The BC Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders go head-to-head in the Western Semi-Final on Saturday night with a trip to the second round of the playoffs on the line.
There are plenty of storylines to follow in this matchup, as we looked at earlier this week, with the teams splitting the season series at one apiece.
BC and Saskatchewan now meet in the playoffs with everything on the line.
Here are five things to know about Saturday’s game. If you’re not in Regina, you can catch it on TSN or RDS in Canada. American and International viewers can watch on CFL+.
2024 CFL PLAYOFFS
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HEY, I KNOW YOU!
Saturday’s quarterback matchup is that of a pair of QBs who’ve gotten pretty familiar with each other over the years.
Trevor Harris and Vernon Adams Jr. were teammates in Montreal in 2021 and 2022 before Adams Jr. was traded to the BC Lions for the second half of the 2022 season.
They’ve also previously faced off in a Semi-Final, though they were on different teams at the time than they are now.
The pair went head-to-head back in 2019 when Adams Jr. was still an Alouette and Harris was in Edmonton. Edmonton was the crossover team into the East that season, leaving the West and going to Percival Molson Memorial Stadium take on Montreal in the Eastern Semi-Final. Edmonton defeated Montreal that game, 37-29, to move on to the Eastern Final to take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Harris had one of his best playoff performances (more on that in a moment) while Adams Jr. struggled in his first post-season appearance. Harris connected on 36 of his 39 pass attempts for 421 yards, a touchdown, and an interception, while Adams Jr. was good on just 14 of 27 passes for 226, three interceptions, and no touchdowns.
That was then and this is now, however, as they get set to meet on the turf on Saturday.
“I love Vernon, but not tomorrow,” smiled Harris. “Yeah, I love the guy, but he’s continued to ascend and get better. To me, he’s been somebody that, as the Bible talks about, iron sharpening iron. We were only together a short time in Montreal, but it was very much that iron sharpened and iron and us making each other better, picking up things off of one another.
“At the same time, tomorrow, it’s our day. I don’t want it to be his day.”
“(The Semi-Final is) against Trevor, who beat me when I was in Montreal and he was in Edmonton,” Adams Jr. said. “He’s a guy who I look up to as a quarterback, a leader, a man of God. So it means a lot.”
SPEAKING OF TREVOR HARRIS…
There’s just something that happens to Harris when the weather gets cold and the stakes are high. The 38-year-old pivot has had some pretty remarkable individual playoff performances.
He currently holds the following post-season records:
“I don’t know,” Harris pondered after being asked about his post-season success. “As the season goes on, I feel like I get more in tune with my receivers, more in tune with my coordinator, and more in tune with the O-line calls versus defensive pressures and making quick adjustments because we’re going.
“(We) see looks we haven’t seen before and you’ve got to be able to read and react, understand what defences are trying to do to you, set up your certain plays that maybe you have in the future, and take what the defence gives you. But also be able to have the ability to throw it over their heads when you need to.
“I think a lot of times we get in these moments, people get a little bit wide eyed, and moment get a little bit too big,” continue Harris. “And my dad raised me well, that I just never really felt those pressures in certain situations. We just applied the pressure instead of feeling.”
Despite all of the personal accolades, in seven career playoff starts, Harris is 3-4. He’ll be looking to improve that number to .500 with a win on Saturday against BC.
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The Saskatchewan Roughriders will have a one-two punch of AJ Ouellette and Ryquell Armstead out of the backfield on Saturday, with both listed on the team’s depth chart.
Armstead had a 207-yard outing in his first game as a Roughrider against Calgary in Week 16 and was consistently producing as a member of the Ottawa REDBLACKS before his release earlier this season. Ouellette, who is a bruising running back who can run through defenders for extra yardage, has another part of his game that should be a factor on Saturday: his ability to protect the quarterback.
“He’s maybe the best past protecting running back I’ve ever seen up here,” said Harris.
“It’s a very underrated part of his game,” continued Harris. “He’s insanely good at it. A lot of times when an O-line’s wrong, he makes it right. What people don’t give him enough appreciation for is how well he does in those moments.”
Against a BC Lions defence that finished the year tied for second in sacks made (39), having Ouellette aiding in protecting Harris will be imperative.
On the other side, William Stanback starts in the backfield for the BC Lions, as the team goes against the league’s best run defence that has allowed only 80.3 yards per game on the ground. While Stanback hasn’t produced as much as he’d like against the Riders this year, racking up just 47 yards in the two contests, he’s more than capable of a big game. He also won the Grey Cup with the Montreal Alouettes in 2023, bringing a championship mindset to the Lions as they keep their eyes focused on winning their own.
RIDING THE ROLLERCOASTER OF 2024
For both the Riders (9-8-1) and Lions (9-9), the 2024 season has been anything but a straight line to get to where they are.
Let’s start with the home team.
Saskatchewan started red-hot in 2024. The started 4-0, and eventually went to 5-1, as the new-look, Corey Mace-led Riders were for real. Things then turned in Riderville, as they went on a seven-game winless skid in the middle of the season. There was no panic, however, and Saskatchewan then went on a four-game winning streak before losing their regular season finale, with starters resting, in Week 21 against Calgary.
Now for the visitors.
The Lions kicked off the season with an impressive start, going 5-1 before going on five-game winless streak. However, after a big victory against Ottawa during the OK Tire Labour Day Weekend, they rallied to finish the season strong with a record of 4-3 in the final stretch.
Football is all about momentum and both teams are riding high heading into the post-season with the first round of playoffs on the horizon.
THE LAST TIME THEY WERE HERE
For the third year in a row, the BC Lions are playing in the Western Semi-Final. They were the hosts of the last two, in 2022 and 2023, winning both of those matchups against the Calgary Stampeders to move onto the Western Final to take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The last time the Roughriders were in the playoffs, they too hosted a Semi-Final, playing the game at Mosaic Stadium in 2021. Saskatchewan defeated Calgary as well in that one and also went on to play the Blue Bombers in Winnipeg.
The exact same fate as their last playoff appearances awaits both of these teams on Saturday: the winner earns the right to challenge the Bombers in Winnipeg to play in the 111th Grey Cup.
It’s worth noting that since 1936, Saskatchewan is 23-18-1 (.560) as the home team in the playoffs, while BC’s road record in the playoffs since 1954 is 11-26 (.297).
Who will advance to the Final?