Rob Bagg had a contented look on his face inside the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ locker room Sunday.
The receiver and his teammates had just beaten the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 38-24 in the Labour Day Classic before 33,350 patrons at Mosaic Stadium. But there was more to Bagg’s smile than just one win.
The victory was Saskatchewan’s third in a row and improved its record to 5-4-0, giving the Roughriders as many wins as they had during a trying 2016 CFL season.
“I don’t think we’ve had a winning record since late in 2014,” said Bagg, remembering a season in which the Roughriders went 10-8-0. “Most of these guys don’t even know that.
“It doesn’t take many wins in a row to remember how much fun winning is. That’s the main thing I’m enjoying right now and the team is enjoying, as well as how contagious it is.
“When you get on a little bit of a run, practice gets easier, buying into concepts gets easier — everything gets easier. There are still plenty of things we need to clean up, but we’re headed in the right direction and it feels like we’ve got a bit of a snowball effect going right now.”
Not too many people gave the Roughriders a snowball’s chance in Hades when they began a stretch of five straight games against West Division opponents. Saskatchewan had not fared well against division rivals in recent seasons and had lost 15 straight road games in the west.
The Roughriders were beaten 30-15 by the B.C. Lions in Vancouver on Aug. 5, but then thrashed the visiting Lions 41-8 on Aug. 13. Saskatchewan travelled to Edmonton and blitzed the Eskimos 54-31 on Aug. 25 and, on Sunday, beat the Bombers for the 12th time in the past 13 Classics.
Now, no matter what happens in Saturday’s rematch in Winnipeg, the Roughriders will have a winning record in their five-game run against the West.
“Whether it’s business, amateur sports, beer league or whatever, when you feel disrespected and people count you out, that ‘Screw you’ mentality is a powerful, powerful thing,” Bagg said when asked if the Roughriders had proven their detractors wrong. “I’m not sure there are many better moments in life.”
After finishing two games over .500 in 2014, Saskatchewan dropped its first nine games of the 2015 campaign and never came close to breaking even. The Roughriders completed that season with a 3-15-0 record.
In 2016, the Roughriders opened with three straight losses and were 1-10-0 after 11 starts en route to a 5-13-0 mark. A team that posted five wins in 18 games last season has five wins after nine games in 2017.
“I don’t know if there’s any sort of satisfaction, but things are feeling pretty good because of the little roll we’re on right now,” centre Brendon LaBatte said. “It’s just crazy how the belief has changed.
“When you get on a roll, you can really feel that the expectation is to win rather than hoping that, if we play our best, we’ll have a chance to win. I feel like there has been an attitude adjustment with this team and the last three games have been good.”
You might say. Saskatchewan has outscored its opponents 53-3 in first quarters in the past three games and 133-63 overall.
“If a team comes out and scores three quick touchdowns and it’s 21-0, you would probably bet your money that that team is going to win the game,” said quarterback Kevin Glenn. “It doesn’t matter who’s playing in the game; if a team gets a quick, fast start like that, typically you can control the game. That’s what we did tonight.”
The Roughriders opened the scoring on their first possession via a 50-yard field goal from Tyler Crapigna, but the Bombers tied the contest on their first possession with a 39-yard field goal by Justin Medlock.
Saskatchewan took over at its 35-yard line and, five plays later, Glenn found Naaman Roosevelt behind coverage for a 53-yard touchdown.
On Winnipeg’s first play after the kickoff, Ed Gainey intercepted a Matt Nichols pass and returned it to the Bombers’ four-yard line. Two plays after that, Vernon Adams Jr., scored on a one-yard run.
Winnipeg went two-and-out on its next possession and was forced to punt. Nic Demski returned the kick to the Bombers’ nine-yard line and, two plays later, Glenn hit Bagg for a touchdown.
Crapigna converted all three of those touchdowns as well as a 17-yard scoring pass from Glenn to Duron Carter, and added another field goal as his team led 34-16 at the half. It was the most points the Roughriders had scored in a first half since they had 37 against the Toronto Argonauts in a 46-36 victory on July 11, 2009.
Crapigna added a field goal and Josh Bartel hoofed a punt single in the second half for Saskatchewan. Nichols threw TD passes to Timothy Flanders (13 yards) and Andrew Harris (10 yards) and Medlock added two field goals, two converts and a single to round out the scoring for Winnipeg (7-3-0).
Glenn, who was making his 200th career CFL start, finished with 26 completions in 36 attempts for 386 yards. Bakari Grant (139 yards on seven catches), Roosevelt (119 yards on six receptions) and Carter (101 yards on 10 catches) all exceeded 100 yards receiving.
Gainey intercepted a pass in the Saskatchewan end zone late in the fourth quarter, giving him six picks in his past three games. Henoc Muamba and Erick Dargan each had seven defensive tackles for the Roughriders.
Nichols was 35-for-47 passing for 364 yards for the Bombers, who got 10 catches for 72 yards and nine carries for 29 yards from Harris.
The Roughriders know they’ll face a loud crowd Saturday in Winnipeg, but they remain confident that they can continue their roll.
“(Being at .500) is better than the alternative,” said head coach-GM Chris Jones. “It’s an opportunity for us to continue to go where we want to go — that’s the playoffs — and to continue to try to become a really good football team.”
