The Saskatchewan Roughriders didn't lose to the BC Lions on Sunday so much as they lost to themselves. Again. For the second week in a row, penalties and turnovers buried a Riders team that had been playing some of the best football in the West, and nobody in the locker room was interested in dressing that up after the game.
Head coach Corey Mace didn't wait for a question to start pointing the finger at himself first. "Ah, man, just, uh, I gotta do a better job, buddy," Mace said. "This is 2 games in a row where I feel like, um, similar situations, uh, costly penalties, uh, and, you know, not, not winning the turnover battle as a football team. We gotta, we gotta fix that. And, you know, that's to me, that's, that's the head coach's job."
A Team That Was Leading the League Now Can't Get Out of Its Own Way
The frustrating part for Mace is how fast this turned. Saskatchewan wasn't just avoiding penalties earlier this season — they were the best in the league at it.
"We were on such a damn good trajectory early in the season. I think like 2 weeks ago we were number 1 in the league in taking penalties, you know, and now we've kind of put ourselves and shot ourselves in the foot. I think we had 7 or 8 tonight. Last week I think we had 8." — Corey Mace
Mace made clear this isn't about the yards lost on the flags themselves — it's what those penalties do to entire drives and entire series. "It's not just the yards of the penalty, it's, it's how expensive they are, what it actually takes off the board for your team," he said. Asked how close the game actually was under the hood, Mace didn't hesitate. "We ended up going to halftime written, and, um, and we had turnovers, costly penalties, uh, and we were still just down 7 points, right? So... I bet you it's probably closer than you would anticipate with a score like that."
Woods: "Screeching Halt" to Every Bit of Momentum
Linebacker Josh Woods described a defense that kept finding a rhythm only to have it yanked away by its own mistakes. "It ruins the, the momentum of the game in times where we do have the momentum and it feels like a swing could be happening," Woods said, pointing to good returns and defensive stops that got wiped out by flags. "And then, and then it's, uh, you know, uh, uh, somebody jumped, or, you know, it's all these things take away, um, the good things that we are doing."
Woods was asked directly about defensive back Jackson Ford's up-and-down night and refused to single anyone out. "I'm not gonna pinpoint, uh, Jackson. I think we all just need to stick together, um, and all play together, um, from the front to the back," Woods said. "I wouldn't single out Jackson."
On containing Nathan Rourke, both Woods and Mace pointed to BC's tempo as a factor, but Mace was clear it came down to fundamentals in the end. "I thought we were in some pretty dang good calls, but we just lacked some execution, specifically in tackling. And I thought tonight was not — was not to the standard, man," Mace said.
Harris Takes Responsibility, Admits He Was "Pissed Off"
Quarterback Trevor Harris didn't hide from a rough night that included multiple interceptions. "Frustration, missed opportunities, um, you know, the big things that, you know, we harp on — turnovers, penalties — and those are, those are the story of the game for us," Harris said. "I'll take responsibility as always, making sure that I'm on the details."
Reporters noted Harris looked visibly frustrated on the sideline, more than usual. He didn't deny it. "Stuff that we've got to make sure that we talk about and make sure we hammer out and get better, and I promise you we will. I was pissed off in the moment," Harris said.
Harris also broke down how BC's defense forced him out of the pocket more than he's used to. "They're doing a good job in terms of what they were doing, rolling their coverages, getting to our primaries and following eyes. And DBs doing a good job of tilting their leverage," he said. "We started to combat that a little in the second half. We were able to move the football all day. It's just a matter of us being able to finish drives and get out of our own way."
Leaning Into Adversity — And Remembering Last Year
Asked whether last season's late-year turnaround after a similar rough patch offers any lesson here, Harris pushed back gently on the comparison while still drawing on it. "You try and stay in the present, um, and understand that this is a different team, but we have to respond just like the team last year did," he said. "I know the group of guys that we have out there, and we will respond."
"The only thing guaranteed in pro football is adversity, and we got a little adversity here, and that's something that I think will be catalyst for us... the harder we lean into this, the harder we work each and every day, the better we're going to be at turning this corner." — Trevor Harris
Mace was asked point blank whether this is a personnel issue — whether the Riders need to make changes to the roster or starting lineup to fix it. He shut that idea down fast. "I feel like we can certainly get it done with these guys," Mace said. "A lot of us have been together for quite some time, won some football games. We know what to do. We just got to go out there and execute it, man. I don't think that it's a roster issue. I just think we have to tighten up as a football team."
What's Next
Whether it's Mace pulling penalty tape apart in meetings, Harris preaching "chop wood" consistency, or Woods calling for the whole unit to play as one from front to back, the message out of the Saskatchewan locker room is the same: this is fixable, and it's on them to fix it. Two losses isn't a crisis in a long CFL season, but back-to-back weeks of the same mistakes is exactly the kind of pattern that turns into one. The Riders now have to prove in practice — not in postgame podiums — that they can put Sunday's version of themselves behind them before it becomes three in a row.
Watch the Full Videos
Saskatchewan Roughriders: Josh Woods | August 23rd Post-Game
Saskatchewan Roughriders: Trevor Harris | August 23rd Post-Game
Saskatchewan Roughriders: Corey Mace | August 23rd Post-Game