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Canadian bacon: CFL Week 5 preview and picks
By CHARLES-ANDRÉ MARCHAND
Charles-Andre Marchand is a CFL analyst for CKAC-730 AM.


B.C. Lions (1-3) at Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2-2) +2, 51

Three weeks ago, the Tiger-Cats shocked the CFL followers by winning at B.C. place. Last week, the Lions were crushed 48-10 by Calgary and their owner felt the need to apologize to the fans.

The Tiger-Cats proved to be the toughest opponent the Alouettes faced in the first month of action. Now Hamilton is not only playing host to the Lions, but the club will also feature its new receiver Arland Bruce.

Pick: Hamilton

Saskatchewan Roughriders (2-2) at Calgary Stampeders (2-2) -10, 61

The Stamps are back on track after losing their first two games this season. They outscored their last two opponents by 92 points. The Riders, meanwhile, have allowed 81 points in their last two games, which should be a serious indicator of the game we can expect between these two.

The Stamps learned some very bad news yesterday: Their star receiver Ken-Yon Rambo won’t play again this season because of a right knee injury. Nonetheless, Calgary QB Henry Burris has other options and the Grey Cup defending champions have much more depth than their rivals from Regina.

Pick: Calgary

Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1-3) at Toronto Argonauts (2-2) -4.5, 44.5

Michael Bishop is back in the CFL and is hoping to jump start Winnipeg’s anaemic offence. It might be too little, too late. The Bombers have deeper problems than a simple lack of production at quarterback.

The Argos have problems of their own. They just gave away their best receiver to Hamilton (Arland Bruce III) and have too many injured bodies. Adriano Belli has a serious knee injury and receiver Andre Talbot needs crutches to walk (ankle).

I expect the Argos to prevail but it won’t be pretty.

Pick: Toronto

[G-men]

CFL LONG SHEET

Week 5

Friday, July 31

BRITISH COLUMBIA (1 - 3) at HAMILTON (2 - 2) - 7/31/2009, 7:30 PM
Top Trends for this game.
BRITISH COLUMBIA is 10-21 ATS (-13.1 Units) as a favorite over the last 3 seasons.
BRITISH COLUMBIA is 43-25 ATS (+15.5 Units) in road games off a division game since 1996.
BRITISH COLUMBIA is 32-16 ATS (+14.4 Units) in road games revenging a loss versus opponent since 1996.
BRITISH COLUMBIA is 37-19 ATS (+16.1 Units) in weeks 5 through 9 since 1996.

Head-to-Head Series History
HAMILTON is 3-2 against the spread versus BRITISH COLUMBIA over the last 3 seasons
BRITISH COLUMBIA is 4-1 straight up against HAMILTON over the last 3 seasons
4 of 5 games in this series have gone UNDER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons

[G-men]

CFL WRITE-UP

Week 5 CFL games

Friday, July 31

BCLions (1-3) @ Hamilton (2-2)-- TiCats went to Vancouver, upset the Lions 31-28 three weeks ago (+13.5), running ball for 155 yards, in game where BC outgained them 437-355. TiCats scored 31-25 in wins, 17-8 in its losses- three of their four games stayed under. Lions got waxed 48-10 at home by Calgary last week- dogs covered three of their four games.

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Trend Report

Friday, July 31

7:30 PM
BRITISH COLUMBIA vs. HAMILTON
British Columbia is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games when playing Hamilton
British Columbia is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games when playing Hamilton
Hamilton is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against British Columbia
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Hamilton's last 5 games when playing at home against British Columbia