The Saskatchewan Roughriders are hoping to see their defence become a whole lot more ball hungry when they take on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in CFL action on Sunday night at Mosaic Stadium.
And that shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish, because based on the stats through their first four games, they should be absolutely famished.
Through Week 5 of the 2026 campaign, the Roughriders have exactly two turnovers in their favour, one of those an interception by Josh Woods in Week 3 against Toronto and the other a strip and scoop by Nick Wiebe last week against the Ottawa Redblacks.
Needless to say, that’s not an ideal situation, especially for a team that prides itself on winning the turnover battle every week – something they did to great effect on their way to claiming the Grey Cup last season.
“It's just making plays on the ball, man,” Saskatchewan coach Corey Mace said Friday after practice. “We just haven't been touching it and that's an all-12 kind of thing. Your front end's tied in with the back end. I don't think we've been playing terrible defence. It's just waiting on our opportunities. But sometimes you got to go force them.”
That’s not just in the hands of the defensive backs trying to gather picks, either, as a more aggressive approach when it comes to tackling could also create turnovers.
“We've had a multitude of plays where somebody on the team is carrying the ball and we can certainly do a better job trying to to remove the ball from the ball carrier and force fumbles,” Mace said. "So just always constantly looking at things and how we can get better, but certainly the turnover department is one of them.”
Woods was of the opinion that as Saskatchewan becomes more and more familiar with one another, the big plays will begin to materialize.
“Every week just gets better, better with communication, understanding how people are going to play things, where they're going to be at,” he said. “First week to this week, big difference, and we’ve really only been in this defence for two months. So I'm excited to see how far we can take this thing.”
If there’s one thing that appears to be in Saskatchewan’s favour heading into the Hamilton match-up, it’s who will be lining up behind centre for the Ti-Cats.
Former Roughriders quarterback Jake Dolegala – who passed for 2,641 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions with the Green and White in 2023 – will make his season debut as Hamilton’s starter. That’s because starting pivot Bo Levi Mitchell went down with a broken left ankle during their Week 5 match-up against Winnipeg, robbing Hamilton of one of the league’s most lethal passers.
That might seem like an opportunity, but Mace for one isn’t taking anything lightly.
“Whatever they're hanging their hat on going into this week, that's the main focus that's going to be important to them,” he said, adding that Tre Ford also gives the Tiger-Cats a decent option at QB. “Regardless, that's a professional football team coming in to play a professional football team. So we have nothing but the utmost respect for our opponents. It's not like it's a quarterback that we've never seen. Both guys have had tape in this league and have done some really nice things. So it's another test for us.”
Roughriders analyst Luc Mullinder offered his take on the Hamilton quarterback situation on The SportsCage on Friday, and he said that switching things up defensively could make things tough on the Ti-Cats if Dolegala is on the field.
“I think that Jake Dolegala’s the exact guy that they want,” Mullinder said. “But he’s also a guy that if you mix up the coverages, if you show him one thing and do another thing, he’ll turn the ball over. I think (coach) Scott Milanovich would take that risk instead of changing their whole offensive scheme because your quarterback isn’t a pocket guy. It didn’t surprise me at all.”
Ford, on the other hand, brings a completely different look as a scrambling quarterback, and Mullinder said he wouldn’t be surprised to see him behind centre at some point as well.
“Tre will probably get in there,” he said. “He’s a great athlete. I just think that Hamilton wants to get down field with the football and they’re going to need to, especially if they get behind. (If he does get in) he can get it out and down the field. You’ve just got to understand what you’re dealing with.”
The Rider Broadcast Network will have the pregame show beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday, followed by Mullinder and the Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas with the game call at 5 p.m.
