Hamilton (1-5) at Edmonton (0-6)
When: Sunday, July 28th 2024
Where: Commonwealth Stadium,
Edmonton, Alberta
Time: 7:00 ET | TV: CBSN
Opening Odds: Edmonton -2.5/53.5
Two lowly CFL teams in the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Edmonton Elks, will close out Week 8 of the schedule on Sunday night in Alberta. The Elks remain the only winless team in the league after dropping a 20-14 road game at the Ottawa RedBlacks last week. Edmonton has now lost 10 games in a row dating back to last season. Hamilton finally earned their first victory of the season when they upset the Toronto Argonauts 27-24 at home last weekend.
The Ti-Cats had won six in a row in this series, but the Elks have come back to take two of the previous three. The teams split the two meetings in 2023 with the home team winning both. Most of the recent games have been a bit lopsided as five of the last six have been decided by more than one score. The Over is 7-3 in the last 10 meetings, with the total topping 50 in six of the last seven. The Elks are 3.5-point favorites in Sunday’s contest with a total pegged at 52.5.
HAMILTON TIGER-CATS
Hamilton escaped last week against Toronto after building a 17-0 lead. Toronto stormed back in the fourth quarter, only to come up short, giving the Ti-Cats their first victory. Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell has topped 300 passing yards in four of six games to go with 12 touchdown passes. However, he has made some mistakes with six interceptions on the season. James Butler was the only player to record a rushing attempt and had 50 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown. Hamilton is second in the league in yards per game (387.0), but are dead-last in points allowed (32.2).
EDMONTON ELKS
Edmonton is having another awful season, but at least they are keeping games close. In six games, their average margin of defeat is just 4.3 points. Quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson passed for just 206 yards with no touchdowns and his sixth interception of the season in last week’s loss in Ottawa. The Edmonton rushing attack is eighth in the league and recorded just 40 yards last week. The Elks will play four of their next five games on the road, beginning next week at Saskatchewan.
Prediction:
I took the Elks the last time they were home favorites and they failed me. I’m going to back them again here. Hamilton earned their first win last week and now it’s Edmonton’s time. The Elks have still been playing hard and have covered three of their last five games.
