Lions, Roughriders ready to kick off CFL season

The B.C. Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders are set to launch their Canadian Football League seasons on Saturday, meeting after both teams enjoyed an opening week bye. For the Lions, star quarterback Nathan Rourke views the matchup against the defending Grey Cup champions as an immediate opportunity to gauge his team's readiness.

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It’s a great measure to see where this team is at. To get them early is great.

Rourke, the CFL's most outstanding player and Canadian in 2025, expressed enthusiasm for facing top competition early. "It's a great measure to see where this team is at. To get them early is great," Rourke stated. He emphasized the importance of testing the team's focus and execution in a challenging environment against the best.

On the Roughriders' side, quarterback Trevor Harris is focused on maintaining and elevating the standard set by last year's Grey Cup triumph. "We're not chasing last year, we're chasing a standard we set, and we're trying to go higher," Harris said. He highlighted the team's motivation to build upon their success rather than resting on it.

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We’re not chasing last year, we’re chasing a standard we set, and we’re trying to go higher.

Both teams have a history from the previous season, having played each other four times. Saskatchewan won two of the three regular-season games and secured a dramatic victory in the Western final. Rourke missed the first contest, a 37-18 Saskatchewan win, but returned for subsequent games, accumulating significant yardage. As Harris, at 40 years old and entering his 14th CFL season, faces questions about his age, head coach Corey Mace stressed that any team in the league is beatable, regardless of individual quarterback performance.

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The quarterback position is extremely important in this sport in general. I’m not sure how many games he may have missed last year, but I know they weren’t undefeated. That would tell me that whether you slow him down or he has a good day or you stop him, every team is beatable in this league, so they’re not excluded from that.