We are now starting to see the CFL take shape. The best teams keep winning, and the bad teams keep losing. Week eight held some interesting matchups to go hand in hand with some bad scheduling with three teams on a bye week. It was a little bit less CFL action than we are accustomed to, but two of the three games were entertaining right down to the wire. Here are the week eight power rankings.

9. Ottawa Redblacks (1-5)

Things have gone from bad to worse for the Redblacks in recent weeks. The steps in the right direction have stopped, and they have been the recipient of some absolute butt kickings. Now with both Matt Nichols and Dominique Davis on the six-game injured list, they turn to Caleb Evans and Taryn Christion to get the job done. Devlin Hodges waits in the wings for his time to shine, but barring injury, that time won’t be soon.

8. Calgary Stampeders (2-5)

The Stampeders didn’t really have the chance to move on this list this week with both them and Edmonton on bye, but they are in some deep trouble when it comes to the playoff race. People have been questioning their quarterback situation, and it’s hard to blame them. It’s hard to not get caught up on the name Bo Levi Mitchell, but he hasn’t looked good this season, and Jake Maier has. It might be time to let Mitchell sit on the bench and watch for a bit, but time will tell.

7. Edmonton Elks (2-4)

What is going on in Edmonton? Ahead of their clash with the Redblacks in week nine, the Elks activated Trevor Harris off the six-game injured list after spending only one game there, but it will be Taylor Cornelious starting for Edmonton. Such a strange situation, but either way, this team isn’t very good no matter who is starting under center.

6. Montreal Alouettes (2-4)

The Alouettes hot and cold season continues, unfortunately. One of the most electric teams in the CFL, when they get rolling, has been unable to do so unless the deep ball is there all game long. They had a chance to get out in front in their streak of games against East Division opponents, but they failed to do so. They can still end week 12 well out in front in the East, but they need to start winning games against their division rivals.

5. Toronto Argonauts (4-3)

Credit to the Argos for beating a team they needed to beat, but this team hasn’t inspired too much confidence in me this season. They have been good at times, bad at others, and they haven’t been able to put it all together yet this season. They have now gone back to McLeod Bethel-Thompson again over Nick Arbuckle, and as they say, if you have two quarterbacks, you don’t have a quarterback. We will have to see if that can be proven wrong this time.

4. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-3)

There’s absolutely no way the Tiger-Cats should have won their last two games with the amount of players that were missing from their lineup, but here we are. Their coaching and game-planning in the past two weeks has been amazing, but when their best players come back, I fear that might change. They will probably try to force the ball to Brandon Banks again, they will probably abandon the running game again, and they will probably go back to giving up a bunch of sacks again. Until they prove me wrong there, I will be skeptical of them.

3. BC Lions (4-3)

Coaching probably cost the Lions their week eight game against the Roughriders. This is just another in the list of confusing decisions by Rick Campbell. With only a couple of minutes left in the game, the Lions kicked an extra point to go up by six instead of going for two and going up seven. Of course, the Riders drove down the field and scored a touchdown. You can make the argument that the Riders needed two field goals to tie now, but they would have also had to recover an onside kick to get that done. There’s no way kicking the extra point was the right move.

2. Saskatchewan Roughriders (5-2)

Ignoring the window-dressing done by recovering a fumble for a touchdown on the kickoff, the Riders escaped Vancouver with two critical points against their main competition for second in the division. Some people will say there were lucky, but good teams win the close games. Now with three consecutive games against the Calgary Stampeders, the Riders have a chance to build some separation between themselves and the Lions.

1. Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-1)

The Bombers couldn’t have had a better start to their season and were rewarded for it with a much-needed bye week in week eight. They have been the best team in the league for pretty much the whole season, and now, a rested Bombers have a stretch of games against tough opponents before their week 13 bye week.

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