Still winless and now waving in a fixer, Ottawa hosts a red-hot BC club that's won four straight and doesn't look like stopping.
Game Details
- Matchup: BC Lions at Ottawa Redblacks
- When: Sunday, August 30 at 7:00 PM ET
- Where: TD Place Stadium, Ottawa, ON
- TV: TSN
- Stream: Watch live on CFL+
Odds
- Spread: BC Lions -0
- Moneyline: Ottawa Redblacks +280, BC Lions -350
- Over/Under: 62
Ottawa is 2-6-1 against the spread this season with four overs, five unders and a push. BC sits at 5-5 ATS with an identical four overs, five unders and a push — a total of 62 says the books expect both offenses to find the end zone.
Overview
There's no dressing this up: the Redblacks are 0-10, dead last in the league, and have been outscored 368-223 through 12 weeks. Ottawa dropped its fifth straight last time out, a 16-46 beatdown in Montreal, and has lost every game by double digits over that stretch except one. The organization shook things up this week, bringing in Jim Popp as senior football advisor after firing VP Shawn Burke — Popp's resume includes a 242-185-1 record as a CFL GM with 20 playoff appearances in 24 seasons, and OSEG clearly hopes some of that magic rubs off fast, even if it won't show up on the field Sunday.
BC, meanwhile, is humming. The Lions have won four straight, including a 30-16 win over Saskatchewan last week where the defense forced two red-zone turnovers to blow the game open in the third quarter. Nathan Rourke has been the engine — 1,026 yards and six touchdowns over his last three starts — and he's a career 3-2 against Ottawa, sitting one passing touchdown shy of 75 for his career. BC's defense also leads the league in fewest yards allowed per game, a nasty matchup for a Redblacks offense that ranks ninth in net offence.
The history here isn't kind to Ottawa either — BC holds a 53-25-2 all-time edge in this series and the two clubs are a combined 4-0 for the home team in their last four meetings, though that trend actually favors Ottawa hosting this time. Still, with BC playing its best football of the season and Ottawa still searching for its first win, this one leans heavily toward the visitors. The intrigue is whether Ottawa's offense, which has shown flashes even in defeat, can hang around in a game the total suggests could get track-meet-y.
Key Players
- Jake Maier (Ottawa Redblacks, QB) — 260-of-374 for 2,806 yards and 12 touchdowns against 13 picks; he's slinging it a lot with little help and it shows in the turnover margin.
- Nathan Rourke (BC Lions, QB) — Riding a three-game stretch of 1,026 yards and six TDs, and he owns a 3-2 career mark against this Ottawa defense.
- Zander Horvath (BC Lions, RB) — Leads the CFL with 12 rushing touchdowns, seven of them coming in his last four games alone.
- Ayden Eberhardt (Ottawa Redblacks, WR) — Ottawa's top target and one of the few bright spots in an offense searching for answers.
- Mathieu Betts (BC Lions, DL) — Anchors a BC front that has helped the Lions win four in a row and clamp down defensively.
Keys to the Game
- Ottawa has to win the turnover battle for once — a minus-22 turnover ratio on the year, ninth in the league, has been the story of this losing streak.
- Jake Maier needs protection and time, because BC's pass rush behind Betts has been getting home all season.
- The Redblacks defense has to find a way to slow Horvath and the BC ground game early, or this turns into the same kind of runaway they've seen from Montreal and Saskatchewan.
Injury Report
| Player | Team | Status |
|---|---|---|
| A.J. Allen (LB) | Ottawa Redblacks | Doubtful |
| Marcus Barnes (DB) | Ottawa Redblacks | Available |
| Emeric Boutin (FB) | Ottawa Redblacks | Questionable |
| Dennis Briggs (DL) | Ottawa Redblacks | Out |
| Michael Brodrique (DL) | Ottawa Redblacks | Questionable |
| Aaron Casey (LB) | Ottawa Redblacks | Available |
| Adrian Frye (DB) | Ottawa Redblacks | Out |
| Anthony Gosselin (FB) | Ottawa Redblacks | Questionable |
| Scott Hutter (DB) | Ottawa Redblacks | Available |
| Aidan John (DL) | Ottawa Redblacks | Questionable |
| Cleyon Laing (DL) | Ottawa Redblacks | Out |
| Nyles Morgan (LB) | Ottawa Redblacks | Available |
| Daniel Okpoko (DL) | Ottawa Redblacks | Out |
| Julian Pearl (OL) | Ottawa Redblacks | Available |
| Jamie Pettway (LB) | Ottawa Redblacks | Out |
| Kalil Pimpleton (WR) | Ottawa Redblacks | Available |
| Jevoni Robinson (TE) | Ottawa Redblacks | Out |
| Giordano Vaccaro (OL) | Ottawa Redblacks | Out |
| Luiji Vilain (DL) | Ottawa Redblacks | Out |
Depth Chart
Ottawa Redblacks projected starters by position, built from the club's official Week 13 depth chart. Note this may not reflect final in-game adjustments.
| Position | Ottawa Redblacks |
|---|---|
| QB | Jake Maier, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Bryson Barnes |
| RB | Greg Bell, Daniel Adeboboye |
| FB | Emeric Boutin, Anthony Gosselin |
| WR (Boundary/Field) | Nick Mardner, Kalil Pimpleton, Ethan Jordan |
| SB | Cade McDonald, Justin Hardy, Ayden Eberhardt, Keelan White |
| LT | Dino Boyd |
| LG | Drew Desjarlais |
| C | Sean McEwen, Alassane Diouf |
| RG | Samuel Carson, Zachary Barlev |
| RT | Julian Pearl |
| DE | Sione Teuhema, Philippe Lemieux-Cardinal, Jessie Evans, Habakkuk Baldonado |
| DT | Jelani Stafford, Norell Pollard |
| WLB | Josh Connors, Brian Cole II, Lucas Cormier |
| MLB | Daniel Kwamou, Aaron Casey, Nyles Morgan |
| SLB | C.J. Reavis |
| CB | Shadwel Nkuba II, Eric Cumberbatch, King Ambers |
| HB | Marcus Barnes, Benny Sapp III |
| S | Scott Hutter, Alonzo Addae |
| K/P | Brett Lauther, Noah Gettman |
| LS | Lucus Spencer |
| RET | Kalil Pimpleton, Cade McDonald |
Score Prediction
Ottawa Redblacks 31 - BC Lions 31. The number crunches out closer than the moneyline suggests because both offenses have shown they can move the ball in bunches — Maier's air-it-out approach and Ottawa's desperation at home against a BC defense that's had its own lapses, paired with Rourke and Horvath doing damage on the other side, points to a total that clears 62 with points traded deep into the fourth quarter, even if BC's overall superiority makes them the smart side to lean on to actually escape with the win.
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Who takes this one? Drop your prediction in the comments.