If betting the Roughies/Lions game tonight....

[choslamshe]

i'll keep you posted on weather. I'm about 2 blocks away from the stadium right now, and it looks like we're about to get poured on and its supposed to be on and off the entire day and night.

Stay tuned...

[HinesWard86]

Good stuff, keep us updated. Considering putting in a play on this game.

[ballwonder]

Thanks bud, what is your lean on this game. Was thinking BC - the points but would like some insight, in other words give me a winner bud.

[RedButler]

Weather update: Skies have cleared for now...very little wind, if the game were to start right now, would consider it perfect football weather. However, 3 hours is a long time in Saskatchewan for weather to change, and the word is thundershowers on/off all night, so i'll update again about 30 minutes before kickoff.

My take on the game:

Saskatchewan opens the season at home minus some key weapons on defence lost to the Eskimos. Now, the defence of the Riders was definately their strong point the last two seasons, one in which they hoisted the Grey Cup. Talk of the town during training camp and after the first 2 seasons was: A) offensive line, and B) middle of the defence (losing Maurice Lloyd was HHUUUGGEEEEEEE). I attended both preseason games and to say the middle of the defence is a concern is not emphasizing near enough. A lot of big plays were surrendered over the middle, and even though it was the preseason and coach Miller claimed he didn't want to "tip-off" the Lions for week one, it still was pretty disappointing to see.

On offense, there is not a team in the CFL (maybe the Stamps are right up there) with more WR depth than Saskatchewan. Flick, Dressler, Fantuz, Getzlaf, and now Clermont will stretch the field so well for this team. The one offensive question mark......can Darian Durant emerge as a solid starting QB for the Riders? He has been plagued with inconsistency in his stay with the green and white, and you can bet that he will go through the same spurts this year as well.

Also of importance, Sask's workhorse RB from last year Wes Cates is out and may be out for a while following some offseason shoulder surgery.

For BC, they too see some lineup changes from last year. Obviously losing Clermont was huge, but something that i don't even think BC has fully understood yet is how devastating losing Stafan Logan to the NFL will be. He was their huge playmaker for an otherwise inconsistent offensive lead by Buck Pierce and Geroy Simon.

However, BC's defence should still be among the leagues best although losing the sack leader Cam Wake from last year will certainly hurt.

Anyway, for a game prediction...there are very very very few teams and times where the Riders get smacked around at Mosaic Stadium. Especially for a season opener, the stadium will be rockin and i expect a huge performance from Saskatchewan.

If you ask me, the line is set perfectly at basically a pick em ( i think its gone from SK -1 to BC -1 now), but nonetheless, this is a very tough game to call.

I am/was hoping that the rain kept up, because i do like this game Under 51.5 and the added "elements" would only help this pick. HOwever, we'll see...skies are clearing and not much wind which let me tell you for up here is nuts!!!!

I want you all to keep watching for the safeties scored in the first few weeks. Last nights game had 2 in the first half and again these pay very well. I don't think the 10 yard change on the kickoff following a safety is enough to get teams to punt from the endzone. CFL Punters generally are pretty bad.....

Anyway, doubt this helped you in terms of picking a winner...i'll be back on about 30 min to kickoff with a couple more picks...

As of right now, the only thing i'm on is Riders +1 (from 3 days ago): 50 to win 45.

[RedButler]

x

[winkyduck]

a lot of people i see playing this one are on the RRs

[choslamshe]

weather looks to be very good for kickoff (in 40 minutes). its 20 degrees (celcius) and a wind at about 15 km/hour. Clouds in the sky but i don't think anything is developing. Possibly light scattered showers later on, not looking like it right now tho...

[ballwonder]

Thoughts on the total on this one?

[choslamshe]

Sorry BW, no advice on the full game total...just too tough to say for me. I am playing under 10.0 first quarter points..i expect a slow start from both offenses...

GL tonight