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It’s the penultimate week of the CFL regular season, and thus the 2018 #TotalPickEm campaign as well.
The top of the leaderboard is tight, with a number of users within shouting distance of the $5,000 end-of-season grand prize.
Let’s tee up this week’s four contests.
Friday | Calgary at Winnipeg
Week 20 kicks off in Winnipeg, where the Bombers (9-7) will host the first-place Stampeders (12-4) in a game with plenty of meaning for both sides.
Calgary’s reeling off back-to-back home losses, and has not looked its usual dominant self on either side of the ball; are the injuries suffered by Dave Dickenson’s team finally catching up with it, or are the other teams in the league simply figuring out how to better play them?
Winnipeg’s in an odd position; the buzz from a 31-0 win over the rival Roughriders two weeks ago has largely subsided, and the Bombers are the only team that can still be caught by fifth-place Edmonton in the playoff race — despite owning a four-game winning streak.
PICK: Calgary, because the Stamps have too many playmakers on both sides of the ball to put in three-straight mediocre performances, and Winnipeg has lost all four games in similar positions (in the hunt, at home in the penultimate week of the season) since 2014.
Saturday | Ottawa at Hamilton
The Ticats (8-8) are heavily favoured on home turf against the REDBLACKS (9-7), despite taking the loss last week in Ottawa.
While both squads have already clinched a home playoff game, the battle for first place is still going strong: Rick Campbell’s REDBLACKS could lock up the sweet, sweet playoff bye with a win in Hamilton, while the Ticats will need help — even with a win Saturday — to reclaim first place.
The obvious storyline to follow entering this matchup is how Jeremiah Masoli and the Hamilton offence survives the loss of Brandon Banks (season, clavicle); ‘Speedy B’ was responsible for over 20 per cent of the Ticats’ offence this season, and is an undeniably huge loss.
PICK: Hamilton, because despite the crushing blow of losing Speedy the Ticats are still neck-and-neck with the REDBLACKS in terms of talent across the board; there certainly isn’t a ‘series sweep’-type disparity between the two clubs.
Saturday | BC at Saskatchewan
The BC Lions (9-7) did something last week that seemed impossible earlier this season, clinching a playoff spot after beginning the year 3-6.
Wally Buono’s crew heads east this week for a date with the Saskatchewan Roughriders (11-6); the Lions have clawed their way to the postseason, but sport an ugly 2-6 road record which will be put to the test against a Riders team that’ll be raring to play in front of their home fans.
Saskatchewan has only played at Mosaic once since mid September, and with a win would finish the season with identical 6-3 home/road split records.
PICK: Saskatchewan, because Zach Collaros had his best game of the season last week against a good Calgary defence and the Riders have won eight of 10. Keep in mind, however, that BC has won six of seven — so maybe not full confidence!
Sunday | Toronto at Montreal
The final matchup of Week 20 pits the two teams eliminated from playoff contention against each other in Montreal.
James Franklin and the Argos (4-12) did just enough to earn a 26-22 victory over the Als in Toronto last week, though Johnny Manziel and the Alouettes (3-13) led for long stretches of that game.
As has been previously stated, both Montreal and Toronto have been too inconsistent in 2018 to make an informed prediction.
PICK: Montreal, because Johnny Manziel is due for his first CFL win (record: 0-6) and, similar to the Ottawa-Hamilton matchup on Saturday, it doesn’t seem like Toronto is that much better than Montreal to the point where it would sweep the Als.
Week 19: 1-3
Season: 46-27 (.630)
