The good, the bad, and the dumb of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 27-21 loss to B.C.

Photo courtesy: Electric Umbrella/Liam Richards/Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Without much on the line, the Saskatchewan Roughriders 2025 regular season has come to a close.

The Green and White played their second straight game that didn’t mean anything in the standings against an opponent that had a lot to play for. In this case, the Lions needed a win in order to host next week’s West Semi-Final. A loss would have sent the Leos to Montreal for the East Semi-Final as the CFL’s crossover team.

After playing most of their starters for part of the first half, the second half of this game featured mostly the rest of the roster — especially on offence. As such, it’s again an encouraging sign for this team that they weren’t embarrassed by their opponents despite leaving a number of their best players on the bench.

Here’s the good, the bad, and the dumb of the Riders’ sixth loss of the season.

The Good

It appears that a week off did quarterback Trevor Harris good.

The team’s starting pivot and Most Outstanding Player nominee returned to the lineup after sitting out all of last week’s game in Winnipeg.

Harris’ most recent starts left a fair bit to be desired. If you looked at just the numbers, the veteran seemed fine but the eye test questioned whether something was wrong with Harris either physically or mentally. The touch he showed for most of the year just wasn’t there. Harris can’t throw fastballs anymore, but he knows where to put the ball to keep himself out of trouble. For a few games, Harris seemed to struggle to find his release point.

The 39-year-old has also struggled coming off the team’s previous bye weeks this year.

On Saturday against B.C., Harris looked sharp in his quarter-and-a-half of play, completing 10-of-11 pass attempts for 112 yards to help the Riders put 10 points on the board on their first two possessions — something else that’s been a struggle this season.

Harris’ throws were on time and in the right spots, which is an encouraging sign for the Riders as they head into the West Final in two weeks.

The Bad

If you’re a regular to this column, you know that I don’t particularly like discussing officiating but something happened in this game that has to be discussed.

In the third quarter, Lions receiver Keon Hatcher appeared to have fumbled millimetres before the goal line. The ball was recovered by Saskatchewan defensive back Tevaughn Campbell, who was off to the races for a 107-yard touchdown.

As with all potential scoring plays, the play was automatically reviewed, which seemed fair because Hatcher was extremely close to breaking the plane before fumbling the ball. Perhaps he was in.

The ruling on the field was that Hatcher did not break the plane but the whistle was blown early, so the Riders were awarded the ball on the three-yard line. In the stadium, you couldn’t hear a whistle but it was audible on the broadcast.

By the letter of the law, the play was properly called by the replay centre but whatever happened to letting plays finish before whistling them dead? There was no need for the play to be blown there.

It’s an unfortunate outcome for the Riders, as it made a difference in the game but like any officiating decision, it wasn’t the ultimate decider. There was still plenty of time in this game for the Riders to make more plays — and they didn’t.

The Dumb 

It’s safe to say that new Riders kicker Micheal Hughes has a big leg.

The American was signed on October 7 and made his debut this week against the Lions. He connected on both of his field goal attempts, including a 42-yarder that would have been good from at least 60 yards.

Hughes showed off his leg following Saskatchewan’s first touchdown when he pounded the kickoff through the uprights into the end zone for a rouge. Most kickoffs in the CFL land between the 10 and five-yard line.

If one gets into the end zone, it’s usually a windy day — which, oddly enough, it wasn’t on Saturday night in Regina.

Kicking through the uprights on a kickoff is a feat so rare in the CFL that it feels like an extra reward is in order when it happens.