Five teams in the west where things are much tighter at the top than they are in the east. There should be some very meaningful games to be played as we head into the fall here.
BC Lions
It has been an excellent season so far for the Lions, hitting the halfway point with a 7-2 record, the same mark as the Blue Bombers in the west. Week 3 saw the Lions roll out of Winnipeg with a win but they came back to earth with a bump in Week 9 at IG Field when they were on the wrong end of a 14-50 scoreline.
Their only other loss this season was at Toronto who lead the east so fans should be happy with their body of work. They closed out the first half with a comfortable win over the Stampeders so now all eyes will turn to October 7 when Winnipeg comes to town in the game that could decide the west.
Their defensive work has been the key so far, 153 points against is the lowest in the CFL and as mentioned 50 of those came in one game. Mathieu Betts is averaging more than a sack per game this season to lead the way.
Calgary Stampeders
A win over the Toronto Argonauts has been a rare high point so far in an otherwise frustrating 3-6 campaign. 2-2 against the east but only 1-4 in their own division is their story with far too many points against.
Overtime losses at home to the Roughriders in week 3 and the Redblacks in week 7 are the differences between a winning and losing record at this stage of the season. They still have the opportunity to play spoiler down the stretch which might just be a role they relish.
Reggie Begelton and Tre Odoms-Dukes are both amongst the league leaders in receptions while Micah Awe and Mike Rose have done a solid job on the other side of the ball. Winnipeg and Toronto are next up which are tough but they also have two games with the Elks.
Edmonton Elks
The winningest team in CFL history in the post-merger era with 11 Grey Cup wins but they have not enjoyed the 2023 season, hitting the halfway point with the worst possible record, 0-9. Their loss to Winnipeg last week showed just how frail they are. Up 15-0 after the first quarter and 22-10 at halftime, they scored just seven points in the second half to lose again.
Fans do not have much to look forward to in the second half of the season. The best that they can hope for is that somehow the team can turn things around and gain some sort of respectability in the standings.
Three receiving touchdowns this season of 80 yards or more have at least given some joy to fans while AC Leonard is amongst the league leaders in sacks in his first season as an Elk. These are small things to cling to, however, in an otherwise poor side.
Saskatchewan Roughriders
4-5 at the halfway mark leaves the Roughriders with some work to do. Two of those four wins have come against the 0-9 Elks so are not the strongest of efforts, their other pair were narrow victories over Calgary and Ottawa.
They closed out the first half with a particularly disappointing loss at Montreal. At the end of three quarters, they had just three points on the board, adding nine in the final quarter when the game had already gone out of reach.
One-dimensional is the issue, the vast majority of their offense comes through Shawn Bane Jnr who has been taking catches like it’s going out of fashion, with Tevin Jones close behind. For all that, they have not managed to cash in on the game through the air and defensively, they have been poor.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers
A 7-2 record at the halfway point will have plenty of Blue Bombers fans hoping that they can make it to a 4th straight Grey Cup Final. Offensively, they are carrying all before them with 278 points from their first nine games.
Dalton Schoen has been the main target for Zach Collaros in terms of yards but Nic Demski and Drew Wolitarsky have been keeping up with Schoen when it comes to touchdowns. A widespread receiving core is a powerful weapon with defenders struggling to double team.
On the other side of the ball, things have not been quite so strong on the D side, conceding 190 points but they have not needed to be strong given their steamroller of an offense. When things come to crunch time, they are going to have to tighten things up as it won’t be so easy to rack up points come the playoffs but they are clearly a strong contender.