Jon Cornish and the Stampeders run over Saskatchewan, evening up the West lead

The Saskatchewan Roughriders suffered their first loss of the season in a clash of the CFL titans Friday night, falling 42-27 to the Calgary Stampeders. That result drops the Riders back to 5-1 and raises the Stampeders to the same record, and when you consider that the 4-2 B.C. Lions are just a game back, the long war for West Division supremacy seems likely to continue unabated for a while. While Saskatchewan still arguably has the edge at the moment given their statistical dominance to this point, what's particularly notable about Friday's outcome is that it saw the Stampeders defeat the Riders at their own game.

That started with the ground attack, where Calgary's Jon Cornish picked up 175 yards and four touchdowns on 16 rushing attempts, giving him a ridiculous average of 10.9 yards per carry. For much of this season, it's been Saskatchewan running over opponents thanks to Kory Sheets, but the tables were turned on them Friday night. While Sheets was a significant factor in keeping this close for much of the contest, collecting 133 yards on 14 carries (9.5 yards per carry), he was outperformed by Cornish Friday. That's particularly remarkable when you consider how good the Riders' rushing defence had been heading into this one, too; they'd allowed just 62.4 rushing yards per game, best in the league, and a solid 5.0 yards per rushing attempt. The Stampeders' ground attack had been impressive to this point too, but the strong Saskatchewan defence suggested they might run into some problems keeping that streak going Friday. Instead, it was the Riders who couldn't adapt, conceding over a first down on average on every Cornish carry.

The Calgary air attack also looked like a page from the Saskatchewan playbook. There were questions about just how well Kevin Glenn would perform under centre, as he didn't seem to have the upside or accuracy of top option Drew Tate or intriguing third-stringer Bo Levi Mitchell, but Glenn delivered a performance almost perfectly identical to what the Riders' Darian Durant has often turned in this year. On the night, Glenn completed 21 of 27 passes (77.8 per cent) for 218 yards and a touchdown, and he spread the field effectively, finding all of Nik Lewis, Maurice Price, Marquay McDaniel, Brad Sinopoli, Greg Carr and Cornish for at least one reception. That's not a spectacular yardage total, and it may not be as impressive at first glance as the 278 yards and three touchdowns Durant posted Friday, but the Saskatchewan quarterback only completed 20 of 32 throws (62.5 per cent). While that's still a reasonable completion percentage, Glenn posted one of the hyper-efficient showings we've frequently seen from Durant this season, and that was crucial to the Stampeders' victory.

It's far too early to conclude that the Stampeders are completely better than the Riders or that Saskatchewan's going to slip back to the pack for the rest of the season. After all, while this was a 15-point win for Calgary, it came at home; it's notable that 15 points is the exact margin the Riders beat the Stamps by in Saskatchewan earlier this year. Saskatchewan's also been the league's most dominant team statistically on the year, so it would be foolish to write them off at this point. However, Friday's showing suggests the Stampeders are also very adept at some of the things that have made the Riders so successful this season, and it indicates there may not be much separation between these teams. When you add in the potential threat posed from a lurking B.C. team that's perhaps underachieved thus far, it looks like a long West war may be very much in the cards.