Saskatchewan Roughriders' head coach Corey Mace wants to set the record straight regarding his choice to punt with Trevor Harris in the fourth quarter during the Labour Day Classic and not have kicker Brett Lauther try a field goal while leading 31-24.
"It was something we talked about going into the game, we were expecting some pretty good wind there going towards Pil Country," Mace said. "Traditionally we're always looking at that and then certainly to catch [the Bombers] off guard, which I think worked out in our favour. We've seen to this point that there have been many times we put [Lauther] out there and we expect the job to get done, so we'll continue to do that."
The Riders earned a rouge from Harris' punt and extended the lead to 32-24 while going on to win 34-30.
“I got the snap, I'd done it before in college a few times, put it on the old foot and figured it down there, try and put it outside the hash,” Harris recalled. “That way we have a chance to possibly recover it, but give our guys a chance to throw the net out, make a tackle and get them backed up if we can. I knew the worst case scenario if I punted it out there and let it roll would be a single. Best case scenario we'd pin them deep and make them go 108 yards against our defence.”
Overall in 2025, Lauther's field goal percentage sits at 65.7 percent and fans around Saskatchewan want to know if he is up to Mace's standard.
"In the totality of the season, no, not to his standard, not to our standard," Mace said. "In the same breath, looking at everything that he's done and also different other circumstances, I thought he had a better day. Not 100 percent that everybody's looking for, but him being able to kick through it, showing improvement is what we're looking for. We're still always looking at how the performance is from that standpoint, but we've been lucky enough to still push through and win some football games."
The Roughriders lead the West Division with a 9-2 record while the team's two losses were against the Calgary Stampeders. During the first game versus the Stamps in Week 6, which the Green and White lost 24-10, Lauther made 33 percent of his kicks, one-out-of-three. In the second match-up, Lauther missed his only attempt and the Riders lost 32-15 in Week 12. However, Saskatchewan beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the first time in Week 2 then later in Week 11 and in both of those games combined, Lauther made two-out-of-five field goals.
Mace was asked how many chances Lauther will get: "Until we see that he doesn't, but hopefully it doesn't come to that."
The 34-year-old Lauther is the third-highest-paid kicker in the league with hard money at $123,000 and a $134,000 maximum value, according to 3DownNation.
The Riders travel to Winnipeg to take on the Bombers for the Labour Day rematch on Saturday. Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk, and Wes Cates bring you the pre-game show at 11 a.m. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 2 p.m. Listen to our extensive coverage on 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
