Even after last week’s 32-15 loss at Calgary, the Saskatchewan Roughriders own the CFL’s best record at 8-2 going into Sunday’s Labour Day Classic at home against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

But are they the league’s best team? That’s a fair question after their second double-digit defeat this season against Calgary, which sits a game behind in the West standings and has a better point differential.

Either way, Saskatchewan needs a good bounce-back performance in what some feel is the league’s top rivalry game.

“I’ve heard fans say, ‘I don’t care how many games you win, just beat Winnipeg on Labour Day,'” said quarterback Trevor Harris. “Quite a few people stopping and talking to you. You kind of feel the game in the air.”

Harris is probably glad to think about this game instead of the last one. He left the loss in Calgary after his head struck the turf during a fourth-quarter sack. He also suffered leg cramps as he was coming off the field but has practiced all week and should be good to go.

While the Roughriders try to bounce back, Winnipeg (6-4) is looking for its third straight win after stopping Montreal 26-13 on Aug. 21 in Quebec. The Bombers led just 16-13 going into the fourth quarter but rode Brady Oliveira to the win. Oliveira rushed for 137 yards and caught nine passes for 73 more.

Winnipeg’s major concern Sunday will be combating the crowd noise at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. It’s expected to be a sellout crowd, and the Bombers know they’ll have to be on point to silence the Roughriders’ raucous fans.

“You’re going to have to be superb with that,” said quarterback Zach Collaros of communicating with his teammates at the scrimmage line. “You need to execute at a high rate to win games in general, but especially in that setting, it puts even more on it.”

This will be the first of back-to-back games between the teams, who also play in October in Regina.

–Field Level Media