A large number of Saskatchewan RoughRiders fans made their annual pilgrimage to Edmonton to watch the Edmonton Eskimos host their Riders. While the fans showed up, the Saskatchewan
RoughRiders did not falling 24 - 0 to the Eskimos. That's right…the Eskimos pitched a shutout. In the high scoring Canadian Football League a shutout is about as rare as a politician telling the truth. In fact the last time the Riders were shut out was way back in 1986 when they were hammered 56 - 0 by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.Coming into the game the Riders were sporting nine wins and three losses. The Eskimos were 8 wins and 4 losses
You would expect both teams to come out of the tunnel fired up. Well one team did and it wasn't the Riders. The Riders were either practising some kind of disappearing act or perhaps dressing as ghosts getting ready for Halloween. The Riders are supposed to be the CFL's number one team against the run. Well don't tell that to John White or Mike Reilly. They ran through the Rider defence like it wasn't there.
White finished with 192 yards on 17 carries. 192 yards. The Riders as a team totalled something like 96 yards on the ground."It's business, strictly business, all business," said White. "Right off the hop, I knew what it was going to be and that's what happened."
"A loss is a loss to me. Whether it is by one point or 10 points, in the end you have lost the game. I'm really not into the history part of it," said Riders head coach Corey Chamblin. "We already got our butts kicked outside, there is no reason for me to go in (the locker room) and do it again. This team has won enough football games and done a good enough job this year. I know the men I have in that room. At the same time, that one hurt."