Kick-off: 1900 EDT, 13/08/2022
Stadium: McMahon Stadium
TV: TSN
Winnipeg are hogging the headlines this season but Calgary and the BC Lions have also impressed and look set to play a big part in the CFL playoffs.
The 5-2 Stampeders have generally been strong on offence but their 6-1 opponents may just have the better all-round game and get our vote in what should be a cracking contest.
Let’s take 1.8 for an away win on the money line as our opening Calgary Stampeders vs BC Lions prediction.
Calgary Stampeders Odds
Calgary recovered from a couple of seven-point losses to the Blue Bombers when prevailing 17-3 at Ottawa last week.
Stamps quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell completed just 13 of his 27 passes for 137 yards and threw away one interception.
However, Dedrick Mills got the ground game going with 100 rushing yards on 16 carries and rookie DB Titus Wall crucially returned a 46-yard pick six.
Calgary had three interceptions overall, two for Wall, who told TSN: “When we do our job, that’s going to be the result.
“Just playing fast, playing relentless and just all-out effort and that’s what’s going to happen.”
Linebacker Cameron Judge weighed in by stripping Redblacks QB Caleb Evans in the red zone.
However, while the Stampeders have managed to shut out the league’s worst two teams, other sides have found scoring points against them relatively straightforward.
Looking at the Calgary Stampeders vs BC Lions odds, we favour the visitors to prevail by 1-6 points at 4.1.
BC Lions Odds
The Lions have also only lost to Winnipeg this term and we reckon they have been visually more impressive than Calgary in their other fixtures.
BC followed up a 32-17 success at Saskatchewan by crushing Edmonton 46-14 on home turf and have now scored a league-high 254 points, while conceding the lowest tally of 135.
Pundits are running out of superlatives to describe Canadian QB Nathan Rourke, who again posted career-best figures versus the Elks.
Rourke completed 34 of his 37 passes, throwing for 477 yards and five touchdowns, as well as rushing in another score.
“We felt like we got in a rhythm,” said Rourke. “It took us a little bit, it took a couple drives to get it going, but once we did it was great to get into a rhythm out there.”
Dominique Rhymes and Lucky Whitehead were the star receivers but the Lions had four wide-outs with over 80 receiving yards.
Getting experienced campaigner Bryan Burnham back from injury was a big boost and it will be hard for any team other than Winnipeg to contain this varied offence.
On the other side of the ball, BC have the defensive strength to restrict a sometimes overly-conservative Calgary attack.
This should be an entertaining encounter but putting the total points mark at 53.5 may be an overreaction, so 1.91 for under completes our Calgary Stampeders vs BC Lions betting tips.
Additional stats
Last result:
Ottawa 3-17 CALGARY
BC LIONS 46-14 Edmonton
Head-to-head: BC Lions 23-33 Calgary, BC Lions 10-39 Calgary, Calgary 9-15 BC Lions
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