CFL Betting: Best bets and picks for week 12

31 August 2018

As it’s Labor Day weekend in the U.S., it’s Labour Day weekend in Canada. And up there, Labour Day means CFL football! And for football bettors south of the border, who are otherwise bereft of proper betting, Labor Day weekend means another good opportunity for betting on CFL football. Think of it as getting reps for NFL season.

For those not in the know, a super-brief primer. Labour Day weekend CFL games are highlighted by three ages-old now-interdivisional rivalries playing it out once again: The Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs the Saskatchewan Roughriders; the Calgary Stampeders vs the Edmonton Eskimos; and the Toronto Argonauts vs the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. As natural geographic rivals, the Ottawa RedBlacks and Montreal Alouettes may also play on Labour Day, but can we really call this a tradition when these franchises in their current incarnations are just four and 22 years old, respectively?

History aside, all three traditional games are crucial for the teams involved: The heating-up Riders look to leapfrog not only the Bombers but also the Eskimos in the West. The currently second-place Esks have the unenviable task of having to take on the Stampeders, who are looking to wrap up homefield advantage for the West finals early. As for Toronto and Hamilton, well, one of them must finish second in the East this season…

NFLbets’ picks for the Labour Day weekend CFL games are as follows.

 

Montreal Alouettes -15½ at Ottawa RedBlacks; over/under 52½ points. Earlier this week the ’spread was 16½, editor Os Davis appeared on the WoodCookieCast in his guise as an Alouettes fan and picked RedBlacks 38, Montreal 11. The sole detraction to betting the Ottawa minus the points here is that the currently smooth-running RedBlacks simply don’t get the ball into the end zone, as dogged this offense the first third of the season. The safer bet here is to take the under on an O/U of 52½ points.

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Winnipeg Blue Bombers +3½ at Saskatchewan Roughriders, over/under 54½ points. Duron Who? The Riders may become the first team to win the Grey Cup with a single bona fide WR on the roster, because the Green-and-Whites’ defense has been just wreaking havoc the past few weeks. If the Stamps’ line couldn’t hold off the Riders’ pass rush, how will Winnipag’s? Take the Saskatchewan Roughriders -3½ vs Winnipeg.

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Edmonton Eskimos +7 at Calgary Stampeders, over/under 54 points. Typically, “game notes”-type columns at a league’s official site are full of trivial historic curiosities, but whoa are there a couple of doozies for this game.

• [Stamps QB] Bo Levi Mitchell is 4-0 in Labour Day Classic games, while [Eskimos QB] Mike Reilly is 0-3.

• Edmonton has not had a lead in the Labour Day Game since 2012. In the last five games, Calgary has built at least a 12-point lead in each game.

Nothing indicates that anything will make this Labour Day any different. The Esks are thin at receiver still thanks to various injury bugs, and fairly imperatively needed a win that they did not get last week.

Meanwhile, NFLbets swears Calgary is still smarting from the beatdown the Stamps administered two weeks back. Take the Calgary Stampeders -7 vs Edmonton.

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Toronto Argonauts +7½ at Hamilton Tiger-Cats, over/under 51½ points. All things being equal, the rational choice between two stumbling teams would be to pick Hamilton, the home team coming off a shocking win. But very little has been rational about these Tiger-Cats in all of 2018.

Over the past four weeks, Hamilton has gone 2-1. Against Winnipeg, the Ticats somehow limited the Bombers offense to *270 total yards* and lost, 29-23. Two weeks later, that same D nearly let one slip away in the second half despite a 467-yard performance by QB Jeremiah Masoli.

So, not being able to make heads or tails of the Ticats, we’ll advise CFL bettors to take the Toronto Argonauts +7½ at Hamilton -- after all, that’s a lot a points for a team who’s just 1-3 at home ATS this season to be giving...

NFLbets’ best bets for CFL betting in week 12:
•  Montreal Alouettes at Ottawa RedBlacks under 52½ points; and
•  Saskatchewan Roughriders -3½ vs Winnipeg.
Best bets record to date: 3-5.

NFLbets’ recommendations for CFL betting in week 11:
•  Calgary Stampeders -7 vs Edmonton; and
•  Toronto Argonauts +7½ at Hamilton.
Picks-of-the-week record to date: 5-2.
Overall record: 8-7.