 9:00 p.m. EDT<\/p>\n<p>This is a battle for first in the West Division as the Edmonton Elks (5-1) take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-1).<\/p>\n<p>Edmonton continues to be one of the biggest stories in the league this year, thanks in large part to the play of Justin Rankin. He\u2019s just two yards back of Dedrick Mills for the league lead in rushing after being bottled up by the Lions last week. This will be an interesting matchup against a Riders defence that thrived against the run in recent years, but is middle of the pack this year.<\/p>\n<p>If Saskatchewan can replicate the success the Lions had against Rankin last week, they should roll in this game, but I see Rankin having a bounce-back performance. Saskatchewan is giving up over 100 yards per game on the ground, a total that Rankin has reached in every game this season except for when he\u2019s faced the Lions.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, this is another spot for Cody Fajardo against his former team in Saskatchewan. The Riders\u2019 pass defence has been stingy, giving up the fewest passing yards per game this year. Fajardo has put up some big numbers lately, but I think the Saskatchewan\u2019s secondary can come up with another strong performance this week and limit the Elks through the air.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, I see Saskatchewan winning this game, but I think the Elks keep it close. The Riders are 4-1 but with the exception of their last game against Hamilton, they aren\u2019t really blowing teams out. They\u2019ve won their three other games by a combined 12 points, so I think the defending champs win but do so in a hard-fought, tight affair.<\/p>\n<p>Pick: Edmonton +4.5, Justin Rankin OVER 67.5 rushing, Cody Fajardo UNDER 270.5 passing yards<\/p>\n<p>Calgary Stampeders at Winnipeg Blue Bombers \u2014 Friday, July 24 at 8:30 p.m. EDT<\/p>\n<p>The Calgary Stampeders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers meet in a rematch from their Week 1 thriller on Friday Night Football.<\/p>\n<p>I keep believing in the Stamps and they keep coming up a little bit short, but I still think this is a much better football team then they have shown. Meanwhile, the Bombers are 4-2 \u2014 two wins better than Calgary \u2014 but I\u2019m still not buying them as much.<\/p>\n<p>Since their Week 1 win over the Stamps, Winnipeg has beaten Hamilton, Toronto, and Ottawa, and the win over Hamilton was the game in which Bo Levi Mitchell left with an injury. Sure, they have a better record, but they have had an easier path through the first third of the season than Calgary.<\/p>\n<p>The big key for the Bombers is to try to slow down the league\u2019s leading rusher, Dedrick Mills. Winnipeg has given up the second-most rushing yards per game in the league this year. If Mills can get going, it makes this Calgary team very difficult to stop.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, I believe the Stamps are a tough matchup for this Winnipeg side. Keep an eye out for a Mills rushing prop closer to kickoff, but for now we\u2019ll happily roll with the underdog in this one.<\/p>\n<p>Pick: Calgary +1.5<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"60\" height=\"60\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Peter-Klein-600x600.jpg\" class=\"avatar avatar-60 photo\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Peter Klein is a Saskatchewan-born, Calgary-based CFL analyst. He is a lifelong fan who has been covering the league across multiple platforms for the last 17 years.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/3downnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/3DownNation-Wordmark-v3-3.svg\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy: Calgary Stampeders We\u2019re now a third of the way through the Canadian Football League season, and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,125792,22070,22936,49,2798,48,7028,521,522,520,23752,77213,527,17049,17052,45083,55574,82,55630,166838,22073],"class_list":["post-828000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-bets","tag-blue-bombers","tag-bombers","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-edmonton","tag-elks","tag-football","tag-odds","tag-picks","tag-riders","tag-roughriders","tag-sports","tag-stampeders","tag-stamps","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828000","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=828000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}