The Edmonton Elks are expecting a large crowd for a game of comparable magnitude.
More than 30,000 spectators could occupy Commonwealth Stadium for Saturday’s CFL West Division showdown with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Interest in the Elks has been buoyed by the team’s 6-1 start to the 2026 regular season. Saskatchewan, the defending Grey Cup champion, is second in the division at 4-2 after the Elks won a 36-34 classic at Mosaic Stadium on July 23.
“This is just like Round 2,” Roughriders linebacker and special teams standout Aubrey Miller Jr. said. “If you get in a fight and somebody wants a rematch, you bust them in the mouth again.
“All I look forward to is winning one-on-one matchups. That’s it.”
The Elks have not welcomed a crowd exceeding 30,000 since the Roughriders visited Edmonton on Sept. 27. The attendance that evening: 30,053.
“The organization’s doing a great job of putting butts in the seats (for Saturday’s game),” Roughriders Head Coach Corey Mace said. “I assume that the environment is going to be a little bit different, which is great for the league.”
So is a game such as the most-recent Roughriders-Elks tilt.
The teams combined for 70 points and 974 yards of net offence — including 896 through the air. Saskatchewan’s Trevor Harris and Edmonton’s Cody Fajardo both threw four touchdown passes.
The lead changed for the ninth and final time when the Elks’ Vincent Blanchard kicked a long-distance, game-winning field goal on the final play.
“No excuses,” Harris said. “They beat us. They hit a 57-yarder and we had a few plays that we would want back, obviously, just like every game.
“It’s CFL football, man.”
Given the emotions of the recent meeting in Regina, will there be a carryover into the rematch?
“I think every game has a new life of its own,” Harris said. “It’s 0-0. This game doesn’t start out 36-34. It’s 0-0.
“It’s on their field. We get an opportunity to go out there and show that we’re a better football team this week than we were last week.
“Our mindset is to go out there and play Saskatchewan Roughrider football. We know they’re going to make adjustments and play us a little bit differently.
“That’s tackle football, though, so we’re going to try to go out there and execute as best we can.”
SACK-CESSFUL START IN SASK
Entering this week’s slate of games, first-year Roughriders defensive end James Vaughters was in a five-way tie for the league lead in sacks.
He is only one sack shy of his career single-season high.
“He’s not doing anything different than he has done over his career,” Mace said.
“He works his tail off when he plays. Some people refer to ‘effort’ guys. Usually that kind of means they might not be so skilled at something else. James is the opposite.
“He’s skilled at playing the run, he’s a skilled pass rusher, and he plays with his hair on fire. I think that leads to him being able to make plays and playing off his teammates.”
Mace was Calgary’s Defensive Line Coach when Vaughters registered six sacks for the Stampeders as a first-year CFLer in 2017.
He matched that career-high total with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers last season.
Vaughters signed with Saskatchewan as a free agent on Feb. 10.
TREVOR TIDBITS
• Harris is 288 passing yards shy of reaching a career milestone of 40,000. As it stands, only 11 quarterbacks in league history have reached that number. Ron Lancaster is the only one to do so in a Saskatchewan uniform. He exceeded 40,000 yards against the visiting B.C. Lions on Sept. 28, 1975.
• Harris needs one touchdown pass to reach 221 for his career and tie Zach Collaros for 13th All-Time. Collaros, a member of the Blue Bombers since 2019, is on the six-game injured list. Harris and Collaros both broke into the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts in 2012.
• The Roughriders will tie a team record if they throw multiple touchdown passes on Saturday. In 2013, Saskatchewan opened the season with seven successive games of two-plus TD passes. Harris has thrown for two-plus scores in each of the first six games this season. In 2013, Darian Durant and Drew Willy combined to produce the seven-game streak.
• With four touchdown receptions, Saskatchewan’s KeeSean Johnson has already equalled his total for all of last season — during which he was an All-CFL selection.
EXTRA POINTS
• Saskatchewan has yet to start the same boundary-side defensive halfback in back-to-back games this season. The starters at that position are, in order, Rolan Milligan Jr., JuJu Hughes, Jonathan Edouard, Nelson Lokombo, Edouard, Milligan Jr. and Edouard. Injuries have affected the status of Milligan Jr., Hughes and Lokombo.
• The Roughriders have won 10 of their past 13 road games under Coach Mace.
• Saskatchewan’s next home game is Aug. 7, 7 p.m., against the Ottawa REDBLACKS. Tickets are AVAILABLE HERE.
