Zach Collaros, Kent Austin and the Ticats get sacked 31-10 by the Roughriders

Regina appears to be where the hurt is for former Roughriders' quarterback and coach Kent Austin, as his Hamilton Tiger-Cats have now lost all three games they've played in the Queen City in Austin's time as Hamilton head coach/general manager. Those losses include a 37-0 pounding on July 21, 2013 (in Austin's first return to Regina since leaving the Roughriders in 2008 to take the offensive coordinator's job at Ole Miss), a 45-23 thumping in last year's Grey Cup, and the latest one, a 31-10 beatdown Sunday in the season opener for both teams. Amidst torrential downpours at Mosaic Stadium Sunday, Austin's Tiger-Cats proved utterly incapable of moving the ball on offence or protecting quarterback Zach Collaros, who was sacked 10 times. Unless they straighten out those issues, it won't be just Regina where they have trouble playing.

The Hamilton offensive line carried question marks heading into this year thanks to Canadian centre Marwan Hage retiring (after being selected by Ottawa in the expansion draft) and Canadian guard Peter Dyakowski still recovering from a knee injury sustained in last year's Grey Cup, and it didn't do much to answer those questions Sunday. In particular, they couldn't contain Riders' defensive ends Ricky Foley (three sacks, often matched against Hamilton right tackle Brian Simmons) or John Chick (two sacks, often matched against Ticats' left tackle Joel Figueroa). Saskatchewan also got pressure up the middle, though, with defensive tackle Derek Walker adding two sacks and defensive tackle Tearrius George chipping in one, and they also got to Collaros on blitzes, with middle linebacker Brian Peters and weak-side linebacker Sam Hurl each recording a sack. The Tiger-Cats are going to have to do a much better job of protecting their quarterback if they want to have any success this year.

It wasn't all about the line, though, as Collaros wasn't terribly effective on the rare occasions where he did have time, and a couple of the sacks were about him taking too long to get rid of the ball. On the day, he completed just 19 of 33 passes (57.6 per cent) for 159 yards with a touchdown and an interception. That's way below the 66.2 per cent completion rate he posted last year as an Argonauts' backup, and it's nowhere near what the Tiger-Cats figured to be getting from him.

It's too soon to write Collaros off, certainly. This was just one game, and one where he was playing in poor passing conditions while not receiving a lot of support from his offensive line. He also didn't get any support on the ground, as the Tiger-Cats fell behind early in this one and quickly abandoned the run. Starting running back C.J. Gable had just three carries for eight yards, while receiver Brian Banks picked up nine on one play and Collaros led the team with 18 rushing yards on three attempts. That lack of commitment to/production from the ground game certainly didn't help.

Still, Collaros is going to have to get a lot better for Hamilton to be a contender this year. Perhaps even more importantly, his offensive line is going to have to do better at keeping him upright. We'll see how things go for the Tiger-Cats, but unless there are notable improvements from both their quarterback and their offensive line, it may be a long year for the black and gold, and Austin may find that it's not just Regina where his team can't win.