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LIVE BLOG REDUX: Calgary Stampeders at Saskatchewan Roughriders

A moment-by-moment look at the Week 6 Canadian Football League game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium after Friday night's postponement
Randy Palmer
week-6-live-blog-harris
Trevor Harris returns at quarterback for the Roughriders as they take the field in black and green for Obsidian Friday (now Obsidian Saturday).Piper Sports Photography

Milligan's endzone interception:

Robustelli's big catch:

3:34 p.m. - Halftime
Saskatchewan stats: Harris 9-for-14 passing for 98 yards, one fumble. Ouellette four carries for one yard. Robustelli two catches for 43 yards. 95 yards total offence.

Calgary stats: Adams 20-for-25 for 295 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions. Mills eight carries for 45 yards. Seven players with at least one catch, Rhymes five catches for 88 yards, Philpot five catches for 69 yards. 367 yards offence.

The stats don't lie, folks. Calgary could be up by 25-plus with ease if not for some big defensive plays. Going to take a ton of adjustments and whole lot of immediate improvement just to keep this game close in the second half.

3:27 p.m.
And that's the end of an utterly awful first half for Saskatchewan. If not for the three Stampeders turnovers, this is likely a boat race at this point.

3:23 p.m.
Adams effortlessly marches down the field in 34 seconds, resulting in a Brooks 14-yard touchdown. Seven plays, 69 yards and it's 14-3 Calgary lead. The stats are going to be ugly, ugly, ugly for the Riders at halftime.

3:19 p.m.
Robustelli makes a great catch for 32 yards to get down to Calgary 36, but the next play Harris gets absolutely hammered on the blindside by Hicks, fumbles, recovered by Sambu with 1:17 left in the quarter. Hard to state how lopsided this game has been in the first half.

3:15 p.m.
And Agent Zero saves the day on this drive. Milligan comes up with the interception in the end zone and fumbles, Calgary knocks it out of the back of the end zone, Riders ball at own 30 with 1:38 left in half.

3:10 p.m.
Three more plays and a long pass to Rhymes and Calgary is at the Riders 24 at the three-minute warning. Then an 11-yard run by by Choquette gets Stamps down to Riders 13.

3:06 p.m.
Two completions get to midfield, but Picton is stripped by Moncrief and Moncrief also recovers the fumble. Calgary has the ball back at their own 51 with 4:56 to play in half.

3:03 p.m.
Huge sack by Ray for 14-yard loss and Adams can only get six yards back on a run, Riders get a two-and-out! Alford gets the ball back to the Riders 41 on the punt.

3:00 p.m.
Riders get 17-yard catch from Meyers but two more incomplete passes and they're punting from Calgary's 53. Punt goes out of bounds, Calgary scrimmaging from own 53. To say the least, the Stamps are winning the much-anticipated battle of the trenches.

2:55 p.m.
Two pass completions and Calgary is at midfield, and another long completion has Stamps at Riders 17.  Drive stalls at Riders 10 after two more short passes, Paredes has has 16-yard field goal and makes it, 10-3 Calgary with 8:15 to play in second quarter. Riders have to find a way to get pressure on Adams because he's picking them apart at the moment.

2:48 p.m.
Riders finally get a first down on a pass to the flat to Picton for 10 yards, but an Ouellette run is stuffed for a three yard loss and an incomplete pass and Saskatchewan is punting again. Calgary has nine first downs and 166 yards offence, Riders one first down and 22 yards offence. Another good punt by Couch pins Stamps at own 13.

2:42 p.m.
Alford gets 16-yard return to the Riders 54 on the final play of the first quarter. 7-3 Calgary at the first break.

2:39 p.m.
Riders go two-and-out again and have yet to get a first down in the first quarter with 3:06 remaining. Punt is again fumbled by Horton and Calgary is forced back to own 11. Four Stamps plays later and they're punting from their own 30.

2:30 p.m.
And Adams lofts one up and finds Alford absolutely wide open in the end zone on broken coverage by the Riders. 37-yard touchdown, point after is good. 11 plays, taking 4:58 and covering 88 yards. 7-3 Calgary with 3:42 remaining.
Also, Milligan injured during the drive and is getting attention on the sideline.

2:28 p.m.
Calgary has a drive going, led largely by Mills on the ground and some solid pass protection by the Calgary line. They're down to the Riders 37 and Saskatchewan is having trouble slowing anything down.

2:22 p.m.
Couch gets off 70 punt that Horton muffs and bobbles before getting pushed back to the Calgary 22. That's a field flipper and a half!

2:18 p.m.
And another turnover! Adams gets Calgary rolling down the field with some decent work through the air, but Mills fumbles at the end of a run, forced by Ray, and Reavis recovers at Riders 27. Two Calgary series, two Saskatchewan takeaways! Riders scrimmage from own 33.

2:12 p.m.
Rider go two-and-out, Brett Lauther kicks a 47-yard field goal and it's a 3-0 Saskatchewan lead with 2:05 gone in the first quarter.

2:10 p.m.
And the first play of the game is a Riders interception! Allen gets the pick at the Calgary 50 and sets the offence up at the Calgary 47.

2:09 p.m.
Calgary scrimmages from 36 yard line after 77 yard kickoff and 36 yard return by Jones.

2:07 p.m.
Roughriders win the coin toss and have deferred to the second half.

2:01 p.m.
Players are on the field, kick-off is moments away, we get to watch some Saturday afternoon football!

1:56 p.m.
Riders are a 6.5 point favourite, but Luc has the Stampeders covering the spread and is expecting an especially close game. And he also expects plenty of points, taking the over on the 52-point over/under.

1:10 p.m.
Now that we know the game will be happening, folks are in for a beautiful day for football at Mosaic Stadium: temperature will be around 24 C at game time under mostly cloudy skies, with winds only 16 km/h from the south.

1:01 p.m.
We're going to be good to go. Conditions are 35 at all three Mosaic Stadium sites, which is the high end of Low Risk and as a result of no concern. Remember to catch the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network  pre-game show at 1:30 p.m., and then listen to all  the action when Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 2 p.m.!

12:01 p.m.
Air quality conditions two hours before game time continue to improve slightly, with readings at 40, 40 and 41. That's at the low end of the 4 (Moderate Risk) range and well below the 8 (High Risk) cutoff. Looks like things will be in good shape for kick-off, as long as nothing crazy happens in the next couple hours.

11 a.m.
Air quality readings at Mosaic Stadium three hours before game time are 47, 48 and 49. That's in the 4 to 5 (Moderate Risk) range and well below the 8 (High Risk) cutoff.

10:42 a.m.
If anyone is wondering how much the Roughriders care about their fans, word from a season ticket holder is every season ticket seat is receiving a $50 store voucher, every single ticket seat is receiving a voucher for a future game, and fans who bought tickets for Friday's game but can't attend can receive a full refund. That's how you do it, folks.

10:20 a.m.
As one might expect with such a major departure from the norm, there will be all sorts of changes to the fan experience for this afternoon's game, many of which are highly unusual for a Roughriders game. You can check all those out by clicking right here. Also, air quality readings will up updated on this blog hourly in the lead-up to game time so fans will have an idea how things are shaping up.

​10:10 a.m.
The Roughriders depth chart. The biggest change, of course, is Trevor Harris returning at quarterback. Ka'Deem Carey slots in as the back-up to A.J. Ouellette at running back with Thomas Bertrand-Hudon sildelined with injury. Zack Fry gets the start at left guard in place of Trevon Tate and Antoine Brooks Jr. is in at cornerback in place of Tevaughn Campbell.

Harris has completed 58 of 80 passes for 806 yards in three games this season, while wide receiver KeeSean Johnson is the Riders top receiver with 20 catches for 288 yards.Dohnte Meyers isn't far behind with 15 catches for 208 yards.A.J.Ouellette is the league's top rusher with 347 yards on 56 carries. Linebacker Jameer Thurman leads the defence with 27 tackles and two sacks, while Rolan Milligan Jr. has two interceptions, including a pick six.

week-6-roughriders-depth-chart

​The Stampeders depth chart. Vernon Adams Jr. is off to a great start as the Stamps quarterback and has 1,025 yards of passing through their first four games. Slotback Jalen Philpot has been his favourite target with 12 catches on 23 attempts for 224 yards. Running back Dedrick Mills has 311 yards rushing and five touchdowns. Linebacker Jacob Roberts leads the defence with 24 tackles, cornerback Adrian Greene has a pair of interceptions, including a pick six.

week-6-calgary-depth-chart

​9:52 a.m.
Let's try this all again!

It’s Week 6 of the Canadian Football League season and we have a first-place showdown as the Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, about 18 hours after it was originally supposed to be played.

As everyone knows at this point, the game was originally scheduled for Friday night, but poor air quality caused a nearly four hour delay before things were finally postponed until this afternoon. And before we go any further, let's look at how things are shaping up that way today.

As of 10 a.m., particulate matter observations at Mosaic Stadium are well within game play tolerances, with readings sitting at 60, 58 and 58. That translates into 6 (Moderate Risk) on the Environment Canada scale, well below the 8 (High Risk) threshold the CFL uses in player safety protocols. There is a chance things might be touch-and-go, though -- the forecast indicates quality will be around 8 most of the day, which is the cutoff point for games to be delayed.

As you've all seen many times over the last 24 hours, under league regulations, if the Air Quality Health Index reaches eight or above using Environment Canada metrics during warmups or the game, the air quality procedure will take effect and the game will be automatically stopped and teams sent to their dressing room. 

Saskatchewan is off to a perfect 4-0 start and are coming off a bye week, while the Stampeders are also off to a great start and hold a 3-1 record. As their records indicate, they’re one-two at the top of the East Division standings, and also the consensus one-two at the top of the most recent edition of the CFL Power Rankings.

The 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network  pre-game show with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk, and Wes Cates begins at 1:30 p.m. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 2 p.m.

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