Tiger-Cats vs. Alouettes Prediction: CFL Week 8 Point Spread, Odds
Montreal are still 6.5-point home underdogs against Hamilton.
Betting Analysis
It will be interesting to see if the Manziel news changes the betting dynamic on Friday’s game. As of this writing, there’s a heavy lean on Hamilton giving the 6.5 points. Ditto on the over 49.5 points. On the moneyline, the Tiger-Cats are -260 and Alouettes +210.
Sports Interaction will have plenty of Manziel prop options closer to game time. On the race to 10 points, Hamilton is -167 and Montreal +125. For the first team to score, the Ticats are -152 with a touchdown at +275. The Als are +108 to take the first lead and a touchdown is +375. On the winning margin prop, Hamilton by 7-12 points (+325), 13-18 points (+450) and 1-6 points (+450) are all favoured over Montreal by 1-6 points (+600).
It’s the first meeting that counts between these teams in 2018 – they met in the final week of the preseason at Molson Stadium and Hamilton won 30-15. The Als visit Hamilton to close the regular season. The Ticats have covered 17 of their past 25 in Montreal, though. The under is 6-2 in the past eight meetings overall.
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Perhaps Hamilton team officials are having second thoughts about trading Manziel to Montreal now as the Ticats lost their third in a row last week 21-15 at home to Ottawa as 6-point favourites. That’s also a third straight game held to 20 points or fewer. The play of quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has slipped considerably. Yes, he threw for 352 yards against the RedBlacks but has now thrown at least one pick in every game and his touchdown throw to Jalen Saunders in the fourth quarter was Masoli’s first TD pass in more than 12 quarters. Normally a team will win a game where it holds the opponent out of the end zone, but Hamilton was done in by seven Lewis Ward field goals.
Montreal Alouettes
The Als really have nothing to lose by starting Manziel considering they are 1-5 this season and have been outscored 192-92 – each defeat has been by double digits. Last week, Vernon Adams got the start under centre and was 15-for-28 for 217 yards with an interception and a rushing score. Montreal fans weren’t happy that Manziel didn’t make even a token appearance off the bench, but he surely needed time to learn Mike Sherman’s offence, and which team better to debut against than Hamilton? Plus, it surely will boost Friday’s attendance.
Manziel’s last pro game was with the Cleveland Browns on Dec. 27, 2015, in Kansas City. He was just 13 of 32 for 136 yards and an interception in the 17-13 loss. Manziel did play in both of Hamilton’s exhibition games this year, completing 21 of 31 for 168 yards and a TD while rushing six times for 19 yards. The Als have failed to cover their past seven games against East Division teams.
