A pair of Canadian Football League teams coming off losses last week meet Saturday evening in Saskatchewan when the Roughriders host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are in a bad spot this week. They are coming off a tough loss, their running game is the worst in the CFL and now they have to head out on the road to face a team that is also stinging after suffering their first loss of the season.
Maybe the Tiger-Cats had bigger aspirations for 2010, but they are quickly circling the drain as they are more than a touchdown underdog this week, then play a home-and-home with Winnipeg in the two weeks to follow. 1-3 can quickly turn to 1-6 if they don’t wake up.
But taking it one week at a time, the Tiger-Cats head to Saskatchewan this week and the Green Riders are itching to bounce back. Their offense was suffocated last week and they are sure to be on top of their game this week.
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Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Saskatchewan Roughriders
Saturday, July 31 – 6:35 PM ET
CFL Odds: Roughriders -7.5
Catching Up With The Tiger-Cats
The Tiger-Cats are coming off a listless performance against Montreal and they are inching closer and closer to the panic button. At 1-3 with a cozy spot all by themselves in last place in the Eastern Conference, the panic button is within arm’s reach.
The issue right now for the Ti-Cats is the offense. More specifically, running back Deandra Cobb and the running game, that can’t get anything going on the ground. They are averaging more than a yard worse per carry than the next best team and the pressure is mounting on quarterback Kevin Glenn to do it all.
On one hand, it can be spun that the defense played well against Montreal last week, allowing just two touchdowns, but they still gave up 37 point and plenty of yards in the loss. They aren’t getting help and are being force to spend more time on the field than they would like to.
Catching Up With The Roughriders
The Roughriders are no longer undefeated. They scored points at a torrid pace through the first three weeks of the season but hit a wall against Calgary last week.
They scored a season low 20 points and quarterback Darian Durant was baited into three interceptions. But to put it into perspective, Calgary is a quality team and they have a stellar defense. It wasn’t the performance that the Roughriders wanted, but it was an early season wakeup call that they aren’t going to roll through the West as easily as they may have thought.
Not to worry, though, as the explosive offense is still intact; it just took a week off. The Roughriders have played well at home this year and they should be able to bounce back.
The Matchup
The math seems pretty simple in this one: the Ti-Cats are 0-2 on the road while the Roughriders are 2-0 at home. Sure, Durant and company struggled last week in Calgary, but that was against the best defense in the Canadian Football League and the Ti-Cats simply aren’t as good as that.
Throw in the fact that the Ti-Cats have the worst rushing attack in the league and heading into a hostile environment against a team that took their first loss last week and the CFL betting choice should be clear.
Football Betting Pick: Roughriders -7.5