With their backs against the wall to clinch a playoff spot for the 2025 season, the journey for the Edmonton Elks came to an abrupt end last week when they lost 37-24 to a red-hot BC Lions team. Edmonton needed to win its remaining scheduled games to achieve that goal, including tonight’s scheduled game against its natural rivals, the Calgary Stampeders.  Edmonton will now have to play this game solely for pride, and pride alone.

Game Details  

Date:  Friday, October 24th, 2025

Location:  Commonwealth Stadium / Edmonton, Alberta

Kickoff time:  09:30 PM EST

Channel: TSN

Stream:  CFL +

Weather forecast at kickoff:  15°C.  Partly cloudy.  It will feel like 14 °C with a wind gust of 27 km/h.   

Odds

Spread:  Calgary Stampeders (- 4.5) – 235 / Edmonton Elks (+4.5) – 104

Moneyline:  Calgary Stampeders – 245 / Edmonton Elks + 195

Over / Under: Over 53.5 – 110 / Under 53.5 – 110

Via FanDuel Sportsbook

Game Notes

.  The Elks have had great success against Calgary of late, winning 5 of the last 6 meetings since September 2023.

.  Calgary has not won the season series against Edmonton since 2022.

.  Last week’s interceptions against BC were Cody Fajardo’s first multi-interception performance as an Elk.

.  The turnovers ended his run at 185 consecutive pass attempts without an interception (Aug 22-Oct 17th).

.  Dedrick Mills rushed for a season-high 115 yards last week vs. Toronto and leads the CFL with 1,340 yards – the most by a Stampeder since 2013 (Jon Cornish, 1,813).

.  The Stampeders are 9-0 when making fewer turnovers this season – and 0-7 when they made more than their opponent (1-0 with even turnovers).

.  Joel Dublanko had a team-high 9 defensive tackles vs. BC and is up to 80 tackles on the season to lead Edmonton.

.  Since becoming a full-time starter on August 2nd, Joel Dublanko has 75 tackles in 11 games for an average of 6.8 per game (an 18-game pace of 122 tackles).

.  Javon Leake totalled 204 all-purpose yards at BC and is up to 2,375 on the year to lead the CFL, including 2,047 kick return yards. 

Source: CFL

All-Time Series

73-47-1 in Edmonton

Streak:  3 wins / 4-6-0 in the last 10 games.

Last game:  31-19 win on September 6th, 2025

60-61-2 in Calgary

Streak:  1 loss / 3-7-0 in the last 10 games.

Last game:  28-7 loss on September 1st, 2025

All-time:  133-108-2

Edmonton Elks Depth Chart

Calgary Stampeders Depth Chart

Injury Reports

Players to watch: Edmonton Elks

RB – Justin Rankin

He is a special player to have on your team.  He is creative, unpredictable (in a good way), and physically strong to power your offence.     

LB – Joel Dublanko

Drafting Joel Dublanko and seeing his progress as a full-time starter has been a blessing for Edmonton.  If he is this good now, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg.  He will be a franchise player for the Elks in the future.  

DB – Kordell Jackson

Expect Kordell Jackson to play a big role in the turnover battle.      

Players to watch: Calgary Stampeders

QB – Vernon Adams Jr.

He might have had a hot and cold season.  Vernon Adams Jr. is still a quarterback who has the talent to change the game.  If the Elks cannot control the effectiveness of the Calgary offence led by Vernon Adams Jr., it will be a long night.

RB – Dedrick Mills

Everyone in this league knows all too well what he can bring to your football team.  He is one of the most respected running backs in the CFL.  When he gets going, he gets going and is tough to stop.

DL – Clarence Hicks

He’s a defensive lineman who is tough to stop or contain.  His 27 tackles and 11 sacks this season are only a snippet of what he is capable of doing.    

Keys to an Edmonton victory:

There is nothing to play for.  Play the spoiler role.

There is more at stake in this game for Calgary than it is for Edmonton.  On that note, create difficulties for Calgary to win this game.  Take some chances in this game with a different look on certain plays in an attempt to throw off Calgary.

Take chances

This is a great time to be aggressive in play selections during 3rd down situations.  If you are in the Calgary zone, gamble a little more on offence than you would normally.  On the Defence, stay aggressive.

Control Vernon Adams Jr. 

He had a stretch of mediocrity this season.  If the Elks can contain him and force Veron Adams Jr. to conduct bad throws, the turnover ratio will be won by Edmonton.

Prediction

The morale among Elk fans will be a lot lower than it was about three weeks ago.  On that note, this is a resilient Edmonton team that played with a lot of heart in the last 12 weeks of football.  It has been a long time coming to see the Green and Gold turn a corner and finally witness when this team will be competitive.  If this is just a taste of how the future of the Elks will be on the horizon in 2026, this team is on the edge of breaking their curse of finally becoming a playoff-bound team since 2019.

Final Score

Calgary Stampeders:  28  

Edmonton Elks:  24 

Expect the Elks to play a great game in their last game of the 2025 season.  The x-factor of this game will be Dedrick Mills.  The Elks will be able to contain him on a few occasions.  However, he will still control the clock and break open some big plays that will be the nail in the coffin.