Five storylines to watch as the Riders take on the Stamps

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are introduced before CFL football action against the Montreal Alouettes in Regina, on Saturday, September 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

After completing a thrilling comeback to start their Grey Cup title defense, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are looking to improve to 2-0 against the Calgary Stampeders.

Head coach role for now his third season, the Riders have been 2-0 in each of first two years of the Corey Mace era.

In recent memory however, the Stamps have been a team Saskatchewan has struggled to content with – losing each of the two matchups to Calgary in 2025.

“It’s more of a mental battle,” former Roughrider Wes Cates said during this week’s X’s and O’s segment on CTV.

“The only offense, the only team you couldn’t handle last year, was Calgary. Here we go heading into Calgary against pretty much an offense which is going to look the same and a defense which is going to look pretty similar.”

While speaking to reporters Thursday, head coach Corey Mace said they are well aware they were not able to get over the hump against Calgary last year.

“We speak to it really every week, there’s going to be something an opponent does that’s going to give [us] trouble,” he said. “Certainly, it didn’t turn out well for us in regard to facing [Calgary] as it pertained to the totality of the season. But yeah, we talked about it.”

Calgary has also won five of the teams’ last six meetings.

Here are some storylines to watch Saturday:

Quarterbacks

As often seems to be the case each week in the CFL, the matchup to watch will be at quarterback with two elite pivots leading their respective offenses.

Trevor Harris came out of the gates firing in Week 2’s win over the B.C. Lions, throwing for 417 yards on 30 passes, a completion rate of 83.3 per cent and three touchdowns – leading an 87-yard game-winning drive in the dying minutes.

It is just the third time in his tenure with the Riders Harris has surpassed 400 yards in a game.

“It’s just one of those things where you go and execute one play at a time,” Harris told reporters Tuesday. “When they scored with that amount of time left, I was like, ‘good, we got them right where we want them.”

On the other sideline for the Stampeders is a dual-threat quarterback in Vernon Adams Jr.

While Calgary ended up with a losing decision in their first game of the season Week 1 at Winnipeg, Adams was 17/27 with 239 yards, one touchdown and added 48 yards on the ground – including a rushing touchdown.

“We can’t look back at what we did last year, or years before,” the Stamps’ QB told media Thursday. “That’s a good team over there with a great head coach, great defense. We all have to do our part, own the ball – I have to own the ball – take care of it and give my guys a chance.”

League-wide, quarterback statistics are off to a soaring pace in 2026.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

In six games played across the league in two weeks, completion percentage is at a historical 70.4 per cent, 0.9 per cent of passes have been intercepted (four on 423 pass attempts), Current passer rating sits at an all-time high of 110.5 and QBs are throwing 11 yards down field per attempt.

All this while two out of every three offensive plays have been passes.

In Week 2, four quarterbacks passed for 400+ yards in three games – a feat last achieved in Week 6 of 1995 when seven games were played.

There have been fewer two-and-outs than TD drives, big Plays are currently 25 per cent higher than last season and offensive lines have yielded just 2.8 sacks per game.

Trevor Harris is 1-3 against the Stampeders as a Roughrider, while Adams is 6-2 in his career against the Riders.

On their toes

Given those high-flying offensive numbers, both defenses are likely to be busy Saturday.

Saskatchewan is preparing for both Adams’ legs and arm to be effective for Calgary.

“Vernon’s a great quarterback,” defensive back Antoine Brooks Jr. said. “He’s one of those quarterbacks you know can get out [of the pocket] and he’s still looking up. Not a lot of quarterbacks can keep doing that.”

Last week, Brooks recorded a career-high – and 2026-high – 13 defensive tackles.

“We just have to focus on containing him, making sure he can’t scramble a lot and look up to throw the vertical,” he added.

The Riders put up nearly 500 yards of total offense in their opening game. With three star receivers to defend, Calgary head coach Dave Dickenson knows the task is tall.

“Offenses have looked good early,” he said during an availability Thursday. “A lot of that is quarterbacks have been in the same system for multiple years. Big test; I’d love to think we can get ourselves into a situation where it comes down to us making a play to win the game.”

“That’s the trend now around the league,” added Mace. “A lot of these quarterbacks can extend plays with their legs, certainly Vernon has shown to do that over his career. I don’t want to take anything away from, his ability to step in the pocket and throw the ball down the field because he’s excellent at that.”

Banged-up secondary

Keeping Adams Jr. under wraps could be a little tougher than originally projected for Saskatchewan.

Two key injuries are impacting the defensive backfield, with boundary halfback Rolan Milligan Jr. and free safety Nelson Lokombo both out of the lineup.

Milligan hit the six-game injured list with a shoulder injury he sustained in the Riders’ opener, while Lokombo is dealing with an ankle ailment keeping him on the sideline this week.

In their spots, former NFL defensive back JuJu Hughes starts in Milligan’s place – his first CFL game. Former Regina Ram Jaxon Ford is starting for Lokombo.

Mills-ing about

Should Saskatchewan keep Adams Jr. contained, they will still have to contend with Dedrick Mills in the backfield.

Mills rushed for 112 yards and a TD in Week 1.

“He’s one of my favourite running backs,” Brooks admitted. “He likes to run the ball, talk trash, I ain’t going to lie to you. He’s got all the moves, the packages they run, he can catch, he’ll come out and block. That’s the type of running back I like and I can’t wait.”

In the two games against the Roughriders in 2025, Mills had 163 yards rushing on 30 carries and one touchdown.

Strong defensive front

The Stampeders got some reinforcements this week, announcing Jaylon Hutchings will return to the lineup after missing Week 1 with an injury.

“We’ve got a great opportunity here to really make some noise this year,” he said Thursday. “[Saskatchewan] is a really good group, physical, Trevor Harris is a really good quarterback. Our job as a d-line is to put pressure on him and make him uncomfortable.”

In 17 games in 2025, Hutchings recorded 39 tackles and added eight sacks.

The Riders offensive line will also be busy with Clarence Hicks coming off the edge.

“We have a lot of respect for them, all across the line,” said Jacob Brammer. “Their whole defensive line, defense in general, is really good.”

“Everybody will always look at [their] sack numbers but it doesn’t always tell the truth about the defensive line. If you can disrupt [an offence], and certainly they’ve got a unit that is [capable of that], it’s another tall task for us and our offensive line,” said Mace.

“These guys understand what it is and the challenge is not something these guys shy away from. [I’m] looking forward to that matchup – I’m sure they are as well. It’s going to be a good game for people who like to watch the trenches.”

Where to watch

Although the game is on the road in Calgary, the Roughriders know there could be a strong contingent of Green and White at MacMahon Stadium Saturday.

Mace, who played for the Stampeders from 2010 to 2014, recalled his time as a player in games between Calgary and Saskatchewan.

“It’s always a unique game,” he said. “It may be a home game for Calgary, but there’s a thick presence of Rider Nation there. Now being on this side, I’m happy about that.”

For those unable to get to Calgary for the game, kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday evening on TSN.