Hamilton Tiger Cats at Calgary Stampeders Week 14 Pick

The champs are back as the team to beat according to oddsmakers who have them as -6.5 home favorites against a 9-2 Hamilton team coming off a bye-week. The totals this year have been around 50 as scoring is down across the league and this one is no different at 51. Kickoff is Saturday 14th at 4:00 pm ET.

Hamilton Tiger Cats Overview

Hamilton went into the bye-week riding a four-game win streak, although it should be noted it was against teams with a combined record of 5-27 SU. During that run they fell behind twice by more than two majors and still found a way to come back and win, yes it was against lesser opponents, but they’re still professional football teams, so I always respect that.

Calgary Stampeders Overview

Calgary’s super-star QB Bo Levi Mitchell returned to the line-up on Labour Day, and the team hasn’t looked back since knocking off their bitter rivals 25-9 in the classic and then 33-17 in the re-match. Trevor Harris injured his throwing hand in the second one, so Calgary faced the back-up for the majority of the game, but still an impressive victory.

Matchup Overview

Hamilton won the last meeting 30-23 at home back in week 5. Nick Arbuckle was making his second start at QB for the Stamps, and Jeremiah Masoli was still in at QB for the Ti-Cats. Special teams were the story that day as Hamilton erased an early 14 point deficit with two returns for touchdowns by Brandon Banks. Calgary got one of their own on a missed field goal attempt, but it wasn’t enough as the Hamilton Offense picked it up in the second half and hung on to defeat the Stampeders for the first time since 2011.

There’s no good reason to think that Hamilton is going to win this game SU, ATS sure they have a legit chance, but they’ve been falling behind too far and too often against lesser opponents to think they have a chance at the upset. What are they going to do in Calgary? Come back from a 16-0 deficit at half-time, not impossible, but not very likely. Granted they’re coming off the bye and have been bum-hunting the champs like everyone else, but that won’t help them past the first quarter. In order to pull off the win here, they’re going to need a mini-miracle as Montreal received.

The best thing that could have happened to the Stampeders this year was Bo Levi getting injured. Calgary looked discombobulated and disinterested to begin the year, but losing Bo forced them to tighten up their play, which they have. Watching from the sidelines has re-invigorated Bo as he looked super switched on against Edmonton, and I expect that level of play again from him this week.

Weather Report

The weather is forecast to be around 70 degrees with no wind or precipitation, but it is Calgary, so anything can happen. I’ve seen it snow on one sideline while the other was sunny and that was in summer. In regards to injuries I haven’t heard of any key players being out yet, but it’s never a bad idea to check the depth chart that’s released the day before, three offensive linemen could be out, but you won’t hear about it or see it on the ticker, you’ll find out after kickoff when they’re introducing the offense.