Friday Night Lights in the CFL
Will the Western teams continue to dominate the East? Saskatchewan certainly hopes so in Friday night's CFL matchup. The Riders face the winless Ottawa Redblacks in an apparent mismatch.
Note: Pointspreads.ca analyzes and makes predictions on CFL games each week. So far in the 2022 regular season, our picks are 6 wins and 6 losses (-0.60 units). What follows is our writeup and CFL predictions and picks for games in Week 5.
Continuing on with our analysis and predictions for CFL Week 5!
Starting Thursday night, the CFL schedule includes 3 games played over the next 3 nights.
Last night, Calgary destroyed Edmonton 49-6 in a game that wasn't even as close as the score indicated. The Stamps' easy win and cover was a foregone conclusion from the second quarter onward.
Friday night, Saskatchewan takes on Ottawa. Then, Saturday's slugfest features the game of the season, so far, with the battle of unbeatens – the BC Lions hosting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Here's a look at the current numbers at SPREADS.CA:
Game Analysis:
One doesn't expect the winless Ottawa Redblacks (0-3) to give much trouble to one of the powers of the West, Saskatchewan (3-1). However, Ottawa could be the very best 0-3 team in a long time -- they're combined three losses were by a total of only 13 points. A couple of breaks here and there, and these same Redblacks could as easily be be 3-0. After dropping close back-to-back games to start the season against the defending Grey Cup champion Blue Bombers, the Redblacks fell again 34-31 to the red-hot BC Lions last week.
The competition doesn't get much easier on Friday night. Saskatchewan enjoys a rabid home field advantage, which was on display in Week 4. The Riders rebounded with a 41-20 home victory over Montreal in Week 4, a week after losing 37-13 to the same Alouettes team on the road.
Key Factor: Watch the injuries. Keep close eye on Riders' quarterback Cody Fajardo. He hurt his ailing knee last week and played with a supportive brace. Fajardo’s mobility could be limited by the brace once again this week, but he is expected to start. That news has driven the spread from Saskatchewan -10 down to -6 as gameday approaches. The total is set at 44.5.
The kickoff in Saskatchewan is at 7:30 pm CST. The Riders are laying -6 at home, while the O/U is a league average at 44.5.
Prediction (powered by Pointspreads.ca):
Given the uncertainty of the Riders' QB and mobility issues, we have to take the dog plus the points. This is doubly true for Ottawa which has played tough, so far.
Unfortunately, the line moved 3-4 points and the value is gone. We still like the Redblacks to keep this game close and stay within a score.
Our Pick: Ottawa +6
Upcoming Games:
As for Saturday's night's game between the BC Lions and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, we'll feature that game in a special article to be posted this Friday night.
