It’s safe to say Monday’s Labour Day Classic didn’t go according to plan for the Edmonton Elks.
But it also didn’t go quite as expected for plenty of others watching their biggest rivalry game of the regular season, which had the Calgary Stampeders favoured by 13 points by some oddsmakers.
And for good reason, too.
There isn’t much the Elks have done all year to indicate it would go differently. In fact, given the 49-6 dismantling they experienced in the previous Battle of Alberta, they might have been an even bigger long-shot in this one.
In the end, the two teams were separated by a single score in what may very well have been Edmonton’s best chance at victory in this back-to-back set.
Here’s what we learned from Monday’s 26-18 loss at McMahon Stadium:
HORRENDOUS AT HOME
Losing on the road before the series switches north to Commonwealth Stadium doesn’t bode well for the gang in green and gold.
They have yet to win on home turf since rebranding themselves as the Elks and are one loss away from tying a grim Canadian Football League record that saw the Ottawa Rough Riders lose their 14th straight home game in 1988.
Edmonton is currently 13 and counting, with their last home victory coming on Oct. 12, 2019, in a 19-6 result over the B.C. Lions. So, don’t expect any sort of home-field advantage to come into play for the last-place team in the West Division desperately looking to gain any and all ground they can as the playoff window continues to close on them.
So far this season they are 0-5 at home, where they have been outscored 158-73.
QB DUEL
Taylor Cornelius came out on top in the quarterback head-to-head Monday, edging out his Calgary counterpart on the stats sheet.
Going 22 for 33 through the air gave him his most accurate outing of the season (66.7 per cent), and it came off the heels of his least accurate in a loss at home to the Ottawa Redblacks where he completed 14 of 37 (37.8 per cent). He also tied a season-high two passing touchdowns while avoiding an interception for the second time this year.
Jake Maier, meanwhile, made up for a loss in his first Labour Day start a year ago by going 18 of 26 for 238 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Unfortunately for the Elks, a trio of fumbles led to the Stampeders winning the turnover battle 4-2.
FEELING LOW
It didn’t take long for the Elks to feel the effects of trading away their longest-serving member of the locker-room earlier in the week.
With David Beard off to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, fellow University of Alberta Golden Bears product Mark Korte moved over from his usual spot at guard to snap the ball to Cornelius on Monday.
That was the plan, at least.
The six-foot-five quarterback might as well have been tying his shoes for as low as he had to reach for the ball on multiple occasions, with one of them getting away early that led to Calgary’s opening touchdown.
GROUND AND POUND
It wasn’t all doom and gloom on the rejigged O-line, as they opened lanes for a run game that outpaced Calgary 74 yards to 67 in the debut of new running back in Kevin Brown.
The five-foot-nine, 205-pound Incarnate Word product came as advertised, averaging nine yards per carry on the ground, while catching the ball out of the backfield six times for 51 yards, 50 of which came after the catch.
And he showed he isn’t one to be taken down easy, with an overwhelming majority of his 96 yards on 11 touches coming after initial contact.
He’s fast, fierce and just plain fun to watch.
READY FOR REMATCH
If the Elks hope to stand a chance in Saturday’s rematch at Commonwealth (6 p.m., TSN, ESPN+, 630 CHED), they will absolutely need to clean up the parts of their game that failed them.
Turnovers off of fumbles and a blocked punt late in the third were the biggest blow Monday. Losing the sack battle 6-3 didn’t help their cause at all. And it wouldn’t hurt cleaning up in the penalty department some, having been flagged seven times for 75 yards compared to six for 55 against Calgary.
Edmonton led the way in offensive yards (331-305) and dominated time of possession by 10:36, while taking a lead — albeit by the slimmest of margins, 8-7 — into halftime. But it was the Stampeders who came out on top in the end.
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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