Another week, another chance to fire up the ol’ LWOS Predict-o-Matic to determine this week’s winners and losers. Saying with any confidence who’s going to win and lose in the 2015 edition of the CFL is a fool’s errand; and with that, here are the LWOS CFL crew with their confident CFL predictions for week 3.
CFL Predictions: Week 3
Ottawa Redblacks at Edmonton Eskimos
Lance’s thoughts: Ottawa is on a franchise high, the fans are into it, and smilin’ Hank has looked good so far. Edmonton is coming off a week two bye, which they needed to work on their sputtering offence. Despite losing Mike Reilly for 10-12 weeks in week one as well as RB John White, the Eskimos have one star left in Adarius Bowman. Look for backup QB Matt Nichols to find him early and often, but expect Ottawa to come through with another great performance through the air and take another W on the road.
Kelly Bale: Ottawa 30 – Edmonton 26
Matt Bin: Ottawa 27 – Edmonton 10
Matt Crockett: Ottawa 27 – Edmonton 35
Nicholas di Giovanni: Ottawa 27 – Edmonton 22
Connor Ferguson: Ottawa 27 – Edmonton 11
Lance Keiser: Ottawa 24 – Edmonton 15
Gina Schiltz: Ottawa 31 – Edmonton 17
Montreal Alouettes at Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Nick’s thoughts: The Bombers have been one of the most unpredictable teams in the league the past two seasons and it will be tough to say what will happen against Montreal. Drew Willy is apparently starting, but how will he do? Will Paris Cotton return to his week one form? Who knows. The Alouettes themselves have some uncertainty after rookie Rakeem Cato led the team to a 29-11 victory over the Stampeders last week. It will be interesting to see if Cato can pull out another victory in his second career start, this time on the road. If Alouettes take advantage of and exploit the Bombers’ weak defence, they’ll take the victory.
Kelly Bale: Montreal 45 – Winnipeg 37
Matt Bin: Montreal 16 – Winnipeg 21
Matt Crockett: Montreal 24 – Winnipeg 27
Nicholas di Giovanni: Montreal 33 – Winnipeg 31
Connor Ferguson: Montreal 33 – Winnipeg 30
Lance Keiser: Montreal 26 – Winnipeg 17
Gina Schiltz: Montreal 37 – Winnipeg 30
Saskatchewan Roughriders at B.C. Lions
Kelly’s thoughts: We haven’t seen either team play a full four quarters, or succeed in all three facets of the game, for a winning result in 2015. The Lions lost by margin of eleven in one game and the Riders lost by only six in two games. The injuries on both sides even out except at starting quarterback: former Lion and backup Riders QB Kevin Glenn will take the snaps. In a productive week two, he threw for 579 total passing yards including the two overtime periods. For the Riders that’s just six total points from a 2-0 start! It’ll be a nail biter for Saskatchewan fans in magnificent B.C. Place. Right down to the wire, but take the hungry Riders.
Kelly Bale: Saskatchewan 37 – B.C. 29
Matt Bin: Saskatchewan 17 – B.C. 22
Matt Crockett: Saskatchewan 32 – B.C. 28
Nicholas di Giovanni: Saskatchewan 11 – B.C. 21
Connor Ferguson: Saskatchewan 45 – B.C. 21
Lance Keiser: Saskatchewan 31 – B.C. 22
Gina Schiltz: Saskatchewan 32 – B.C. 29
Toronto Argonauts at Calgary Stampeders
Gina’s thoughts: The Argos were firing on all cylinders last week as they pulled off an exciting overtime win against the Riders. Trevor Harris was named Shaw CFL Top Performer as well, throwing four touchdown passes. Toronto proved they could put points on the board when it mattered and did so in a loud Mosaic Stadium. The question is whether Calgary can get out of their penalty-ridden slump and tighten up their defence – something that was surely addressed this week. I don’t see another loss for Calgary, but it will be another nail-biter.
Kelly Bale: Toronto 28 – Calgary 20
Matt Bin: Toronto 15 – Calgary 32
Matt Crockett: Toronto 14 – Calgary 36
Nicholas di Giovanni: Toronto 43 – Calgary 27
Connor Ferguson: Toronto 21 – Calgary 17
Lance Keiser: Toronto 31 – Calgary 25
Gina Schiltz: Toronto 35 – Calgary 37
Week 2 Roundup
This week had one big upset – no one saw the Calgary collapse coming, leaving everyone with at least one wrong pick. Nick led the field with three correct picks; everyone but Kelly was right twice, and Kelly trailed with one correct pick out of four. Impressively, Lance called even the score exactly right in the Ottawa-B.C. matchup. Is he psychic? Was it a lucky guess? We’ll see if he comes that close again in the coming week.
