It’s my Parting Shot for my two cents worth when it comes to are the Riders in the best-possible division semi-final game to possibly win this Saturday when they travel to B-C…..
The debate raged in Rider Nation prior to last Saturday’s home game against Edmonton as to whether the Saskatchewan Roughriders would be better served with beating the Elks and playing the Lions in the West semi-final or losing to Edmonton and being the cross-over team for a trip to Toronto in the East semi-final.
The argument in favour of fans of the Green and White wanting their favourites to play in Toronto had to do with the East being the weaker division; that the Argonauts had a minus-11 points differential compared to B-C’s plus-32 and the fact that the Riders split their two games with the Argos during the regular-season while dropping two of three to the Lions with both losses at B-C Place Stadium where the West semi-final would be played.
The argument against Saskatchewan going to Toronto is that the cross-over team doesn’t have a lot of success, historically, in the East semi-final – winning just five times in 13 tries. And, those five teams have then lost the East final. So, even if the Roughriders were to beat the Argonauts, they would likely meet their “Waterloo” in the East final against the Alouettes in Montreal! Isn’t a potential win over B-C to play in Edmonton in the West final a better option to get to the Grey Cup Game?!
While the Green and White have lost both games at B-C Place to the Lions, both in the final third of the season after the Riders had built an 8-4 record, Saskatchewan fans can look back to last year and that the Roughriders defeated B-C in the West semi-final. But, that was last year and the argument can be made that the Lions are more formidable this year, having overcome a 1-5 start to finish with a 10-8 record.
There are those Green and White supporters who would rather face Chad Kelly and the Toronto offence – especially now that Kelly might be due for a letdown after signing his five-year, multi-million dollar contract extension – as opposed to facing the very dangerous Nathan Rourke and his various weapons on the B-C offence!
As well, how much stock can you put into the Riders winning their last two games against teams that were resting regulars, as well as the Lions losing both their last two games because they were being cautious against sustaining injuries to key performers? Is there something to be said for having gotten back the winning feeling against a team that might have trouble cranking it back up after back-to-back losses?
It says here that going West is the better option for Saskatchewan – from a time zone and start time perspective – but, ultimately, is it really going to matter which team the Roughriders were to come up against?! Spoiler alert for Thursday’s edition of C-F-L picks from The Fearless Predictor, but I don’t see the Riders being victorious this Saturday – sorry to say!
That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk in Red Deer with the Blades…and it turned out nice again!
