Blue Bombers head to Saskatchewan for Labour Day Classic as West Division heats up — A tight race in the CFL's West Division has made Sunday's Labour Day Classic even more important as the Saskatchewan Roughriders host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday.
The longtime rivals are caught in a highly competitive division with all five teams separated by just six points, with the Riders and Bombers second and third, behind Edmonton. It's been said that the CFL season doesn't get serious until Labour Day weekend arrives but given the logjam in the standings, the pressure has arrived early for the teams out West.
Head coach Corey Mace acknowledged the tight race but didn't commit to the Riders having to play their best games for the remainder of the regular-season schedule.
"I don't know if it's more of an issue," Mace said. "I think regardless of the records or the standings, we're just always trying to [be our best] anyway. But certainly, I think that the situation the West Division's in right now — every game is crucial, whether it's a Western opponent or not, we're going to go toe to toe, and on Labour Day, this is setting up to be a great game."
The Riders have had a consistent mantra all season: "Let's go 1-0 this week." Quarterback Trevor Harris says that mindset hasn't changed and that every game is crucial.
"It's our job to win this game, this is the most important game of the year. Last week against Toronto during that week, it was the most important game of the year," he said. "So for us, the urgency is up. We're coming off a two-game stretch where we didn't play our best football, so we've got to bear down and make sure we're playing our best football.
"That's what I focused on, making sure we have great energy, execution and being in attack mode each and every day of practice."
Harris, though, has a simple formula for the Riders to win Sunday's game.
"By being ourselves, not anything new. They're a good football team. They have been for quite a long time," he said.
"They've been the class of the league for quite a while, and they have our respect, and I'm sure we have theirs. It'll be a fun matchup but it's going to be 60 minutes of violent football, and it's what we look forward to."
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The rivalry is given additional prominence with Labour Day kicking off a home-and-home series. After the Bombers swept the Labour Day Classic and the Banjo Bowl in 2024, the Riders did the same in 2025.
All four games were one-score contests with the Bombers winning 35-33 and 26-21 and the Riders earning 34-30 and 21-13 victories.
Mace expects the status quo for this season's series.
"I think just speaks, at least in the last handful of years in the West, these two teams have been really good teams and I don't expect that to change," he said. "We've got crazy respect for this team and what they've been able to do in the past, and even leading up to where they are at now.