Toronto @ Hamilton preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 25, 2017 ) Hamilton 15, Toronto 32

The Toronto Argonauts make the short trip down the QEW to face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the annual Labour Day Classic on Monday. The Argonauts have dropped four of their last five games, including a 23-7 loss to the Calgary Stampeders in Week 10 to fall out of first place in the East Division, and they look to get back on track by kickstarting their sputtering offence which has been held without a touchdown in two of their last three contests.

Toronto has lost five of the last six Labour Day matchups with Hamilton and has been outscored 91-48 over the last two meetings. Hamilton endured a tumultuous week despite having a bye as Kent Austin relinquished his head coaching duties to June Jones and the team suffered a backlash surrounding the hiring of Art Briles as the assistant head coach. The Tiger-Cats quickly rescinded their offer to Briles, who was unceremoniously fired as the head coach of Baylor University in 2016 for his role in the program's sexual assault scandal, but the damage was done as the organization made headlines across North America for all the wrong reasons. "We made a large and serious mistake," Hamilton owner Bob Young admitted in a statement. "It has been a difficult season and we are searching for answers and this is clearly not one of them."

TV: 6:30 p.m. ET, TSN

ABOUT THE ARGONAUTS (4-6): Ricky Ray was limited to 220 passing yards and finished without a touchdown for the first time in five games while S.J. Green caught four passes for 49 yards in the loss to Calgary to surpass 7,500 receiving yards for his career. Former Ohio State wide receiver DeVier Posey caught five passes for 59 yards after missing the previous six games with a leg injury and hopes to regain the form that made him a big-play threat at the start of the season. Nose tackle Ken Bishop is expected to return to the lineup after a six-game absence and defensive end Victor Butler, who leads the league with seven sacks, could return after sitting out the last five contests with a knee injury.

ABOUT THE TIGER-CATS (0-8): Jones announced that Jeremiah Masoli will get his first start of the season after Zach Collaros struggled once again in the 37-18 setback to the Ottawa Redblacks on Aug. 18. "Change is good sometimes and Zach's been through a lot at the end of last year and this year," Jones told reporters. "I expect him to be ready to play but we're going to start Jeremiah." Hamilton revealed that it held a workout for former Texas A&M star Johnny Manziel, who was selected 22nd overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 2014 NFL draft and was released a year later for his off-the-field issues, but opted against offering him a roster spot for the time being.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Hamilton has lost 13 of its last 14 regular-season games dating back to last year.

2. Toronto leads the CFL in sacks with 32.

3. Collaros has lost 12 straight starts, which is one shy of the CFL record.

PREDICTION: Argonauts 27, Tiger-Cats 21