Bragging rights in the Canadian Football League’s West Division are up for grabs Thursday night in Regina. These days, the average CFL fan would not be surprised to hear that, given the Saskatchewan Roughriders are the defending Grey Cup champions. But it’s been a while since that conversation has involved the Edmonton Elks, who visit Mosaic Stadium in the Saskatchewan capital (7 p.m.) to face the hosts for the first time this season. The two sides will meet nine days later at Commonwealth Stadium to complete the home-and-home showdown. The Elks (5-1) sit ahead of the Roughriders (4-1) in the standings only because they’ve played one more game. You’d have to go back to 2017 for the last time the green and gold were in such a spot, when the team started the season 7-0 only to lose their grip on first in the West two games later to the eventual Cup finalist Calgary Stampeders. Each season since, Edmonton has been wandering in the CFL wilderness, finishing at or near the bottom of the standings. With such a start this season, however, there’s hope the Elks will rise out of the basement to a winning record for the first time since that roaring start in ’17. They’re coming off Friday’s key but uncomely 19-17 victory over the B.C. Lions at Commonwealth Stadium, beating the only team that’s handed them a loss thus far in 2026. Elks head coach Mark Kilam said after the game his team needs to “find that killer instinct.” “I want to credit B.C. because we just kept giving them stuff to hang around, and they took advantage of it,” he told media. “That’s definitely an area in which we can grow, but we found a way (to win).” The Roughriders are coming off a bye week, their last game a 38-7 home win July 12 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Roughriders head coach Corey Mace said Tuesday after practice his team is wary of the “hot out of the gate” Elks. “They’ve got a lot of good things going for them,” Mace told media, highlighting the play of dual-threat Elks running back Justin Rankin, who leads the CFL in all-purpose yards (865) and touchdowns (seven). That said, the Elks’ run game was effectively stifled last week by the league-best Lions defence, which held Edmonton to just 27 yards rushing, with Rankin gaining just nine yards along the ground on seven carries. That said, the Elks did much the same to James Butler and the Lions’ rush attack by limiting them to just 15 yards on the ground, Butler with four of them on seven carries. And you can’t discount the absence of B.C. quarterback Nathan Rourke for most of the game. The star signal-caller was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury before he even tried to toss a pass, giving way to backup Chase Brice, who threw four interceptions to go with one TD pass in relief. “There are always different nuances of ‘whys,’ sometimes a situation or sometimes play-calling,” Mace said when asked if he would be closely reviewing how the Lions managed to muffle Rankin on the run. “You look at everything every week, and it’s not just (for) the Elks in general. You do that every week for every opponent, looking at certain things where other teams had success versus the opponent that you have that week to see if there is something you can implement or something similar that you have.” Remembering crash victim, Dalke The Roughriders will pay tribute to the two victims of an automobile crash last week involving linebacker Jayden Dalke before Thursday’s game. Both men died Saturday night when the SUV that Dalke was driving north in the southbound lane of a Saskatchewan highway hit the car Bhishma Rajyaguru, 22, was driving head-on. Roughriders general manager Jeremy O’Day has also said the team plans to honour Dalke before the game as well. The 30-year-old Dalke, who hails from Leduc and played for the University of Alberta Golden Bears and the Edmonton Wildcats before joining the Roughriders in 2019, was a team captain. RCMP said they found alcohol and cannabis in Dalke’s vehicle. O’Day said Roughriders players will wear Dalke’s jersey No. 38 on their helmets during Thursday’s game. Metchie returns to Elks lineup Last year’s starting Elks safety will make his season debut Thursday. Royce Metchie will suit up in the green and gold against Saskatchewan for his first CFL action since September, when an Achilles injury ended his season. The 29-year-old was in his first season with the Elks when he was knocked out of their Sept. 13 game against the Argonauts in Toronto. The eight-year CFL veteran and three-time Grey Cup champion has also played for the Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders.
