{"id":833343,"date":"2026-07-29T09:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/833343\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T09:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:16:12","slug":"air-of-anticipation-surrounds-roughriders-elks-rematch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/833343\/","title":{"rendered":"Air of anticipation surrounds Roughriders-Elks rematch"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a classic contest filled with explosive plays, the drama is building for another highly charged CFL game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Elks.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know you\u2019re going to get hard-nosed football when you line up and play against an Edmonton Elks offence or an Edmonton Elks team, period,\u201d Roughriders Defensive Co-ordinator Joshua Bell said after Tuesday\u2019s practice at Mosaic Stadium<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know that those guys are going to be coached up well (by Mark Kilam and his staff). You know that they\u2019re going to have some gunpowder on their food for the week and that they\u2019re going to be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonton won Part 1 of a home-and-home set, prevailing 36-34 on Thursday at Mosaic Stadium. The rematch is set for Saturday, 5 p.m., at Commonwealth Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited for it,\u201d Bell said, \u201cand it also gets your blood boiling a little bit to go see a guy who punched you in the mouth the last time, so I think it will be fun for us to go outside and play with these guys again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edmonton erupted for 510 passing yards en route to improving its record to a West Division-leading 6-1. Saskatchewan, the defending Grey Cup champion, is in second spot at 4-2.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The Elks) did what they were supposed to do,\u201d Bell said. \u201cThey came in and they chopped our head off at home, so we get to go on the road and kind of return the favour \u2014 and we\u2019d like to kind of do that emphatically.\u201d<\/p>\n

QUALI-TY BACKS<\/p>\n

Running back A.J. Ouellette, who suffered a knee injury late in the third quarter of Thursday\u2019s game, is unlikely to play in the rematch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to go week-to-week on it,\u201d Head Coach Corey Mace said<\/a> when asked about Ouellette\u2019s status. \u201cIt might be a tall task this week, but nothing long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouellette, a two-time 1,000-yard rusher, missed the Roughriders\u2019 second and third games of this season with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n

Quali Conley stepped in and rushed 20 times for 107 yards \u2014 averaging 5.4 yards per carry \u2014 while scoring one touchdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve learned a lot from A.J.,\u201d Conley said. \u201cHe\u2019s basically the teacher back. He does everything right and he\u2019s very patient. Just him coaching me on the sidelines is very helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to being a top-tier ball carrier, Ouellette is an elite pass-blocker. Conley has also taken that to heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo block, no rock,\u201d the former University of Arizona Wildcats standout said. \u201cThis is a passing league, so you have to be good (at pass protection).<\/p>\n

\u201cMy coach from college, Alonzo Carter, introduced that saying to me. He was basically saying, \u2018You won\u2019t be in a lot if you can\u2019t block, because if you\u2019re in, they know you\u2019re running the ball.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cDown in the States, they call it a \u2018three-down back.\u2019 The third down is usually a passing down and if you can block, you stay on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

EXTRA POINTS<\/p>\n

\u2022 Zack Fry, the Roughriders\u2019 starting left guard, did not practise on Tuesday due to a knee injury. Mace said the timetable for Fry is comparable to that of Ouellette. If Fry cannot play on Saturday, the Roughriders\u2019 offensive line will undergo a change for the first time this season. Fry, Payton Collins (left tackle), Logan Ferland (centre), Jacob Brammer (right guard) and Jermarcus Hardrick (right tackle) were the starters for the first six games.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Receiver Samuel Emilus did not practise on Tuesday due to a foot injury. Defensive back Nelson Lokombo, who missed the past two games with an ankle injury, was a full participant in Tuesday\u2019s workout.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Saturday\u2019s game will feature two of the league\u2019s best defences. Edmonton has allowed a league-low 24.4 offensive points per game. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats (25.3) are second in that category, followed by Saskatchewan (26.2).<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Roughriders have allowed the fewest touchdown passes (eight), even after Cody Fajardo threw for four scores on Thursday at Mosaic Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Saskatchewan boasts the league\u2019s best second-down conversion rate (59.6 per cent). The Montreal Alouettes are a distant second at 53.0.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Roughriders\u2019 next home game is on Aug. 7, 7 p.m., against the Ottawa REDBLACKS. Tickets are AVAILABLE HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a classic contest filled with explosive plays, the drama is building for another highly charged CFL game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-833343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833343","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=833343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}