With the first third of the season complete, the picks are no easier to make. The East remains a logjam – at the top instead of the bottom, this year – and the West is anyone’s game. Except Saskatchewan. I don’t think anyone’s told the Riders that the season has started yet. But our LWOS CFL crew is ready and waiting to fire off the Week 7 CFL predictions!
Edmonton Eskimos at B.C. Lions
Gina’s thoughts: The Edmonton Eskimos are the team to beat in the West and have won four games in a row, by last week slaughtering Saskatchewan 30-5. Not only that, but winning with their second-string quarterback, Matt Nichols, who racked up over 300 yards and two touchdowns. What’s more impressive is Edmonton’s defence, allowing the least amount of yards per game. Meanwhile, the B.C. Lions continue to fall in the standings, despite having powerhouses like Soloman Elimimian and Adam Bighill. Lulay is still a question mark. Can home field advantage give B.C. the boost it needs? I wouldn’t count on it, not against Edmonton. The Eskimos will prevail for another week.
Kelly Bale: Edmonton 32 – B.C. 26
Matthew Bin: Edmonton 23 – B.C. 28
Matthew Crockett: Edmonton 29 – B.C. 27
Nicholas di Giovanni: Edmonton 27 – B.C. 20
Lance Keiser: Edmonton 31 – B.C. 15
Gina Schiltz: Edmonton 34 – B.C. 21
Montreal Alouettes at Ottawa Redblacks
Nick’s thoughts: This is an extremely unpredictable match-up coming up in Ottawa. Montreal at 2-3 and Ottawa at 3-2 are inconsistent and hard to predict teams. Coming off a bye week, Ottawa will have the rest and home field advantage while the Larks are coming back East after a sour loss in Calgary. With both offences turned up, this game should be a high scoring affair that can go either way. But after the Redblacks won in Molson Stadium, the Alouettes will pull out the win at TD Place.
Kelly Bale: Montreal 27 – Ottawa 28
Matthew Bin: Montreal 25 – Ottawa 29
Matthew Crockett: Montreal 34 – Ottawa 14
Nicholas di Giovanni: Montreal 33 – Ottawa 31
Lance Keiser: Montreal 25 – Ottawa 29
Gina Schiltz: Montreal 27 – Ottawa 25
Saskatchewan Roughriders at Toronto Argonauts
Kelly’s thoughts: The contest between the Riders and Argos is a lock for one of these clubs. The Argos, have impressed early in the 2015 CFL season with an improvement in all three facets of the game. All this despite a horrible schedule that’s made them road warriors until this week when they play their home opener. Offensively they are led by the unflappable Trevor Harris and a trio of young receivers. Kevin Elliott, Tori Gurley, and Vidal Hazelton have all proved savvy finds for GM Jim Barker. Together they have provided 827 yards on 65 catches in less than a third of the season. The Riders are the other team. They are what we thought they were. Don’t sleep on them but don’t put any money down either. The Argos will take it by a boatload.
Kelly Bale: Saskatchewan 19 – Toronto 34
Matthew Bin: Saskatchewan 16 – Toronto 22
Matthew Crockett: Saskatchewan 21 – Toronto 19
Nicholas di Giovanni: Saskatchewan 9 – Toronto 31
Lance Keiser: Saskatchewan 13 – Toronto 48
Gina Schiltz: Saskatchewan 15 – Toronto 30
Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Matt C’s thoughts: Last week’s Hamilton – Toronto match was a display of Hamilton’s impressive defensive squad. The Argos looked shaky and were overrun 34-18. The Ticats may have some issues with offense this week, though, as Zach Collaros’s favourite target Andy Fantuz was placed on the six-game injured list. Drew Willy’s Winnipeg Bombers worked their way past the B.C. Lions last week. They will be looking to activate healthy receiver Nick Moore as well as emerging success Darvin Adams in this tough battle ahead. The Blue and Gold will have their work cut out for them if they hope to break the Ticats’ 8-0 streak at Tim Horton’s Field on Sunday.
Kelly Bale: Winnipeg 10 – Hamilton 42
Matthew Bin: Winnipeg 19 – Hamilton 36
Matthew Crockett: Winnipeg 28 – Hamilton 27
Nicholas di Giovanni: Winnipeg 15 – Hamilton 28
Lance Keiser: Winnipeg 28 – Hamilton 42
Gina Schiltz: Winnipeg 29 – Hamilton 33
Week 6 Roundup
Not a stellar week for the so-called experts: only Gina surpassed a coin flip in accuracy, with a 3-1 record, and everyone else had only one or two correct picks. Lance must have been slightly edgy on Saturday after calling the close Calgary-Montreal game as a tie; and Matt B was only one point off with his predicted score for the Ticats game on Monday, but he would trade a Ticats win for a correct pick any day.
You can do better than this lot, right? Leave your predictions in the comments and we’ll include you in the writeup next week!
