Roughriders beat – Ryan Dinwiddie watched the Ottawa Redblacks jump out strong, then lose their grip through penalties and missed chances as the Saskatchewan Roughriders held on for a 27-22 win on Friday. Ottawa fell to an 0-4 start, while Saskatchewan improved to 1-0 and moved
For Ryan Dinwiddie, the season opener was supposed to feel like momentum. Instead, Ottawa is six games worth of frustration into a start he never pictured—after a 27-22 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday dropped the Redblacks to an 0-4 record.
Dinwiddie, now both head coach and general manager in Ottawa, didn’t sugarcoat what the losing streak feels like. “No doubt we’re in quicksand,” he said. “It’s a long race. but we’re far behind … We’re in a tough spot right now but you know we gotta get a win. find a way to win. do the little things it takes to win and get some momentum going.”.
Ottawa did find its rhythm early. The Redblacks jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead, and for a moment it looked like the kind of start that could change how a week feels. Then penalties and missed opportunities started to cut into everything they built.
Dinwiddie praised the start, but the sharpness left quickly. “I mean, you can’t practise not taking penalties right?” he said. “It’s just beyond me some of the stuff we’ve done.”
Ottawa finished with six penalties for 37 yards, but what angered Dinwiddie wasn’t just the total—it was the timing. One penalty came on an offensive punt return. Another was a time-count violation on third and two while Ottawa tried to draw Saskatchewan offside. Instead of extending, the Redblacks were forced to settle for a field goal.
“I told those guys they’ve got to look in the mirror a little bit,” Dinwiddie said. “I can’t go out there and play for you and not take penalties. We preach it all the time.”
Even with the discipline issues, Ottawa stayed in it, thanks in part to the effort that limited Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris to 243 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The Redblacks’ own Jake Maier responded with 23-for-30 passing for 259 yards and one touchdown.
Harris didn’t have his best game, but he still moved the chain in the moments that matter. He admitted, “I didn’t have my best game. I wasn’t on my ‘A’ game in terms of how I’ve been playing this year. but you know when your team needs you to step up and make a play we’re able to come up with a touchdown drive.”.
Those moments arrived early in the second quarter. Harris engineered a 10-play drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Dhel Duncan-Busby, giving Saskatchewan a 10-7 deficit flip. The two teams then traded field goals to reach halftime tied 13-13.
The turning point came in the third quarter with a special-teams jolt. Mathew Sexton delivered a 101-yard punt return early in the period, setting Saskatchewan’s first lead of the game.
Ottawa tried to get its answer right away to start the half, but a drive stalled when rookie receiver Cade McDonald was grounded as he moved for a first down. Ottawa punted, and Sexton made sure the Roughriders gained value again.
“We responded when we needed to,” Roughriders head coach Corey Mace said. “As always tons to look at to get better, but we needed to get back to 1-0 this week and we did that.”
Mace also pointed to the uneasy feeling that comes with playing at Saskatchewan. “I don’t know what it is about this place, it’s hard to play, weird stuff happens,” he said.
Saskatchewan’s win carried extra significance for Harris. Despite being limited to his lowest passing-yardage total of the season, he passed Tom Clements for 12th on the CFL’s all-time passing list with 39,115 yards.
Ottawa’s next challenge arrives quickly. There is no time to sit with Friday’s loss—before they can fully regroup, the Redblacks face the Elks on Thursday in Edmonton.
Gosselin, a veteran fullback, framed the problem the way players often do when the scoreboard doesn’t match the roster. He believes Ottawa is better than its record suggests, and he said the group needs time to learn the new system and to jell.
He didn’t just talk about hope—he made it specific. “I call a win every week,” said Anthony Gosselin. “But this week we have to believe it. We’ve already played Edmonton, we know them a little better so I think we’re going there on a business trip, we’re going to win.”
While Ottawa searches for the momentum it needs, Saskatchewan has already moved on. The Roughriders host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday, July 12.
For Dinwiddie and the Redblacks, the message from Friday was clear: the early lead wasn’t the issue. The penalties, the missed chances, and the timing of it all are what turned opportunity into a 27-22 loss. And now, the clock is already running on their bounce-back.
MISRYOUM Sports News CFL Ottawa Redblacks Saskatchewan Roughriders Ryan Dinwiddie Trevor Harris Jake Maier Mathew Sexton Dhel Duncan-Busby Anthony Gosselin CFL Week Edmonton Elks Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Quicksand?? lol football really is a mental game.
Ottawa up 10-0 and still lose 27-22… that’s gotta hurt. Penalties always come back to bite them, like how do you get time-count wrong on third down.
Wait so Saskatchewan just “held on” but Ottawa was winless right? I swear I saw somewhere that Ottawa was actually ahead the whole game. Maybe I’m mixing it up, but 0-4 is wild either way. If they keep punting and getting penalties they’ll never score touchdowns.
Bro it says they had missed chances and penalties and only six penalties for 37 yards… that doesn’t seem that many? I guess the timing matters or whatever. But 27-22 late survival sounds like Roughriders got lucky and Ottawa choked.