EDMONTON — For the fifth time in roughly three months, the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Elks will play each other on Saturday night.
That includes a pre-season tilt, but that’s almost besides the point. The Stamps and Elks have played each other over and over and over again this season.
Apparently, the CFL schedule-makers got really obsessed with making the Battle of Alberta blow up again in 2022. The Stampeders winning all four of the games they’ve played the Elks so far this season probably takes away from the “rivalry” of it all just a bit, though.
And while familiarity may breed contempt on the field, playing so many times in such a short stretch can also lead to boredom among fanbases.
That’s not something the Stamps or Elks can do anything about, though, and for two teams that badly need wins this weekend, the points that are up for grabs count just the same, regardless of opponent.
“It’s part of our schedule and we’re excited to play them again and would like to have similar success to what we’ve had the last few times,” said Stamps quarterback Jake Maier. “It’s a new game, new week, new challenge. This will probably be the hardest test to-date, though, you play a team so many times and they pick up on a lot of things you like to do.
“It will be the best challenge yet.”
That generally seemed to be the approach the Stampeders are taking to Saturday’s game in Edmonton (6 p.m., TSN/770 CHQR). It is extremely hard to beat a football team in back-to-back games like the annual Labour Day matchups between the Albertan squads, and it’s even harder when you already saw your opponent a bunch of times previously.
And there’s really no use complaining about the schedule. Sure, the old saying might be that you if give 1,000 typewriters to 1,000 monkeys you’ll eventually get the great American novel and sure, it feels like the CFL just gave one hippopotamus 15 minutes with a broken laptop and used whatever he came up with for their schedule this season. But there’s nothing anyone can do with it.
Instead, the Stampeders will try to beat the Elks for a fourth time this regular season. They may already have emphatically proved their superiority, but there are inevitable challenges that come with trying to beat a team four times in a row, so that’s what the Stamps will try to do.
“What’s hard is yeah, I mean, offensively I do find the more you play a team the harder it is. It really is,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “You’ve got things you think can work against certain coverages and looks and if you’ve ran them a few times pretty soon they start to recognize them.
“There are counters and you can try different things, but certain amount of plays only work versus certain looks. That’s the thing about it, you try to be creative, what you try to do is out-execute them. Ultimately, neither team is probably going to surprise the other.”
Ultimately, whatever complaints one might have about the schedule, the wins and losses count just the same. The Stamps are trying to hunt down the second-place B.C. Lions — who they’ll play in yet another back-to-back starting next weekend — and they need to win as many games as possible.
And if you’re looking for wins, there are probably worse teams to find yourself matched up against four times than the Elks.
The Stamps have, after all, beaten the Edmonton crew three times this regular season and once in the pre-season. The last time the teams played at Commonwealth Stadium, the Stamps came away with a 49-6 win on July 7.
So yeah, maybe the team you’ve defeated by 43 points on their turf isn’t a club you’re going to complain about playing against over and over again.
When Shawn Lemon was asked if he was sick of playing the Elks, he had a one word answer. Then he burst into laughter.
“No,” Lemon said simply, before cracking up and then continuing. “We were just talking about that on the bus. We don’t make the schedule, they’re just the next team.”
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