After an exciting regular season, we’ve arrived at the start of the Canadian Football League playoffs. We’re just two weeks removed from the Grey Cup and after Saturday, two of the six teams still in contention will have had their championship hopes dashed.
Western Semifinal CFL betting odds and picks: Best bets for Calgary at BC
The underdog Stampeders squeaked into the playoffs with an abysmal 6-12 mark and now face the high-powered Lions. We’ll break down the best bet to consider for the West Division clash below.
Saturday, November 4th: Calgary Stampeders at BC Lions – 6:30 p.m. EDT
As alluded to, it was far from a standard playoff season for the Stampeders, who had a -59 point differential in addition to their ugly win-loss mark.
Calgary also dropped the first two regular-season meetings against the Lions, falling by margins of 10 and 28 points. The Stamps then shocked the Leos, who still had West Division crown hopes at the time, by a 41-16 score in Week 20 on B.C.’s home field.
That most recent result is what likely prevents the spread from being larger, but we’ll utilize that to our benefit. The lopsided loss was essentially an outlier at the worst possible time for the Lions, who didn’t even bother to play Vernon Adams the entire game after Calgary built a two-touchdown lead.
Adams actually had little trouble dissecting the Stamps’ defence any time he faced it this season, completing 74.1 percent of his passes while forging a 6:3 touchdown-to-interception ratio and adding a rushing score.
By contrast, the Stamps’ Jake Maier did not fare well versus BC, completing 55.6 percent of his throws or less in all three games while taking four sacks.
The Lions will have the home crowd on their side and no shortage of incentive to atone for the Week 20 debacle, putting me firmly in the corner of them covering a manageable spread.
The Pick: Lions -6.5 (-110 or better)
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