Riders host Ti-Cats in home opener at Mosaic Stadium

Trevor Harris expects the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to come out for revenge after the Saskatchewan Roughriders ruined the eastern team’s home opener.

But just because the Riders won 33-30, the CFL quarterback believes they aren’t resting on their laurels.

“Last week was one of those things where we stole the game late. I know they are heated but if you think we’re not ticked off about the way we played, you’re dead wrong,” the 38-year-old quarterback said during practice ahead of Sunday’s contest. “We’re not sitting here putting our hands back over our heads and our feet on the desks saying we are 2-0. We are in attack mode. We have to be.

“If we’re not, they are going to come in and beat us because we know how well they are coached.”

The Riders will put their 2-0 record on the line as the team holds their home-opener Sunday night at Mosaic Stadium against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Kickoff for the game is set for 5 p.m. The Green Zone pregame show begins at 3 p.m.

The Riders 2-0 record on the road before their home-opener is a first for the historic club. It’s the only times the team has won both games when their home-opener isn’t until game three.

Harris is excited to appear in his second home-opener as the quarterback of the Green and White.

“I know it means a lot to the fans here and because of that, it means a lot to us,” Harris said. “In high school you could always feel the buzz that it was game day. I remember that feeling last year that it feels like game day around here.

“You see people in green and white jerseys and Sask. gear walking around the stadium, people getting parking and finding parking, tailgating. That’s one of those things that doesn’t happen everywhere.”

Head coach Corey Mace is heading into Mosaic Stadium for the first time in a regular season game as the team’s bench boss after accepting the job in the offseason.

“It’s the best place to play in the CFL. As an opposing coach and/or player, when you walk into Taylor Field or Mosaic Stadium, you feel like it’s big time football,” Mace said. “If I’m being honest, the last couple years I feel like it just lost that lustre just a tad bit here in Saskatchewan.

“We want to build that trust back from the fan base and bring this game back in Canada to the heights we know it is in this province.

The contest will also feature two CFL veteran quarterbacks who are throwing the ball well to begin the 2024 CFL season.

Trevor Harris came into Week 3 leading the league in passing with 695 yards. Hamilton quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was hot on his tail with 680 through two games.

The Riders will be without one of their key pieces on offence as guard Philip Blake was injured in last week’s game against Hamilton. He was put onto the six-game injured list with a thigh injury.

Ryan Sceviour – who joined Saskatchewan this offseason after five seasons in the Stamps – is a 2022 west all-star at the position.

So what does he bring to the group?

“Physicality and I think intelligence. I do a good job understanding what is going on and try to help the guys out as much as I can,” Sceviour said.

He will try to help the group get Saskatchewan’s run game going this week.

Running back AJ Ouellette is only averaging 2.2 yards per carry so far this season, rushing for 32 yards in both games this far.

Meanwhile, on defence the Riders will look to not give up the big play this week after Mitchell torched them for 380 yards and three touchdowns.

Saskatchewan will also look to reduce the amount of penalties the team has taken. Coming into the week, Saskatchewan leads the CFL in penalties taken (18) and penalty yards (199).

But despite this, the team has two come-from-behind victories thanks to strong fourth quarters. The Riders have been outscored 48-25 in quarters one to three but in the fourth have a 37-3.

“It shows we can climb out of a hole but I don’t think it’s something you want to make a habit,” Harris said. “It doesn’t happen often for a reason so we don’t want to make a habit out of it.”

With Saskatchewan looking to remain perfect despite performances the team would say were far from perfection, Mace is challenging his team this week to show what kind of unit they can be.

“Just piece everything together,” Mace said. “There’s still a lot of stuff we have to fix going forward if we want to be the team we expect to be.

“I’m challenging these guys (to find out) who are we? What do we actually look like? To this point, we have put together games that don’t meet the expectations of who we’d like to be.”