Roughriders ready for Fajardo-led Elks on Friday night in Week 8
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After beating the B.C. Lions in Vancouver last weekend, the Roughriders (5-1) are now set to host the Elks (1-4) on Friday night (7 p.m., TSN) at Mosaic Stadium in Week 8 of the CFL season.
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The Elks, who are coming off a bye week, lost to the Lions 32-14 in their last outing on July 13 to drop to 1-4.
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Saskatchewan has won 11 of the past 15 matchups between the two clubs, but Edmonton has won the previous two meets at Mosaic Stadium.
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Fajardo — who played for the Riders in 2019-22 — has never started against his former team despite spending the last two seasons with the Montreal Alouettes prior to joining the Elks this season. This season Fajardo has thrown nine passes for 107 yards and a touchdown in relief of Ford, who is listed as the backup.
As for the Riders, the Green and White have made two lineup changes.
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With veteran running back Ka'Deem Carey (knee) heading to the six-game injured list, rookie Mario Anderson will make his CFL debut at backup running back behind starter A.J. Ouellette.
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And along the offensive line, Noah Zerr starts at left guard for Zack Fry (head), who is headed the one-game injured list. Rookie Darius Washington makes his second career start at left tackle as Daniel Johnson remains on the one-game injured list.
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While it's the first meeting of the season between the two clubs, who will also meet on Sept. 27 in Week 17, the Roughriders will be reminded of what Edmonton did to them last year.
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In Week 9 of the season in 2024, the Elks came into Saskatchewan and picked up their first win of the season as they defeated the Riders 42-31. The loss, which was Saskatchewan's second defeat in a seven-game winless skid, dropped their record to 5-3.
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In that game, Ford — who was making his first start of the season — threw for 252 yards and rushed for 46 more while running back Javon Leake put up 169 rushing yards.
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In 2023, a similar storyline played out in Week 15 of the season when Edmonton came into Saskatchewan and picked up a 36-27 victory thanks to a 175-yard performance by running back Kevin Brown, while Ford ran for 70 yards of his own and passed for 173 more.
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That loss dropped the Riders record to 6-7 while Edmonton improved to 4-10.
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