Week 8 of the Canadian Football League season gave fans an early Game of the Year candidate when the Edmonton Elks and Saskatchewan Roughriders shot it out at Mosaic Stadium. It concluded in an electric 22-point fourth quarter, and with the game on the line, Vincent Blanchard’s career-long 57-yard field goal gave the Elks the win.
It gave them a little breathing room atop the West Division standings as they extended a winning streak to three games. But Saturday’s matchup is arguably more important than last week’s.
After all, the league is on notice, and the Roughriders will be hungry to ensure the Elks can’t further distance themselves, already sitting on a four-point divisional lead.
Edmonton Elks vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders
- Date: Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026
- Kickoff: 5 p.m. MT
- Location: Edmonton, Alta.
- Venue: Commonwealth Stadium
- Watch: TSN
- Weather at kickoff via Environment Canada: 29 degrees. Mainly sunny at kickoff with a chance of showers, and a risk of thunderstorms as the evening progresses. Wind blowing northwest at 20 km/h, with gusts at 40 km/h.
FIELD GOALS
Elks head coach Mark Kilam: “Every game looks different every week. They’re a good football team. You have to play 60 minutes to beat a team like that. We knew that going in. We expect more of the same this week. We’ve got some wrinkles, we know they’ll have some wrinkles. We try to improve on the things we didn’t do well, and I’m sure they’re doing the same and we’ll see what it looks like on Saturday.”
Kilam: “We want to honour the fans with the style of football that we play, and I think we’ve done that. Looking up in the stands at our last home game, that was a pretty good crowd. Obviously we expect a little bit bigger this week, but it’s going to be a great night for football, it’s going to be two really good football teams going at it and hopefully we can put on a show.”
Elks wide receiver Austin Mack: “That’s what’s great about our team, we have a lot of threats. It started off this year with handing the ball off to our MOP candidate, (Rankin), and now you’re starting to see a lot of defences honing in on that. As a receiver now, that’s just going to give more for us, and (Fajardo) is playing the best he’s played in a long time; he’s playing lights out right now. We’ve just got to keep that confidence for him and if he keeps getting clean looks like he’s getting, I’m feeling great about where we’re at.”
DEPTH CHARTS
Elks
After missing last week’s game with a knee injury, the Elks will get Carter O’Donnell back on the offensive line. The University of Alberta product dressed in the first six games of the season for Edmonton, and with his return to the left guard spot, Brett Boyko will return to a backup role. Joe Cooper, meanwhile, will make his debut on the offensive line after signing with the team on June 16, and will do so at right guard.
Roughriders
The Roughriders will be entering Week 9 dealing with some key injuries. Running back A.J. Ouellette and defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. are both dealing with knee injuries, and both have been placed on the six-game injured list. Ouellette was injured last week during the third quarter against the Elks. Rookie running back Quali Conley will replace Ouellette, while Milligan will be replaced by defensive back Jonathan Edouard.
