Lions stay in Kelowna, still seeking first win vs. unbeaten Elks

In an odd early-season scenario, the unbeaten Edmonton Elks will visit the winless BC Lions in an alternate location on Saturday night.

The Elks (3-0) and Lions (0-3) clash in Kelowna, British Columbia, with the World Cup occupying BC Place in Vancouver. It's the second straight game at the Apple Bowl for the Lions, who fell 41-33 to Calgary last weekend in front of just more than 19,000 fans in the city's first-ever regular season CFL game.

"We need to clean up some things," Lions head coach and offensive coordinator Buck Pierce told reporters this week. "We've had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes and execution errors. Those get you beat.

"You can do a lot of things well, but you have those three or four plays a game that you can't have."

Some of those costly plays occurred in the kicking game in the loss to the Stampeders, including a fumbled kickoff return in the second quarter and a 90-yard punt return allowed in the fourth quarter. The mistakes cost special teams coordinator Cory McDiarmid his job on Sunday.

Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke, the reigning CFL Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian, threw for 462 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in the loss to Calgary.

BC is 0-3 for the first time since 2019, which featured a 1-10 start. Rourke has never lost four consecutive games in his CFL career.

The Lions will face a stingy Edmonton defense that has allowed a league-low 22.7 points per game during the team's best start since opening 7-0 in 2017.

"Honestly, we don't ever talk like that in here," Elks coach Mark Kilam told the team website. "It's about, ‘What are we going to do to find a way to win every week?' That's all that we talk about. We're trying to go 1-0, we're trying to improve, and that's the things that we're working on."

The Elks are coming off a 23-18 road victory against Winnipeg on June 25 and have won their first three contests by a combined 16 points.

"It is about finding ways to win, and it looks different every game," Kilam said. "Every game is its own entity, different things happen -- weather, injuries -- all these things happen, and you've got to find ways to overcome it and make plays."

Justin Rankin rushed for 106 yards in the win against the Blue Bombers and leads the CFL with 387 rushing yards to go with four touchdowns.

--Field Level Media