Share this Story: Ticats mauled by Roughriders
Ticats mauled by Roughriders
Kirk Penton • QMI Agency
Jul 22, 2013 • July 22, 2013 • 4 minute read
REGINA —
The story of Sunday night's CFL clash between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Saskatchewan Roughriders was less about the 37 and more about the 0.
The Riders rolled to 4-0 record with a 37-0 thrashing of the Ticats on a breezy evening at Mosaic Stadium, but the final score made it look much worse for the Tabbies than it actually was.
Members of the Hamilton offence fell on their collective sword in the aftermath of the team's first shutout loss since July 28, 2006, when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers blanked them 29-0 at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
"I can personally say I didn't hold up my end of the bargain a lot of times," left guard Peter Dyakowski said.
"It's a frustrating deal to know we're a lot better than what we put out there today, to know that our defence really did step up and keep us in that game for a long time and give us a lot of opportunities to pick up and make something happen.
"To come out flat like that for so long until we finally let the wheels come off at the end … how long are you going to put your defence on the field for?"
Well, Mr. Dyakowski, you put your defence on the field for about 10 minutes more than Saskatchewan's had to be on the field, which is an eternity in football time.
Hamilton also turned the ball over three times in the first half.
The Ticats defence, which lost starting defensive backs Evan McCollough and Erik Harris to injuries during the contest, actually held the Riders to only 16 points through nearly three quarters.
When Riders pivot Darian Durant hit backup offensive lineman Dan Clark with an eight-yard touchdown toss late in the third, however, the dam burst.
"We had a chance to make a few plays, maybe keep us in the game, but we had a hard time running with them," Tabbies head coach Kent Austin said.
"We had a hard time running with them, to be honest with you. They just looked a lot faster than we did."
The Ticats fell to 1-3, but the good news for them is they're tied for second in the poor excuse for an East Division.
Their lineup is ravaged by injuries, and Austin knows it.
"We gotta look at our lineup," he said. "Like I told the coaches, it's going to start with us and we gotta figure out what our guys can do well and only ask them to do that, because there are some things we just aren't good enough to do."
The Ticats opted to take the wind in the first quarter, hoping to jump on the home side, but it backfired when they were unable to score. The Riders were blanked in the first as well, but they put 16 points on the board in the second quarter with the wind.
Hamilton had the wind in the third, but once again it couldn't get anything going. Remarkably, it ran the ball just eight times in the entire game — four of which were from quarterback Henry Burris.
"We were trying to stay out of second and long," Austin said. "We gotta look at that. Right now I don't know that we can line up and just throw the ball consistently and be good enough to win. We're gonna take a hard look at that going forward."
The Riders scored 30 of their 37 points with the breeze, which gusted to 54 km/h, at their backs in the second and fourth quarters.
Durant threw two touchdown tosses to Rob Bagg and one to both Weston Dressler and Clark. Durant, who was 20-for-32 for 347 yards, has 12 TD passes and no interceptions for the CFL's only undefeated team.
Chris Milo booted three field goals, from 47, 15 and 13 yards.
To make the game even less enjoyable from the Ticats perspective, Riders middle linebacker Rey Williams put an exclamation point on the home side's victory when he sacked Burris hard early in the fourth quarter.
The Ticats cut Williams in the off-season, and he was out for revenge.
He got it, as did Saskatchewan offensive co-ordinator — and fired Hamilton head coach — George Cortez. The Riders racked up 496 yards of total offence to Hamilton's 161.
There was some uncertainty about what kind of reception Kent Austin would receive on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium.
What he got was a warm Prairie welcome from the fans who owe plenty of the franchise's success to him.
Austin guided the Riders to the 1989 Grey Cup as the quarterback and then led them to the 2007 title as the head coach. He left on his own terms both times, however, which left a sour taste in some mouths.
When Austin strolled across the field to the Ticats sideline just before kickoff on Sunday night, most of the fans on the east side rose to their feet and applauded him.
"It was great. The fans were great. The people were great," Austin said after the 37-0 loss. "The other side was very, very gracious when I walked over there, and all that was really good."
Austin said he left money on the table after the 2007 Grey Cup win to take the offensive co-ordinator position at the University of Mississippi, which he did for family reasons. He said Regina will always have a place in his heart.
Ticats mauled by Roughriders Back to video