Roughriders flashback to CFL season that ended a game early

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There was a late-summer stretch during the 2024 CFL season when the Saskatchewan Roughriders must have said, “Oh, no! Here we go again!”

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Everything was supposed to be different this past season. With a new attitude, coaching staff and a slew of coveted free agents — from tailback A.J. Ouellette to middle linebacker Jameer Thurman to right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick — the Roughriders marched through two preseason games and their first four regular-season contests with victories. But after losing starting quarterback Trevor Harris with a knee injury for the second straight season, they found themselves — for the third straight year — in a seven-game winless skid.

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New head coach Corey Mace had to do something.

Mace was hired, complete with a new staff, because the Roughriders had missed the previous two postseasons by finishing each campaign on a seven-game losing streak. Despite the back-to-back 6-12 records, Riders CEO/president Craig Reynolds extended general manager Jeremy O’Day’s contract for three years. The GM released head coach Craig Dickenson and hired Mace away from the Toronto Argonauts to oversee a culture change and — because the new boss anointed himself as defensive co-ordinator — to run Saskatchewan’s defence, too.

So midway through a lacklustre practice at Mosaic Stadium, without a win in seven straight games and needing to salvage their season, Mace stopped everything and summoned his players for a profanity-laced speech at midfield. It was rather shocking since it came from a coach who frequently spoke about the family atmosphere he was hoping to build here.

Call it tough love.

Practice resumed, but an hour later he angrily sent everyone to the locker room. Reporters could hear Mace again yelling at his players, who returned to the field shortly afterwards for another 10 minutes of the scheduled session. Mace told the media his players were not meeting the team’s standard.

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“There’s no perfect,” said Mace. “There’s always something to work on. So you want to make sure that the guys in the room, the staff and everybody in this building, truthfully, is finding ways to improve each day.

“And that’s the standard. When you see it and it’s not (meeting the standard), that’s the disappointing part.”

The Roughriders reeled off four straight victories after Mace’s tirade, partly because Harris provided an offensive upgrade over backup quarterback Shea Patterson. In 11 starts, despite playing behind an ever-changing offensive line, Harris set a team record by completing 72.4 per cent of his passes for 3,264 yards with 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

The Roughriders rested Harris and several starters for their regular-season finale, an uninspired and worrisome 27-12 loss to the visiting Calgary Stampeders. The Roughriders finished the regular season with an 9-8-1 record, good enough for second place in the West and a home playoff game, their first since 2021.

Saskatchewan eliminated the visiting B.C. Lions 28-19 in the West semifinal.

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“I can’t even put (the excitement) into words but, at the end of the day, it’s not done,” said Marcus Sayles, a former Lion and one of three Riders defensive backs to intercept B.C. quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. “This is just our first step and we’ve still got two more to go to get to the Grey Cup and I’m just excited to be part of it.”

Their playoff victory sent the Riders to Winnipeg, where they hadn’t beaten the Blue Bombers since 2018. Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros tossed four touchdown passes and the Blue Bombers won the West final 38-22, advancing to their fifth straight Grey Cup before losing to Toronto.

“The things that they went through, the amount of injuries we went through, the losing streak,” Mace said afterwards about his players. “For them to continue to fight and love on each other and just believe in everything that we tried to instil in the first year is incredible.”

The Roughriders survived some serious on-field penalties taken by defensive lineman Miles Brown and defensive back Deontai Williams. There were some minor coaching gaffes made by Mace and offensive co-ordinator Marc Mueller, but the offence and defence also took turns winning games. The offensive line needed 15 players in its five positions because of injuries to Hardrick, centre Peter Godber and guard Philip Blake.

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Logan Ferland earned laurels as the West’s outstanding offensive lineman because he lined up at virtually every position during the season. Mace was runner-up in coach-of-the-year balloting to the Montreal Alouettes’ Jason Maas.

Defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr., who led the CFL with eight interceptions and was among the league’s top special-teams tacklers, was named the CFL’s outstanding defensive player. But that final loss, one game shy of the team’s first championship appearance since 2013, was still stinging when the Riders contingent attended Grey Cup festivities the following week in Vancouver.

“I felt like we didn’t tackle as well, we weren’t as physical,” said Milligan. “I didn’t really ask everybody else how they felt about it.

“I’ve just kind of still been in my shell about it. But I’ll reach out to my guys and see what else they have to say.”

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