The Tiger-Cats have their sights set on first place, just two points back of the Ottawa RedBlacks. While the Argos will not be defending the Grey Cup they won a year ago, they won’t even get a chance to try for it.

Oddsmakers at Sports Interaction have the Tiger-Cats marked down as road favourites by 7.5 points.

Betting Analysis

Earlier in the season (Labour Day), the Tiger-Cats swept the home-and-home series with the Argos, beating them convincingly by 11 and 14 points respectively, covering both spreads in the process. Head-to-head the Ti-Cats are 11-3 against the spread in the last 14 games versus the Argos, and the over has been in play five times in the last eight games against them. Of note, Hamilton is 8-0-1 in their last nine Friday night games, while the Argos has struggled going 3-13 in their last 16 games on that very same night.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

The Tiger-Cats are coming off a bye week, where they got a chance to rest a lot of their injuries. Prior to that, they hammered the visiting BC Lions 40-10 in one of their most lopsided wins of the season. Jeremiah Masoli threw three touchdowns, but only managed 189 yards in the air. That’s the second lowest amount of yardage he’s thrown for all season long. The big story on offense was the play of running back John White IV. In only his fifth game of the season, White crushed the Lions for 108 yards along the ground and also caught three passes in the win. He’ll get another chance to carry the rock in what has been a rotating backfield for the club.

The defence under Jerry Glanville has also picked up in the last couple of weeks. Case in point, they picked off three Jonathan Jennings passes and returned two of them for majors, including a Mike Daly 58-yard interception return for a touchdown. Daly has three interceptions on the season and is in the CFL’s top 10 in that category.

Toronto Argonauts

It appears we have seen the last of Quarterback McLeod Bethal-Thompson in the starting position for the Argos this season. Bethal-Thompson played his worst game of the year last week in Vancouver against the Lions. In just over a half of football, he threw for 98 yards and was picked off four times. With that contribution to the offence, he quickly found the bench and was replaced by James Franklin, the quarterback he replaced earlier in the season. Franklin was piping hot, and looked like he was on a mission, mounting a decent comeback that just fell short. He was 9-of-14 for 103 yards and two touchdowns, as the Argos fell short in the end. There is no doubt, although it has not been confirmed by the coaching staff, that Franklin will likely lead this team for the remaining of the CFL season (four games remaining).

Rookie Brandon Burks didn’t look out of place in his first career CFL start, as he mustered 92 yards on eight carries, including one for 68 yards. He’ll get another chance to do the same this Friday, as James Wilder Jr. is still nursing an injury.

Tiger-Cats vs. Argonauts Prediction