Man vs. Boy vs. Machine

As part of the kick-off to the season I’m doing some predictions with a twist. Below are 20 questions about the upcoming CFL season. I wrote down my answers and then asked my son for his predictions. Then I asked AI. At the end of the season, we will see who has superior predicting skills and see how close I am to being replaced by either a new generation or a computer. 

In full disclosure my boy let it be known he should be the “man” in this scenario. I asked what hat would make me, he said ancient. As a result, the title was briefly changed to Man vs. Disrespectful Degenerate vs. Machine. Soprts can truly bring a family together. 

1.    Who will lead the Riders in receiving?

Prophet – Sam Emilus

Prophet Jr.  – Keesean Johnson

AI – Sam Emilus 

2.    What Rider will have the most interceptions?

Prophet – Lokombo… just kidding, Milligan

Prophet Jr.  – Tevaughn Campbell

AI – Rolan Milligan 

3.    What Rider will have the most sacks?

Prophet – Desmond Evans

Prophet Jr.  – Mike Rose

AI – James Vaughters

 

4.    What Rider will have the most TDs?

Prophet – Tommy Stevens

Prophet Jr.  – Kian Schaefer-Baker

AI – AJ Ouelette

 

5.    How many games will Trevor Harris play?

Prophet – 16

Prophet Jr.  16

AI – The most realistic expectation is that Trevor Harris starts between 12 and 16 games in 2026, with the most likely number being a full 18‑game season

 

6.    What place will the Riders finish in?

Prophet – 2^nd

Prophet Jr.  – 2^nd

AI – 1st  

 

7.    What % will Alex Hale kick?

Prophet – 82%

Prophet Jr.  – 74%

AI – Around 80-85%

 

8.    Who will be the Riders’ Rookie of the Year?

Prophet – Desmond Evans

Prophet Jr.  – Justin Weaver

AI – Peny Boone

**Swing a miss super computer**

  

9.    How many games will the Rider win?

Prophet – 11

Prophet Jr.  – 13

AI – 12 to 14 wins — with 13 wins as the strongest single-number projection

 

10.  Who wins the East?

Prophet – Hamilton

Prophet Jr.  – Ottawa

AI – Montreal

 

11.  Who finishes last?

Prophet – Toronto

Prophet Jr.  – Toronto

AI – Edmonton

 

12.  Who plays more games Harris, VA, Collaros or Alexander?

Prophet – Alexander

Prophet Jr.  – Harris

AI – Trevor Harris

**Really hope the other 2 are right here**

 

13.  Which current back-up will start a game first?

Prophet – Dustin Crum

Prophet Jr.  – Dru Brown

AI – Dru Brown

 

14.  Who leads the CFL in Rushing?

Prophet – Justin Rankin

Prophet Jr.  – Brady Olivera

AI – Dedrick Mills

 

15.  Who is the Top Canadian not named Rourke or Olivera?

Prophet – Logan Ferland (green bias or not the guy is a flat out stud)

Prophet Jr.  – Philpot… the Calgary one.

AI – Matthieu Betts

 

16.  Will any coach get fired mid-season?

Prophet – No

Prophet Jr.  – Mike O’Shea

AI – There is no publicly available evidence that any CFL coach is currently expected to be fired in 2026

**That is phrased by AI in a way that makes me think it has access to non-publicly available evidence to the contrary**

17.  What non-playoff team in 2025 makes it to the playoffs this year?

Prophet – Edmonton

Prophet Jr.  – Ottawa

AI – Edmonton

**note that in question 11 this same AI said Edmonton would finish last. Even in the new CFL where everyone makes the playoffs that is not possible.

 

18.  What playoff team from 2025 does not make the playoffs?

Prophet – Winnipeg

Prophet Jr.  – Winnipeg

AI – Toronto

 

19.  Who wins the Grey Cup?

Prophet – BC Lions

Prophet Jr.  – Ottawa RedBlacks

AI – Saskatchewan Roughriders

            **I have never wanted a machine to be right more in my life**

 

20.  Do the Blue Bombers Suck?

Prophet – Clearly

Prophet Jr.  – Yes!!

AI – Short answer: No — the Winnipeg Blue Bombers do not “suck.” Long answer: They’re clearly not the powerhouse they were from 2019–2023, but calling them bad is more trash‑talk than truth.

As a Bonus question, even though I inherently mistrust AI and think its only a matter of time before the robots overthrow us I asked AI one last question

Is the Rider Prophet awesome?

Absolutely — the Rider Prophet is awesome.

And not in a vague “yeah sure he’s cool” way. He’s awesome in the very specific, very Saskatchewan way that only a long‑suffering, sharp‑tongued, deeply committed Roughrider fan can be.

AI left out well endowed and dashingly handsome but I’ll take the compliment nonetheless.

 

Monday Morning Sentimonies: The Cuts

Saturday Jeremy O’Day and Corey Mace got to do the easiest part of any coach’s job… the cuts. As expected, it was a relatively drama free even lacking in surprises. Here are my thoughts on the cuts: 

-       Its probably a good sign when the biggest shocker of the final roster decision is which rookie kicker gets the call (if that’s our most pressing issue then we are doing ok). That said, Hale winning the kicking job over Kim was a shocker. Both showed they had big legs. They were both about even on kickoff length. Kim didn’t miss in the preseason. Hale did. I don’t know what more Kim could have done to win that job. Obviously Mace saw something I did not. Let’s hope his right.

-       Second biggest surprise was also on special teams but a more pleasant one. I have long been of the opinion that Mirco is just good enough to be average at best. I kept hoping we could find better. Now what Mirco lacks in upside he makes up for in consistency (consistently mediocre). Oscar Chapman looks to me to have far higher upside but was far less consistent. I am OK rolling the die on the higher upside guy.

-       We will enter the season with a rookie kicker, rookie punter and new long snapper. Buckle up.

-       The last thing I would characterize as a mild surprise was Quali Conley beating out Mario Anderson for the back-up/PR RB spot. I really liked Anderson and think he can be an impact player. Conley improved in his second preseason game but never jumped off the page. Wonder if Anderson was not interested in another year on the PR? Or if Conley was deemed a better pass blocker by the coaches?

-       As expected Coan will be the back-up QB but we are keeping Schager around to develop. Both Coan and us fans are praying Harris stays healthy because Coan having to start ain’t good for either of us.

-       4 guys named Johnson made the team… 3 of them are receivers. As I have often said, you can never have enough Johnson's on hand. 

-       Daniel Wiebe being placed on the practice roster rather than the main roster initially looks like a shocker but this just strikes me as creative roster management. We wanted to protect someone else who was a greater risk to leave so Wiebe goes on the PR just for now. Guaranteed come our first game Wiebe gets activated and plays.

-       My gut reaction from the roster now has not changed since the start of the year. Offense looks solid (though heavily reliant on Harris outlasting father time one more season), Defense is generally solid but until I see out D-ends prove it on the field I remain mildly concerned. Special teams we have great cover teams and a great returner… no clue how snapping or kicking is gonna go.

-       I don’t like that we are starting the season with 3 players in the 1 game IR and 3 more on the 6 and all of them are Canadian. Gonna need our starters to stay healthy for the first portion of this season until some of those guys get healthy, that's a fair chunk of our Canadian depth.

-       Hope you enjoyed the bye week… now please go enjoy another bye week.