Week 3 in the CFL kicks off on Thursday night with the Montreal Alouettes hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Molson Stadium. The Riders have opened their season with a pair of impressive victories, while the Als are looking for their first win of the year after a pair of close losses.
CFL betting lines opened with Montreal as a 2.5-point home underdog and that line has since grown to a field goal. Here are our best free Roughriders vs. Alouettes picks and predictions for Thursday, June 23.
Roughriders vs Alouettes odds
This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.
This line hit the board on Monday with the Roughriders at -2.5 with the Over/Under at 44.5. As of Tuesday afternoon, the line has grown to Saskatchewan at -3 with the total ticking up to 45.5.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right until kickoff and be sure to check out the full CFL odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.
Roughriders vs Alouettes Week 3 predictions
Predictions made on 6/21/2022 at 12:05 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
Roughriders vs Alouettes game info
• Location: Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, Montreal, QC
• Date: Thursday, June 23, 2022
• Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. ET
• TV: TSN
Roughriders at Alouettes betting preview
Weather
Key injuries
Roughriders: Dan Clark C (Out), Duke Williams WR (Probable), Charbel Dabire DT (Questionable), Charleston Hughes DE (Out), Keion Adams DE (Questionable), Micah Teitz LB (Out), Godfrey Onyeka DB (Out), Kyran Moore WR (Out).
Alouettes: Vernon Adams Jr. QB (Out), William Stanback RB (Out), Jake Wieneke WR (Out), Eugene Lewis WR (Questionable), Mario Alford (Questionable), Greg Reid DB (Out), Philippe Gagnon G (Questionable), Chris Ackie LB (Questionable).
Find our latest CFL injury reports.
Roughriders vs Alouettes picks and predictions
Our side and total predictions are based upon our analysis of the line and total in this game. Our best bet is our favorite pick across all markets.
Spread analysis
The Roughriders are at No. 2 in the latest CFL Power Rankings after beating the Elks 26-16 in Edmonton last Saturday. While it wasn't a massively lopsided score (at least when compared to Edmonton's beatdown in Week 1 at the hands BC), the Riders always seemed to be in the driver's seat and finished with 431 yards of offense while controlling possession for 57.7% of the game.
The Als are 0-2, but were extremely close to being 2-0 right now. In Week 1 they let a first-half lead evaporate on the road at McMahon Stadium, and the Stamps kicked the game-winning field goal with less than a minute left in the game. Last Thursday they went to Toronto for the Argonauts season opener and kicker David Cote missed a game-winning 21-yard chip shot with just 18 seconds left on the clock.
David Cote MISSES his 1st field goal of the night from 21 yards away in the dying seconds of the 4th quarter.
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 17, 2022
The Argonauts hang on and win their home opener, 20-19 final.#CFL pic.twitter.com/3IHNsKJqY2
Montreal lost last year's leading rusher William Stanback to a fractured ankle in Week 1, and could also have a quarterback controversy on their hands after Trevor Harris replaced an ineffective Vernon Adams Jr. in the second quarter against Toronto. Adams missed Monday's practice with an illness which might not really matter if Harris is given the start on Thursday.
Harris isn't as mobile as Adams, but he's a proven winner with an excellent arm and was productive at the end of last season when Adams ended up on the IR. The 2016 Grey Cup champion threw for 270 yards in less than three quarters of work last week and looked very sharp on his deep passes.
On the surface, this might look like an obvious play on the Riders. After all, they're 2-0 and second on the Grey Cup futures board while the Als are 0-2 and missing their best offensive player in Stanback.
However, this could be a bit of a trap game for the Riders who play on just four days of rest and are traveling across the country to face a wounded animal in Montreal. There's nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal, especially one at home that will be looking to make up for letting two close games slip away.
Prediction: Alouettes +3 (-105 at SportsInteraction)
Over/Under analysis
The Riders defense has looked dominant this season, limiting the Tiger-Cats and Elks to 13 and 16 points in consecutive weeks. Although Elks' pivot Nick Arbuckle threw for 315 yards through the air, the Riders forced five turnovers and were fantastic inside the red zone. They also lead the CFL with a whopping 13 sacks, nine more than the four teams tied for second place.
That's bad news for Montreal's Harris who has a tough time escaping pressure and might not have his two best targets with Jake Wieneke out with a hamstring injury and Eugene Lewis questionable.
That said, Saskatchewan might also have a tough time moving the chains. It struggled to punch the ball into the end zone in the first three quarters against Hamilton in Week 1, and scored just 26 points against a subpar Elks defense last week, with sloppy penalties often killing drives.
In addition, the Riders lost centre Dan Clark to a broken fibula versus Edmonton. Clark was named the team’s Most Outstanding Lineman in 2019 and 2021 and he's the unquestioned leader of that unit. Playing without him will cause a ripple effect that could be exposed by the Als outstanding interior defensive line, led by future Hall of Famer Almondo Sewell.
With the Under 9-2 in the Riders last 11 games and 7-3-1 in the Als previous 11 contests, we're leaning in that direction on Thursday.
Prediction: Under 45.5 (-110 at FanDuel)
Best bet
We already mentioned why we like the home team in this spot and we actually like the Als enough to bet them outright on the moneyline. Short weeks are always tough to play on, especially on the road, and Montreal is a better team than their early-season record indicates.
That said, as the franchise with the biggest following in the CFL, the Riders often get public money pouring in on them. Believe it or not there are more than one million people living in Sask and a crazy amount of them are CFL die-hards.
That should be magnified with their strong start to the year and should result in an even better moneyline payout for Montreal if you can hold off until closer to kickoff.
Pick: Alouettes moneyline (+135 at bet365)
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