If the Labour Day Classic was an escape from embarrassment at the hands of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Sunday's Banjo Bowl at Investors Group Field offered no emergency exits for the Saskatchewan Roughriders who for the first time this season looked completely broken.
A shocking 25-13 loss culminated a month in which the Riders have been caught playing down to their competition. The Riders had won three in a row before but were challenged by teams with inferior records as of late. Saskatchewan needed a last gasp field goal by Chris Milo to beat the Montreal Alouettes 24-21 on Aug. 17. One week later, the Riders eked out a 30-27 win over the host Edmonton Eskimos that could have easily been a loss if quarterback Mike Reilly had gas left in the tank for Edmonton's final drive. In the Labour Day Classic, the Riders trailed 18-14 at the half before beating the Blue Bombers 48-25. On Sunday, their luck in playing down to their opponents and coming out unscathed finally ran out at the worst possible time to the worst possible team.
An inspired Winnipeg defense had no problem in getting their hands on Darian Durant and that pressure caused enough problems for Justin Goltz to one up his LDC performance the previous week and did exactly what he set out to do, beat the Roughriders.
Winnipeg looked like anything but the 1-8 team that was coming into Sunday's game, a lot of it having to do with the chance to salvage what has been an otherwise laughably bad season with a win over their rivals. Without a win at their new stadium, the Bombers knew to leave nothing on the field. After a 98 yard kick return for a touchdown from the speedy Will Ford, it was clear that the Bombers were going to once again stay close with the Riders.
Ford's kickoff return touchdown would be the only major score of the first half, Chris Milo's four field goals would give Saskatchewan a 12-10 lead after the first half, but the fact that Darian Durant couldn't plunge the ball through the end zone in the first two quarters would foreshadow what turned into a second half nightmare.
In the second half it would be a nightmare for Rider fans as the new LDC/Banjo Bowl villain in Goltz would rush for two touchdowns inside the five yard line to seal Winnipeg's victory. Durant didn't produce one touchdown drive on Sunday.
"We just didn't match their intensity,'' said Durant to the media after the game, who was 15 of 39 for 129 yards and one interception. "We didn't play well and they played at a high level. We didn't protect the ball and we did everything to give them the game. I don't want to take anything away from them, but we didn't execute and we didn't have any touchdowns on offence.''
The loss pushed the Riders back to 8-2 and into a tie with the Calgary Stampeders for first in the West, a race for homefield advantage that is going to heat up as Saskatchewan's calendar gets more and more difficult as the season wears on.
Next on the horizon for the Riders are tough matchups with the Toronto Argonauts and the BC Lions, there will be no more time to play down to their competition now.
