{"id":839572,"date":"2026-08-01T03:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T03:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839572\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T03:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T03:41:12","slug":"cfl-week-9-edmonton-elks-6-1-vs-saskatchewan-roughriders-4-2-game-preview-injury-report-and-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839572\/","title":{"rendered":"CFL Week 9: Edmonton Elks (6-1) vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-2) Game Preview, Injury Report and Predictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, it was a sight to see when the beloved Edmonton Elks<\/a> took down one of the league’s best, the Saskatchewan Roughriders<\/a>. It was as entertaining as it gets, with the Green and Gold improving to a 6-1 record on a Vincent Blanchard walk-off field goal that sealed a 36-34 win for the Elks.<\/p>\n

Now the fun part. This is a back-to-back series with Elks now playing at home in front of the Edmonton<\/a> faithful. The best part of all of this is that the upper bowl will be opened for tomorrow’s game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s often said in pro sports that winning cures a lot of problems. With the way the Elks have played thus far, and if Edmonton fans arrive regularly in droves, it will only lead to a football team thriving from their opportunities.<\/p>\n

Game Details<\/p>\n

Date: Saturday, August 1st, 2026<\/p>\n

Location: Commonwealth Stadium \/ Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n

Kickoff time: 7:00 pm EST<\/p>\n

Channel: TSN \/ CBS Sports Network<\/p>\n

Stream: CFL +<\/p>\n

Weather forecast at kickoff: 25\u00b0C with a mix of sun and clouds. It will feel like 30 \u00b0C with a wind gust of 17 km\/h from the southwest direction. P.O.P will be 40%. There is also a high risk of thunderstorms.<\/p>\n

Odds<\/p>\n

Spread: Saskatchewan<\/a> Roughriders (- 1.5) \u2013 112 \/ Edmonton Elks (+1.5) \u2013 108<\/p>\n

Moneyline: Saskatchewan Roughriders \u2013 126 \/ Edmonton Elks + 105<\/p>\n

Over \/ Under: Over 59.5 \u2013 115 \/ Under 59.5 \u2013 105<\/p>\n

Via FanDuel Sportsbook<\/p>\n

Edmonton Elks Depth Chart<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan Roughriders Depth Chart<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Injury Reports<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Players to watch: Edmonton Elks<\/p>\n

RB \u2013 Justin Rankin<\/p>\n

Forget the personal statistics in this game for Justin Rankin. He has struggled in the last couple of appearances. With that said, he will have a good showing. If Rankin can hit 75 rushing yards or more, along with 75 or more in the receiving department, it will be a productive day. At the end of the day, Justin Rankin has been a huge contributor to the offensive production this season. He is a player who could contribute in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

DL \u2013 Malik Carney<\/p>\n

He will be facing his former team. Expect Carney to play a big role for the pass rush. He has the speed, size, and strength to complement the Edmonton pass rush. If the bookend on the opposite side with Noah Taylor being active, Edmonton would be able to contain the passing game in key moments during the game.<\/p>\n

QB \u2013 Cody Fajardo<\/p>\n

Cody Fajardo showed a lot of character last week in Regina, as he has done many times prior. It will be a gunslinger’s duel tomorrow night. Expanding the passing game worked well. Expect Cody Fajardo to play similar to last week, as he was able to spread the Roughriders’ defence.<\/p>\n

The Edmonton Secondary<\/p>\n

It will be a unit that will be tested regularly by Trevor Harris. Tyrell Ford, Leonard Johnson, Chelan Garnes, Kordell Jackson, and JJ Ross will be busy. Saskatchewan has the most talented receiving core in the league. They will score touchdowns on you. If they can stay stride-for-stride, break up pass attempts, and obtain a couple of interceptions, Edmonton will be in a good spot to snag a victory.<\/p>\n

Players to watch: Saskatchewan Roughriders<\/p>\n

QB \u2013 Trevor Harris<\/p>\n

Trevor Harris has been a thorn in many defences in the CFL. This game will be no different. If this becomes a game like last week, it could be the Roughriders obtaining a victory. The luxury that Trevor Harris has is a receiving core that is phenomenal statistically with yards after the catch.<\/p>\n

DB \/ LB \u2013 Antoine Brooks Jr.<\/p>\n

He covers a lot of ground for Saskatchewan along with being a linebacker. With 35 tackles, 2 special teams tackles, and 1 sack, he will be a key figure for Saskatchewan tomorrow night.<\/p>\n

WR \u2013 Kian Schaffer-Baker, WR \u2013 KeeSean Johnson, and WR \u2013 Samuel Emilus<\/p>\n

The receiving trio currently has a combined 1,671 yards and 13 touchdowns. What makes this receiving room unique is that this group is fully capable of all three players having a 1,000-yard-plus season.<\/p>\n

Keys to an Edmonton victory:<\/p>\n

Be aggressive on the running game.<\/p>\n

When a running game is clicking, the offensive line often gets overshadowed. It\u2019s not that they don’t receive any praise. The best thing about being an offensive lineman is that when it comes to the running game, it is you who becomes the aggressor. It is you who push forward to open a lane for your running back, along with unleashing the pain on the defence.<\/p>\n

Focus on the details.<\/p>\n

Edmonton has conducted a great course of action, implementing attention to detail this season. Let this continue. This is what happens when you are more in tune to a game than in recent past seasons. The approach to a game appears more polished than before. Keep it going.<\/p>\n

Spread the ball on the passing game.<\/p>\n

One of the big reasons the Elks were able to have success last week was the production of spreading the ball to someone not named Austin Mack. It worked wonders for Cody Fajardo involving Kaion Julien-Grant, TJ Luther, Joshua Cephus and Brendon O\u2019Leary-Orange. Do not change a thing. Follow the same philosophy.<\/p>\n

Offensive line to hold their ground.<\/p>\n

It is the last line of defence. Edmonton has led by example by decreasing the number of pressures towards their quarterback in 2026. Make it a long day for the Roughriders front seven.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/p>\n

Final Score<\/p>\n

Last week my prediction was a Saskatchewan victory. Also, that the back-to-back series would be a split, along with trying to avoid going 0-2.<\/p>\n

To add to this, it is quite possible that it would be a split. Opinions and predictions often change.<\/p>\n

Edmonton Elks: 31<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan Roughriders: 27<\/p>\n

There is a lot at stake here that could come back to haunt both football teams. With a crowd that could be and\/or close to 40,000 at kickoff time, along with Edmonton having a potential edge in the season series if they do win this game, the Elks get it done in front of their home crowd and improve to 7-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, it was a sight to see when the beloved Edmonton Elks took down one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-839572","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\/839572","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=839572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}