Another football season begins north of the border with the CFL season commencing its opening weekend. Their will be changes in what has been an offensive brand of football for years. The biggest change is in the philosophy of how defenses attack quarterbacks. The influence of the NFL has matriculated north and the older quarterbacks that used to sit in the pocket and throw the pigskin around the field are drying up. Defenses are now pressuring offenses like never before, changing the needs of the clubs. More and more teams are going towards having two quarterbacks, giving the head coach options.

Canadien football coaches are more like baseball managers when it comes to changing signal callers, if his QB doesn’t have that day, the back-up will be hustled in to try win the game and the starter has to get over it emotionally. Every team except for the defending Grey Cup champions Saskatchewan has two quarterbacks they are comfortable with to start another campaign.

Another change is four head coaches making their CFL debut. Longtime defensive coordinator Rich Stubler has replaced Mike Clemons in Toronto while longtime NFL assistant Marc Trestman will be on the sidelines for Montreal. In Calgary, John Hufnagel will be on the sidelines for the Stampeders and Ken Miller has the somewhat dubious task of taking over for Saskatchewan.

The money has come pouring in on Hamilton, who opened as 2.5-point home underdogs and are 1.5-point favorites at Bookmaker.com approaching game time, coming off 3-15 season. The Ticats are vastly improved and have to overcome losing six straight to Montreal. Expect close encounter and low score with Montreal 17-5 UNDER the first two weeks of the season.

British Columbia was 7-1-1 (5-4 ATS) on the road in 2007 and still has high powered offense that will be matched against quality Calgary defense. The Lions are 33-12 ATS in road games in the first half of the season since 1996 and should have enough offense to cover the three-point spread.

Kerry Joseph will make his Toronto debut after leading for Saskatchewan to Grey Cup title. He will face the team he beat in Winnipeg, who lost starting QB Kevin Glenn in conference finals the game prior to title matchup. The Blue Bombers were forced to start rookie Ryan Dinwiddie and lost 23-19. Consider Winnipeg on a mission and expect them to cover the 2.5-point spread as home favorite.

Saskatchewan opens defense of its Grey Cup hosting the Eskimos, after a turbulent off-season. Head coach Kent Austin returned to his alma mater at Mississippi. The Riders couldn’t make deal with QB Joseph and dealt him, along with leading tackler and sack master Fred Perry. All this upheaval casts doubt on Saskatchewan even as 4.5-point home favorites. Edmonton needs points since they are 9-30 ATS when they score 15 to 21 points.