Sunday evening before Labour Day is reserved for the first of a home-and-home between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders. They’ll go at it again in the Banjo Bowl in Week 14. Both clubs are at precipitous moments in the season. Despite being a game under .500, a win for the Bombers would hand them first place in the West Division.

The Roughriders are expected to defend their turf, with the CFL odds favouring them by -1.5.

CFL Odds and Betting

When last these age old rivals met, Saskatchewan got the better of Winnipeg 19-9. That was in mid-July  at a time when it seemed the ground was crumbling underneath the Bombers. The defeat dropped them to 2-5, with alarm bells ringing in Manitoba.

Flash forward a month and a half later and Mike O’Shea’s troupe has won three games in a row for a 5-6 tally. It’s not sexiest record with which to enter Labour Day weekend, but they were 0-4 at one point. The big knock against them is the woeful 3-8 tally against the spread. That said, given how strong their defence is (20.0 points given up per game, first in the CFL) and how mediocre the attack is (21.3 points per game, last), the total is understandably 1-10.

Incidentally, the last time the Roughriders won a game was the cited match versus the Bombers in July. Since then they have suffered four losses and played a bizarre tie in Ottawa. Their script is the reverse of Winnipeg’s, having started with a brilliant 4-0 run and now struggling at 5-5-1. They’ve kept the ship afloat ATS, punching their way to a 7-4 record, even covering a couple of times in recent weeks despite the final scores.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

If the 2024 Blue Bombers never get their attack going, it won’t matter as long as their defence keeps them in games and they make just enough offensive plays to get by.

That was essentially what happened in Week 12 at home to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. On the topic of scoring points, what few Winnipeg puts on the board these days are often courtesy of kicker Sergio Castillo’s foot. He hit another four versus Hamilton and improved his efficiency to 82.9 per cent on the season.

It was the Blue Bombers’ defence that saved the day. They didn’t allow the Ticats to reach 300 total yards (292), and LB Michael Ayers recovered a fumble and took it to the house in the second quarter. The only major score from Winnipeg’s offence came with 19 seconds left in the game when Zach Collaros found Kenny Lawler in the end zone for a 10-yard TD. But as unusual as things have been this season, the fact of the matter is they’re winning. This was a close one but make it 26-23 for the Bombers.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

If things weren’t bad enough for the Roughriders lately, they fell to the Toronto Argonauts last week in one of the oddest ways imaginable.

With the score tied at 19-19 and the clock winding down, the host Argos went for a game-winning field goal. They missed, but the kick was so strong it went out of the back of the end zone. It gave Toronto an infamous “rouge,” the single point awarded despite a missed field goal. Game over. Toronto wins 20-19. It is what it is, but that’s heck of a way to lose.

More frustrating is that the Roughriders led 19-16 with barely a minute to go but allowed the Argonauts to tie and get the ball back again. QB Trevor Harris’ return from injury is proving rough. He went 18-for-29, 190 yards, no scores, and two picks. On the topic of kicking, Brett Lauther picked himself up from a disastrous Week 11 showing with a 4-for-4 night.

Who Will Win Blue Bombers vs. Roughriders?