CFL Week 8 Betting News and Notes

SASKATCHEWAN vs. TORONTO
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Saskatchewan's last 11 games when playing on the road against Toronto
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Saskatchewan's last 5 games on the road
Toronto is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Saskatchewan
Toronto is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing Saskatchewan

BRITISH COLUMBIA vs. EDMONTON
British Columbia is 1-4 SU in its last 5 games on the road
British Columbia is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Edmonton
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Edmonton's last 6 games
Edmonton is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against British Columbia

CFL Betting Notes - Week 8
By David Schwab

A couple of teams decided to assert themselves last week as the CFL regular season approaches the mid-way point. Montreal made a statement by dressing down the upstart Edmonton Eskimos 27-4 as a 6½-point home favorite to kick things off this past Thursday. Meanwhile, Calgary pounded out a 45-35 victory over Saskatchewan as a 3 ½-point road favorite in Friday’s West Division showdown.

In an East Division clash on Saturday, Hamilton outlasted Toronto 37-32 but could not cover as a 7 ½-point home favorite. Winnipeg stayed on top in the East with a 30-17 rout of British Columbia as a 1½-point road underdog in Saturday’s nightcap.

There are only two games on the CFL schedule this week as half the teams are idle with a bye. The following is brief preview of each game along with the opening point spread and ‘over/under’ lines as provided by BetOnline.com.

Thursday, August 18

Saskatchewan Roughriders at Toronto Argonauts (-2½) Over/Under (54)

Saskatchewan has dug itself an early hole with a 1-6 record both straight up record and against the spread. The squad will have to quickly make up ground if it has any hopes of returning to a third-straight Grey Cup Championship. Toronto has also reverted back to its old ways with a 1-6 start. The Argonauts have not been going down without a fight as they are 3-4 ATS. Last season these two split the season series with each team winning and covering the spread on the road. The Roughriders won the first matchup 27-16 as 3 ½-point road favorites in early October and the Argonauts evened things up a week later with a 24-19 victory as 11 ½ point road underdogs. The total stayed ‘under’ the 49-point line each time.

Until that loss, the Roughriders had dominated the series with five SU wins in-a-row and victories in seven of the last eight . They are 5-1 ATS in their last six trips to Percival-Molson Stadium in Toronto and the total has stayed ‘under’ in seven of the last 10 meetings there.

Saskatchewan quarterback Darian Durant is ranked sixth in the CFL in passing with 1,660 yards. He is completing 62.8 percent of his passes, but has eight interceptions to go along with eight touchdowns. Backup QB Cleo Lemon continues to fill in for Steven Jyles, who remains on the Argonauts nine-week injured list with a bad shoulder. Lemon has thrown for 1,410 yards and is completing 65.1 percent of his passes.

Friday, August 19

BC Lions at Edmonton Eskimos (-6) Over/Under (50½)

BC has managed just one win this season against six losses. The Lions are 2-5 ATS overall and 1-2 ATS on the road this season. Edmonton dropped its second straight game after winning its first five. The Eskimos are now tied with Calgary atop the West Division at 5-2 SU (4-3 ATS). They are 3-0 SU at home and 2-1 ATS. They met in Week 3 this season with Edmonton coming away with a 33-17 victory as a 2½-point home favorite. The total stayed ‘under’ the 54½-point line.

This was the Eskimos third win in-a-row over BC and sixth in the last 10 meetings SU dating back to the 2008 season. They are 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings overall, but just 2-4 ATS in the last six games at home. The total has gone ‘over’ in five of the last seven meetings in Edmonton and nine of the last 12 games overall.

This game will feature two of the top four passers in the league in total yards. Travis Lulay comes into this one with 1,764 passing yards for the Lions, while Ricky Ray has tossed the ball for 1,963 yards for Edmonton.

Battle of slumping squads on tap in Toronto

Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Two of the teams bringing up the rear in their respective divisions get together at Rogers Centre on Thursday night, as the slumping Toronto Argonauts entertain the struggling Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Both squads have won just one of their first seven games, falling far short of expectations. Last year at this point in the campaign, Saskatchewan was 5-2, losing only to powerhouses Calgary and Montreal. Ironically, the lone win for the squad this time around also came against the Alouettes in the fourth game of the season by a narrow score of 27-24.

Last week, the Roughriders tallied a season-high 35 points at home versus the Stampeders, but at the same time the hosts also allowed a season-high 45 points. Darian Durant connected on 24-of-34 passes for 325 yards and two touchdowns, but he was also intercepted twice and sacked two times before giving way to backup Ryan Dinwiddie. A product of Boise State, Dinwiddie completed all six of his pass attempts, leading to 109 yards and a score in the double-digit loss.

Running back Hugh Charles carried the ball 11 times for the Roughriders, gaining a game-high 94 yards and posting a major on the ground, while also reeling in seven passes for another 60 yards and two touchdowns.

Dooming Saskatchewan's quest for just its second win of the season was an interception return for a touchdown of 117 yards, the fourth longest return in CFL history, by Keon Raymond in the third quarter. With the setback, Saskatchewan dropped to 0-4 at home on the season.

For the Argonauts, also 5-2 at this stage of the campaign a year ago, they too scored a season-high 32 points during Week 7 action versus the Hamilton Tiger- Cats but like the Saskatchewan, Toronto also found itself falling into the loss column yet again, 37-32. The defeat was the sixth in a row for the Argos since defeating Calgary in the opener, 23-21.

For the second week in a row, Toronto quarterback Cleo Lemon threw for more than 300 yards, finishing the outing with 368 yards and three scores, but again the Argos were left scratching their heads. Lemon, who only a few weeks back missed playing time after suffering a chipped tooth and also had to duck out for a few plays last week because of cramping, converted 26-of-36 attempts and refrained from not only throwing an interception but also kept from being sacked as well which head coach Jim Barker sees as a step in the right direction.

Running back Cory Boyd, who missed four games due to injury, ran the ball 16 times for 73 yards and a score, the Argos producing a solid 127 yards on the ground to expand the offense and give Lemon more time to make the right decisions in the pocket.

Despite coming out on the losing end against Hamilton, Toronto wide receiver Brandon Rideau still got himself noticed as he caught six passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns. With his efforts Rideau was named the CFL Offensive Player of the Week.

Toronto's problem this year continues to be turnovers, sitting last in the CFL in that department at minus-13. It also hasn't helped that the team's defense is last in the league in yards allowed, permitting an unsightly 404.8 ypg.

When it comes to running the ball, Toronto is in the middle of the pack with 102.0 ypg, thanks in large part to Chad Kackert who effectively filled the void in the absence of Boyd by producing 314 yards and four touchdowns on 54 attempts, yet he was not heard from in last week's loss.

Lemon, who threw for more than 300 yards just once last season and finished with 19 INTs against only 15 TDs, has tossed five majors in the last two games which is two more than he had in his first four contests this year, so clearly he is finally developing into the quarterback Barker had hoped he'd become.

Saskatchewan, currently tied with the British Columbia Lions for last place in the Western Division, has had struggles in the turnover department so far this year similar to Toronto, the Roughriders showing a minus-eight in that category through seven games. Durant, who started every regular season game and both playoff bouts for the program a year ago as he finished with a whopping 5,542 yards through the air, has already tossed eight interceptions in 2011.

The offense for the Riders currently ranks last in the league in scoring with just 21.0 ppg, the team running a league-low 502 plays from scrimmage through seven games. Saskatchewan has allowed 160 first downs, the most in the league except for Toronto which has tried to defend 168 such plays.

As far as the all-time, regular-season series between these two squads is concerned, Saskatchewan owns a 43-34-1 edge dating back to 1945. The clubs played in back-to-back weeks last season, each winning on the opponent's home field. First it was the Riders with a 27-16 victory in the first week of October, and Toronto captured a 24-19 decision seven days later.

This season, the teams are scheduled to meet once more in Week 12.

Eskimos seek turnaround against struggling Lions

Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) - After winning their first five games of the season the Edmonton Eskimos have reversed field and fallen in two straight contests and as a result, are now tied with the Calgary Stampeders for first place in the Western Division.

The Eskimos will try to get back to their winning ways this Friday night when they host the British Columbia Lions at Commonwealth Stadium in Alberta.

Last Thursday the Eskimos got their first real test of the 2011 campaign and failed miserably as they completely fell apart on the road against Montreal, 27-4. Quarterback Ricky Ray was sacked a total of five times in the first half, as the team was limited to just 85 yards of offense and minus-six yards on the ground through the first 30 minutes of action.

Former Alouettes kicker Damon Duval was responsible for all of the Edmonton scoring with a 39-yard field goal in the second frame and a 65-yard single in the third period. Ray finished the outing 21-of-32 for 245 yards. He was sacked six times overall and gave way to Kerry Joseph who hit on 3-of-6 passing for 39 yards. The running attack finished with minus-one yard overall.

The lone bright spot in the lackluster outing for the Esks was receiver Jason Barnes who finished with six catches for a game-high 128 yards.

As for the Lions, they are at the opposite end of the CFL landscape. British Columbia has but one win in seven opportunities thus far and as a result is tied with the Saskatchewan Roughriders for last place in the division. Those two squads are knotted with Toronto for the weakest record through seven weeks of play.

Travis Lulay started the game at quarterback for the Lions against Winnipeg last week, converting 12-of-23 passes for 103 yards, but eventually took a seat on the sidelines in favor of Jarious Jackson, who connected on a mere 6- of-19 for 124 yards and a touchdown in the 30-17 home setback. Jackson accounted for the only major of the game for BC with a 54-yard scoring strike to Akeem Foster in the fourth quarter, but that was the extent of the good news for the hosts.

Jackson was also intercepted once and suffered four sacks as the Lions ended up with seven turnovers, including three on downs late in the meeting.

Finally seeing action for the first time this season was wideout Arland Bruce whom the Lions acquired two weeks earlier from Hamilton. Bruce, one of the more dynamic receivers the CFL has seen in recent years, caught four balls for 34 yards, one of nine players to record a reception for the hosts.

Bruce, who has six 1,000-yard receiving seasons to his credit, can be an integral part of an offense when he works within the system, but you have to feed him the ball early and often in order to keep him involved. The wideout has big-play potential for sure, having scored 76 touchdowns in his career.

Bruce will be fighting with Geroy Simon for passes and that could work in the latter's favor if defenses start to pay more attention to Bruce. Simon has already shown that he can be a top-flight receiver, placing third in the league with 590 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 34 catches, but it doesn't hurt to have a second high-profile option to draw the attention of opposing secondaries.

Hopefully the infusion of talent will perk up Lulay a bit, the signal-caller showing an efficiency rating of only 77.3 due to the fact that he is completing just 54.9 percent of his pass attempts, the lowest among the regular starters in the CFL.

Just ahead of Lulay (1,764 yards) in terms of passing yards is Ray who is closing in on 2,000 yards and is second in the league with a 105.1 efficiency rating. Ray started off incredibly strong this year and it wasn't until the fourth game of the season that the Sacramento State product tossed his first interception of the campaign. Obviously Ray wasn't going to skate through the entire season without being roughed up, something that has happened in the last two games as he played under constant pressure against Montreal and tossed three picks versus Winnipeg a week earlier.

Make no mistake though, Ray has the potential to put up strong numbers with the weapons he has at his disposal, although losing Fred Stamps to injury certainly hampers his chances.

In action off the field since the Eskimos lost their second game in as many outings, the club signed wide receiver Dobson Collins on Monday to try and get back in business. Collins appeared in six games for the Lions last season, making 14 catches for 217 yards so he is someone who can contribute right off the bat.

Edmonton won the first meeting of the season back in the middle of July by a score of 33-17 at home. The Eskimos now lead the all-time, regular-season series by a count of 102-68-4. Edmonton, which has won three straight and four of the last five against BC, will visit the Lions twice in the second half of 2011 on September 30 and again one month later.

CFL Week 8 Betting Preview and Picks
By Charles-André Marchand

Saskatchewan Roughriders at Toronto Argonauts (-3, 54)

This trip to Toronto might be the perfect occasion for the Roughriders to get back on track. They’ve won their last five visits to Toronto and have taken seven of their last eight games against the Argos.

Saskatchewan QB Darian Durant will be able to whisper the plays in an empty Rogers Center, where the scattered fans make for the dullest and quietest atmosphere in the CFL.

Defensively, the Argos will still be without MLB Jason Pottinger (knee) and could also go without DE Kevin Huntley (ankle). On the bright side, SB Andre Durie should play despite suffering a hamstring injury earlier this week.

These teams are both 1-6 but keep in mind that the lone win for the Riders was against Montreal, a team that clobbered the Argos twice this season.

Pick: Saskatchewan

B.C. Lions at Edmonton Eskimos (-6, 50)

After a stunning 5-0 start, the Eskimos have lost two in a row against the best two teams in the East, the Alouettes and Blue Bombers. In both losses, this young team showed its weaknesses on the offensive line and in its depleted receiving corps.

Jason Barnes was the most reliable target for QB Ricky Ray during the absence of Fred Stamps and Adarius Bowman, but will miss this game due to a rib injury. Bettors can also add WR Marcus Henry (concussion) to the injured list

Newcomers Dobson Collins and Preachae Rodriguez are capable of getting the job done and become nice alternatives for Ray, but they haven’t had much time to learn the Eskimos’ playbook.

Passing isn’t the only problem with Edmonton. Its running game was totally annihilated over the last two weeks. The Eskimos have only scored 20 points over their last two games and only six points in their last six quarters. Over that period, Ricky Ray has been sacked 10 times.

The Lions can’t afford to go 1-7 heading into next week’s bye. They’ll need to regroup and avenge a 33-17 loss to the Eskimos earlier this season. In fact, the Eskimos won six of their last 10 games against the Lions and three in a row heading into the weekend. These statistics don’t mean as much because of all the injuries suffered to key players on Edmonton's depth chart.

Travis Lulay will be back under center for B.C. after being pulled against Winnipeg last week. Lulay was just 12 for 23 and totaled 103 yards passing before being replaced by Jarious Jackson. He’ll get help from WR Geroy Simon, who is currently the third best receiver in the CFL, and should do enough to cover against the sliding Eskimos.

Pick: B.C.

CFL Week 8

Saskatchewan (1-6) @ Toronto (1-6) - Both teams obviously starving for a win; Argonauts scored 26 ppg in last four games, but still lost all of them- their only win was 23-21 at Calgary in opener. Saskatchewan has five losses by 10+ points, losing 33-3 at Hamilton, 24-11 in Vancouver, but they did get only win at Montreal. Four of Roughriders' last five games stayed under the total. Last five Toronto games went over.

BCLions (1-6) @ Edmonton (5-2) - Eskimos scored 16-4 points losing on road last two weeks, after scoring 30.6 ppg during 5-0 start; they are 3-0 at home (2-1 as home favorite) winning by 18-1-16 points. Lions are 1-5 vs spread last six weeks, losing three road games by 4-16-5- back in Week 3, BC (+2.5) lost 33-17 here, giving up 142 rushing yards with -3 turnovermargin. Five of last six Edmonton games stayed under the total.

BC Lions Visit Edmonton For CFL Betting Battle
By: Matty Simo

The British Columbia Lions will be looking to snap a three-game series losing streak and win for just the second time this season when they visit the Edmonton Eskimos on Friday. The Lions (1-6) have struggled defensively for most of the year and will be facing an Edmonton team that returns home after dropping two straight on the road by a combined 35 points.

Kick off from Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton is 6:00 p.m. (PT). The Don Best odds screen is listing the Eskimos as a 6-point home favorites with Saturday's total 50½.

The Eskimos (5-2) sputtered offensively in losing their last two at Montreal and Winnipeg, averaging just 10 points after scoring 24 or more in each of their first five games at home. The ‘under’ is 4-1 in their past five overall following a 27-4 loss to the Alouettes last Thursday, as kicker Damon Duval accounted for all of the team’s scoring with a field goal and single.

Edmonton has not only won three in a row against British Columbia straight up but also covered the CFL spread in each victory. The Eskimos had no problems scoring in those games, averaging nearly 31 points with the total going ‘over’ twice.

However, Edmonton has been bitten by the injury bug recently, losing slotback Jason Barnes to fractured ribs and receiver Marcus Henry to a concussion in the latest loss. The Eskimos are already without star slotback Fred Stamps due to an abdominal injury that is expected to keep him out another 3-5 weeks.

The Lions hope to take advantage of that situation and have seen the ‘under’ cash in their last three games along with four of five, including a 30-17 home loss to the Bluebombers on Saturday. They failed to cover as 1 ½-point favorites and were outscored in the second and third quarters, 27-3.

That was BC’s second loss to Winnipeg in three games with a 24-11 win over Saskatchewan sandwiched in between. The Lions got off to a much better start against the Roughriders, building a 20-10 halftime lead and then holding a 4-1 advantage in the final two quarters.

British Columbia was able to put the clamps on Edmonton in its last win in the series last July 4, pulling off a 25-10 upset on the road as a 4-point underdog. That game is one of only three meetings in the past 12 to go ‘under’ the total.

The Eskimos are just 10-26-1 ATS in their last 37 games against teams with a losing record and have been outscored by an average of more than 11 points in failing to cover their past three.

There is a 30 percent chance of showers in Edmonton on Friday with a projected high temperature of 68 degrees cooling down to 53 at night.