The Edmonton Elks schedule will see them kickoff the 2026 season against the Ottawa REDBLACKS in Ottawa on June 6th, with the return engagement on July 9th at Commonwealth Stadium
CFL Week 1 – Game 1 Analysis – Saturday June 6 in Ottawa
The Elks need to get off to a winning start in 2026. Since COVID-19 shut down the 2020 CFL Season, the Elks have started the seasons with losing streaks.
– 2021 – 2 game losing streak
– 2022 – 3 game losing streak
– 2023 – 9 game losing streak * team record to start a season
– 2024 – 7 game losing streak
– 2025 – 3 game losing streak
Starting the season off with a win would not only lift a gorilla off the Elks backs but avoid setting a team record of 6 consecutive season openers with a loss (Previously 1963-1967). The Elks are 4-3 in Season Openers vs Ottawa and 2-1 when the game is played in Ottawa. BUT…are the Elks playing a traditional Ottawa team or a Ryan Dinwoodie Toronto Argonaut scheme influenced team.
Dinwoodie moves over to the REDBLACKS after 5 seasons as the Argonaut Head Coach. The Elks are 3-5 against Dinwoodie, going 1-1 against him last year.
CFL Week 6 – Game 2 Analysis – Thursday July 9 at Commonwealth Stadium
The two teams meet 33 days apart with the Elks coming off 5 days between games and Ottawa with 6 days.
The Elks have a 0.615 winning percentage on Thursday games (69-43-1) all-time but are 1-7 in their last 8 Thursday night games. They also have their highest winning percentage by month in July at 0.623 (119-72-0) as well as their highest attended home games at 31,361 fans on average.
One team will have an opportunity to sweep their opponent in this game but both teams are hoping to see each other one more time this season meaning a crossover playoff matchup or better yet, their 5th meeting in the Grey Cup game and settling the 2-2 record against each other.
The History
When the East and West inter-divisional play started in 1961, the Ottawa-Edmonton series premiered with an Edmonton 35-26 win backed by a 2 rushing TD performance by Johnny Bright where he set the All-Time CFL rushing record (9059 yds and counting). The Rough Riders though dominate the series winning the 14 of the first 18 games. A 24-24 tie ball game in 1979 then pivoted the series. The Elks then had a record 33-7-1 until the end of 2005, the end of the Renegades era. Brought back as the REDBLACKS in 2014, the Elks are 13-9-0 vs Ottawa since then
The 2 cities have played in 4 Grey Cup Games:
-1960 Ottawa 16 – Edmonton 6
-1973 Ottawa 22 – Edmonton 18
-1981 Edmonton 26 – Ottawa 23
-2015 Edmonton 26 – Ottawa 20
Common Players/Staff between the two Organizations
Current: Jake Ceresna, Mark Korte, Nyles Morgan, Jovan Santos-Knox, Eugene Lewis, Peter Adjey, Jeff Reinbold, Mike Gibson, Damaso Munoz
Historic: Damon Allen, Bruce Beaton, Kwaku Boateng, Eddie Brown, Jay Christensen, Dan Crowley, Tom Dixon, Leo Groenewegen, George Hudson, Tristan Jackson, Stefan Jones, Kerry Joseph, Jason Maas, John Mandarich, Greg Marshall, Jeremiah Masoli, Nick Mazzoli, Troy Mills, Dan Murphy, Winston October, Chris Skinner, Greg Stumon, Don Sutherin, Kelly Wiltshire
Special connection: 60’s Ottawa player, Jay Roberts is the father of EE Alumni, Jed Roberts. Jay was the first CFL player to donate his brain and spinal cord to medical research
The Stats
Elks Record when:
Elks record in Season Opener: 44-31-1 (0.586)
Elks record in Season Opener on Road: 24-15-0 (0.615)
Elks record in Season opener vs Ottawa: 4-3-0 (0.571)
Elks record in Season opener in Ottawa: 2-1-0 (0.667)
Elks Record vs Ottawa: 50-30-2 (0.622)
Elks Record vs Ottawa at Home: 31-11-0 (0.738)
Elks Record vs Ottawa at Away: 19-19-2 (0.500)
Elks Record on June 6: This is the earliest Regular Season Game played in Elks history
Elks Record on July 9: 7-2-0 (0.778)
The last 10
Elks Record vs last 10 Ottawa Games: 4-6-0 (0.400)
Elks Record vs last 10 Ottawa Games at Home: 6-4-0 (0.600)
Elks Record vs last 10 Ottawa Games on the Road: 5-5-0 (0.500)
Last time Edmonton swept season series: 2025
Last time Ottawa swept season series: 2024
| 2025 Head-to-Head Statistical Comparison | ||||||
| Edmonton Offensive Rankings | Ottawa Defensive Rankings | |||||
| Rank | Total | Avg | Rank | Tot | Avg | |
| 8 | 422 | 23.4 | POINTS FOR/ALLOWED | 8 | 537 | 29.8 |
| 6 | 40 | TDS | T3 | 41 | ||
| T8 | 35 | FGS | 9 | 55 | ||
| 9 | 5665 | 314.7 | NET OFFENCE | 5 | 6382 | 354.6 |
| 5 | 1766 | 98.1 | RUSHING YARDS | 2 | 1645 | 91.4 |
| 8 | 4392 | 244 | PASSING YARDS | 4 | 4926 | 273.7 |
| 6 | 6.2 | AVG YDS/PLAY | 6 | 6.8 | ||
| 4 | 5.2 | AVG GAIN RUSH | 2 | 4.6 | ||
| 8 | 6.1 | AVG GAIN 1st DOWN | 5 | 6.6 | ||
| 9 | 43.6 | 2nd DOWN CONV % | 5 | 47.5 | ||
| 5 | 118 | 1ST DOWN by RUSH | 4 | 114 | ||
| T8 | 185 | 1ST DOWN by PASS | 4 | 210 | ||
| T4 | 26 | 1ST DOWN by PEN | T3 | 24 | ||
| 1 | 71.9 | COMPLETION % | 6 | 69.9 | ||
| 9 | 19 | PASSING TD’S | 3 | 22 | ||
| 4 | 102.5 | PASS EFFICIENCY | 7 | 100.5 | ||
| 8 | 52 | SACKS ALLOWED/BY | T7 | 24 | ||
| 1 | 12.9 | PUNT RET AVG | 8 | 12.8 | ||
| 5 | 22.5 | K/O RET AVG | 2 | 20.8 | ||
| 2 | 3 | KICK RET TDS | 9 | 5 | ||
| Edmonton Defensive Rankings | Ottawa Offensive Rankings | |||||
| Rank | Total | Avg | Rank | Tot | Avg | |
| 5 | 490 | 27.2 | POINTS ALLOWED/FOR | 9 | 417 | 23.2 |
| T6 | 44 | TDS | 5 | 41 | ||
| 7 | 47 | FGS | 9 | 35 | ||
| 9 | 7013 | 389.6 | NET OFFENCE | 6 | 6093 | 338.5 |
| 5 | 1831 | 101.7 | RUSHING YARDS | 6 | 1685 | 93.6 |
| 9 | 5336 | 296.4 | PASSING YARDS | 5 | 4848 | 269.3 |
| 8 | 6.84 | AVG YDS/PLAY | 9 | 5.99 | ||
| T3 | 5 | AVG GAIN RUSH | 6 | 4.9 | ||
| T3 | 6.5 | AVG GAIN 1st DOWN | 9 | 6 | ||
| 9 | 51.2 | 2nd DOWN CONV % | T7 | 45.3 | ||
| 6 | 123 | 1ST DOWN by RUSH | 6 | 113 | ||
| T7 | 245 | 1ST DOWN by PASS | 5 | 232 | ||
| T3 | 24 | 1ST DOWN by PEN | 1 | 33 | ||
| 8 | 71.5 | COMPLETION % | 4 | 69.4 | ||
| T6 | 29 | PASSING TD’S | 5 | 25 | ||
| 8 | 104.3 | PASS EFFICIENCY | 8 | 89.4 | ||
| T7 | 24 | SACKS BY/ALLOWED | 7 | 47 | ||
| T6 | 11.9 | PUNT RET AVG | 5 | 11.7 | ||
| 5 | 22.2 | K/O RET AVG | 7 | 21.8 | ||
| 7 | 3 | KICK RET TDS | 4 | |||
