Saskatchewan Roughriders legend Darian Durant believes after the Calgary Stampeders beat the Green and White for the second time in 2025, the hierarchy in the West Division has changed.
"I felt like the past two weeks were must-win games for the Riders in order to create that separation from Calgary. I'm not going with my heart, I'm going by what I see on the field: Calgary is the best team in the West and the Riders really needed to get these two games to create separation," Durant said on the SportsCage. "This head-to-head battle against Calgary… when I look at the Labour Day classic and the Banjo Bowl, I'm looking at it as a split, I think Saskatchewan will win at home and then Winnipeg will win at home, so another loss puts Calgary in the driver's seat."
Durant thinks the Stamps will be considered favourites in the rest of their regular season games.
"I think they're going to run the table. I don't see a defence flying around like there's," Durant explained. "This is aside from the way Vernon Adams Jr. is playing. That defence, they're number one in points scored against in the league. Calgary is committed to that run game. You look at other aspects of this team; the way they were able to play with two of their best receivers out. Look across the board at this team, I think that they're the best team in the West and I think they'll win the West."
Saskatchewan lost its second game this season to the Stampeders 32-15 in Week 12. That match-up was the second time the teams faced each other, the first was in Week 6 when the Riders lost 24-10 at home coming off a bye week.
"The reason why I say [the Stampeders] may run the table is because they know that they have to win every game to win the West," Durant said. "They're going to approach every single game as if they're playing against Saskatchewan or they're playing for first place and they know they own the tiebreaker as well."
Durant made sure to highlight how well Calgary's offensive and defensive lines played against the Riders. The Stamps were able to sack Riders' quarterback Trevor Harris four times during the game while Adams Jr. was not sacked once.
"Football starts in the trenches, it seems like this Calgary Stampeder offensive and defensive line has Saskatchewan's number right now. They can't seem to get much pressure on Vernon Adams defensively and then for the offensive line of Saskatchewan, it seems like they can't block these guys," Durant said. "Calgary doesn't blitz a lot, they really didn't blitz a lot, and they were able to pound Trevor [Harris] to the turf. Once the Riders were in noticeable passing situations, the Calgary defensive line was unleashed and it seems like they can't match the physicality of Calgary's defensive line. I look at it as right now, up front, Calgary's the better team skill position-wise, I think they're neck and neck, but football is all about the trenches."
With this loss against the Stampeders, Durant views the Green and White's upcoming games as challenging.
"I think with Saskatchewan having to play Winnipeg three times, and twice over in Winnipeg that hasn't been a friendly place to play, I hate to say it, but I'm counting those as two losses," Durant said. "Unless there's nothing at stake at the end of the season, but if there is, it seems like year after year whenever it's all the chips pushed to the middle of the table and you have to play a game either against Winnipeg or in Winnipeg, they always seem to come out on top. I see those two games over in Winnipeg as losses, I think Calgary, even if they lose one, I think the Riders have a tougher schedule."
Saskatchewan hosts the Blue Bombers on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium for the annual Labour Day Classic game. Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk, and Wes Cates start the pre-game show at 2 p.m. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 5 p.m. Listen or watch our extensive coverage at the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
