Alouettes stomp Riders 41-3 on Ben Cahoon Night

Legendary Montreal receiver Ben Cahoon was a crucial part of many big Alouettes' victories over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, so it's thoroughly appropriate that he was on the sidelines to see his old team stampede Saskatchewan Friday night. The Alouettes honoured Cahoon by retiring his jersey at halftime, and they also honoured him with the best performance they've turned in all season. Montreal's 41-3 win both provides the 2-3 Alouettes with some new hope and raises further questions about the 1-4 Roughriders.

For Montreal, this was a thoroughly impressive showing, especially when you consider that it came just four days after their 30-17 loss to Toronto Monday. It started with the defence, which held Saskatchewan to just three points on the night. They also managed to record several sacks and an interception, and they restricted Riders' QB Mitchell Gale to just 23 completions on 41 attempts for 211 yards and a pick. Noel Thorpe's unit turned in a great all-around performance here, with particular standouts including John Bowman, Billy Parker, Bear Woods and Kyries Hebert.

The Alouettes also came up with an excellent offensive effort overall. Kevin Glenn threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns, running back Brandon Rutley had two touchdowns (including a two-yard screen pass from Glenn he took for a 38-yard touchdown), and Nik Lewis and Duron Carter shone in the receiving corps. There were some smart offensive wrinkles from rookie coordinator Anthony Calvillo (a long-time teammate of Cahoon's) too, including a receiver sweep at the goal line that saw Sam Giguere walk in for a touchdown and a later fake sweep that let Brandon Bridge sneak in under centre for another touchdown. We'll see how this offence does against tougher foes, but there were definitely some moments of hope Friday. This looked somewhat like the teams of old where Cahoon found so much success.

Meanwhile, for Saskatchewan, there are many more issues to address. This is further proof that last week's 30-29 home win over Ottawa (who played most of the game without Trevor Harris) didn't instantly mean their problems were solved. The recently-acquired Gale, who's starting in place of the injured Darian Durant, was good in that one (albeit with completion percentage concerns), but he struggled Friday and failed to move the chains. Running back Michael Dyer didn't provide much in the way of optimism, either, and the defence had issues all night long (although how long the offence left them on the field certainly didn't help). The Riders will have to be better in all aspects of the game if they want to compete this year, and it's clear that head coach and general manager Chris Jones still has a lot of work to do. Maybe Saskatchewan will need to channel some of their own former greats?