ROBSERVATIONS: Roughriders, Elks Entertained Us Royally ... Staggering Stats for Saskatchewan ... Deep Dives Into Long Drives

A Night to Remember

People attend live sporting events for the principal purpose of being entertained. With that in mind, I extend insincere apologies to Rylee Cohen and Raygan Johnson, both of Global Regina, for having to endure my alleged jokes in the Mosaic Stadium press box on Thursday night.

The game, which saved the day, was fabulous fun.

That sentiment resonates despite an outcome — Edmonton Elks 36, Saskatchewan Roughriders 34 — that those of us with allegiances to the Green and White are left to lament.

Vincent Blanchard’s 57-yard, walk-off, game-winning field goal concluded one of the finest displays of Canadian professional football we will ever witness.

From an entertainment perspective, nobody can feel short-changed — although Rylee and Raygan are advised to sit in a different row of the press box when the Roughriders play host to the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Aug. 7.

Playing Through Heartbreak

Nobody was really in a joking mood leading up to the Roughriders-Elks classic.

The game was preceded by one of the saddest, heaviest weeks in Roughriders history.

The team was mourning the loss of fifth-year CFL linebacker Jayden Dalke, who was killed in a July 18 motor-vehicle accident near Lumsden.

The head-on collision also claimed the life of 22-year-old Bhishma Rajyaguru, who had moved to Regina from his native India in 2022.

Rajyaguru and Dalke were both honoured in a pre-game tribute at Mosaic Stadium. Friends of Rajyaguru and family members of Dalke were at the game.

Nothing can erase or mitigate the pain their loved ones and friends are experiencing. There isn’t a magic wand at a time like this.

But hopefully the game marked a turning point and provided a much-needed distraction for a few hours.

The Healing Power of Sports

Sporting events do have that power.

Eight hours after my mother died on Dec. 11, 2019, I shuffled into the Brandt Centre and watched the Regina Pats oppose the Kamloops Blazers. Twelve days later, I visited Winnipeg to watch my beloved Jets erupt for two goals while holding the Montreal Canadiens to six.

The mind also rewinds to June 6, 1982. Five days after Dad died, I was off to Saskatoon — alongside a great friend, Tom Fuzesy — to watch the Roughriders’ training-camp scrimmage.

As a bonus, the Roughriders won!

(See what I mean about these jokes?)

How did I get through the first few miserable weeks after Alan Vanstone suffered a fatal heart attack? I helped a family friend, Jack McPhee, coach the Pirates — a Little League baseball team.

Scott Sinclair, Terry Perras, Dion Henderson and their teammates got me through a traumatic time.

So, yes, there is therapy in games people play.

A CFL Classic

I was reminded of that on Thursday night, when the Roughriders and Elks entertained us royally.

For only the 10^th time, the Roughriders and their opponent each produced four-plus touchdown passes in a game. Saskatchewan’s Trevor Harris and Edmonton’s Cody Fajardo both threw for four scores.

They also collaborated for 896 passing yards — the fifth-most in a game involving the Roughriders.

The template was set on Oct. 23, 1993, when Saskatchewan’s Kent Austin (546) and the Calgary Stampeders’ Doug Flutie (547) combined for 1,093 aerial yards — an enduring CFL single-game record for total passing yardage.

Fajardo went off for 510 yards on Thursday. Harris countered with 386 during his latest in a series of masterful performances. (For more about a scorching start to the season by the Roughriders’ No. 7, scroll down.)

The Roughriders’ current and previous franchise quarterbacks put on a show that will long be remembered. The timing could not have been better.

Looking Ahead

Saskatchewan went toe-to-toe with an Edmonton team that now leads the West Division at 6-1. The home side, now 4-2, performed admirably while reeling from a tragedy during an unprecedented week in franchise history.

“I’m very proud of every single guy in this room,” centre Logan Ferland said. “There were a lot of mental battles this week, but we keep saying that it’s going to make us closer as a group.

“When we think we’re close enough already, we just get that much more tight-knit. That’s what we need in a situation like this.”

The perspective of Harris, always insightful and eloquent, is also beneficial.

“We’ve got a danged good football team,” he said shortly after the game. “We’re going to be there in the end. If you think otherwise, I don’t know if you know ball.

“This team has what it takes. We have the leadership, our coach, our co-ordinators. We have full belief.

“(The Elks) just won because they made one extra play than we did. Ultimately, you could pick a bunch of plays, and if they went in a different direction, we would have won, but they didn’t. (The Elks) did. They made the plays and you tip your hat to them.

“But, yeah, this one’s going to sting for 24 hours. Then we’ll turn the page. I can promise you one thing: We will get better from this and we’ll reload.

“We’ll be a better football team next week.”

Next on the agenda: A visit to Edmonton on Aug. 1.

We get to see the defending Grey Cup champions oppose the Elks again, after all the excitement the teams generated on Thursday.

What can they do for an encore after setting the bar so high to open a home-and-home set?

The safe projection is for another high-scoring, down-to-the-wire game.

Don’t expect either side to win in a laugher.

Dazzling Data!

The Roughriders’ offence is enjoying a torrid start, individually and as a collective.

Harris, for example, is one of only four Roughriders quarterbacks to boast 2,000-plus passing yards after the first six games of a season:

2,229 — Kent Austin, 1992.

2,224 — Kent Austin, 1993.

2,040 — Darian Durant, 2010.

2,015 — Trevor Harris, 2026.

With 16 touchdown passes, Harris sports the second-best six-game total in franchise history. Tom Burgess boasted 19 scoring passes at this juncture in the championship season of 1989.

Harris has already equalled the 16 touchdown passes he threw for the Ottawa REDBLACKS in 2016, when he was named an East Division All-Star.

A decade later, Harris has helped Saskatchewan register its third-best points-scored total at the six-game mark:

218 — 1989.

210 — 2013.

204 — 2026.

As for the receivers, check out where KeeSean Johnson and Kian Schaffer-Baker rank in the category of most receptions by a Roughrider after six games:

44 — Craig Ellis, 1985.

43 — Curtis Marsh, 2000.

43— KeeSean Johnson, 2026.

42 — Ray Elgaard, 1985.

42 — Don Narcisse, 1998.

42 — Kian Schaffer-Baker, 2026.

Johnson and Schaffer-Baker are on pace for 129 and 126 receptions, respectively. Narcisse set the team record of 125 in 1995.

In terms of receiving yards, Schaffer is on pace for 1,968 over a full 18 games. Johnson will amass 1,701 yards at his current rate.

Joey Walters established the Roughriders’ single-season record for receiving yards (1,715) over 16 games in 1981.

Walters amassed two of the three-best receiving-yardage totals by a Roughrider after six games:

673 — Joey Walters, 1982.

656 — Kian Schaffer-Baker, 2026.

644 — Joey Walters, 1981.

634 — Ray Elgaard, 1985.

632 — Curtis Marsh, 2000.

581 — Ray Elgaard, 1993.

574 — Hugh Campbell, 1965.

568 — Ray Elgaard, 1992.

567 — Jeff Fairholm, 1993.

567 — KeeSean Johnson, 2026.

Lonnnnng Drives!

In Roughriders history, there are nine documented drives of 108 or 109 yards.

The ninth was registered on Thursday, when the Roughriders travelled 108 yards in five plays — the last of which was a 56-yard TD toss from Harris to Schaffer-Baker.

In the last calendar year, Harris has directed three of the nine longest drives in Roughriders history.

Here is the complete 108-109 list:

109: Nov. 12, 1956 at Edmonton (playoffs). The drive concluded with a four-yard touchdown pass from Frank Tripucka to Harry Lampman.

109: Sept. 21, 1963 versus Edmonton (Ron Lancaster to Dale West, eight-yard TD).

109: Oct. 24, 1971 versus B.C. (Bubba Wyche to Gord Barwell, five-yard TD).

109: July 18, 1991 at Calgary (Rick Worman to Willis Jacox, 106-yard TD).

109: June 13, 2026 versus B.C. (Harris to Samuel Emilus, four-yard TD).

108: Oct. 29, 1994 at Ottawa (Tom Burgess, one-yard TD run).

108: Oct. 14, 2007 at Hamilton (Kerry Joseph, 14-yard TD run).

108: Sept. 27, 2025 at Edmonton (A.J. Ouellette, five-yard TD run).

108: July 23, 2026 versus Edmonton (Harris to Schaffer-Baker, 56-yard TD).

Harris also has been a part of a 109-yard drive against Saskatchewan.

He directed an 11-play, length-of-the-field scoring march for Ottawa on Sept. 15, 2018 at Mosaic Stadium. The capper was a four-yard TD pass from Harris to Diontae Spencer.

Harris has been at the controls for the most-recent 109-yard drive for and against Saskatchewan.

Also of note is the Harris connection to the Oct. 24, 1971 drive that ended with a five-yard scoring snag by Barwell.

Harris received the Gord Barwell Award from Athletes in Action one day before earning 2025 Grey Cup MVP honours.

The Barwell award is presented each year to a CFL player who exemplifies Christian character and leadership on and off the football field.

Roll Credits...

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Ryan Dalke, Shannon Dalke, Craig Reynolds, Arielle Zerr, Hannah Rugg, Jacqueline Hurlbert, Tyler Daku, Suzanne Harris, Liam Hoskins, Brayden Schager, Kate Lang, Kerfalla Exume, Nancy Barwell Kraft, Jay Barwell, Nick Wiebe, Tony Schlotter, Caleb Sanders, Micah Johnson, Stacey Cattell, Patty Sandison-Cattell, Hayley Cattell, Bill Birns, Caleb Blundell, John Lipp, Rylee Cohen, Raygan Johnson, Cody Fajardo, Alison Merk, Bonnie Cherkas, Jerry Wasnik, Grant Wasnik, Sonia Steinwand and Harry Stienwand.