Hamilton @ Ottawa preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 9, 2017 ) Hamilton 26, Ottawa 22

The Ottawa Redblacks look to take sole possession of first place in the East Division when they host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in their regular-season finale Friday. Ottawa, which does not play in Week 20, has won back-to-back games - including a thrilling 33-32 victory against the Saskatchewan Roughriders - to pull within one point of the Toronto Argonauts, and can claim their second division title in as many years if they knock off the Tiger-Cats and Toronto loses next week.

Ottawa is averaging 31.5 points per game since quarterback Trevor Harris returned to the lineup and hopes the offence keeps on clicking by avenging a 26-22 defeat to Hamilton on Sept. 9. The Tiger-Cats continue to take care of business despite being eliminated from the playoffs. Hamilton scored 40 straight points en route to a 43-16 victory against the Montreal Alouettes in Week 18 to improve to 5-3 since June Jones took over as coach and the Tiger-Cats hope to continue their stellar play down the stretch by notching their third consecutive victory against the Redblacks in the nation's capital. "It's tough to be motivated to play these types of games but the kids showed up," Jones told reporters. "We have to go to Ottawa and they're still playing for something so it's going to be a real challenge as they're a better football team than a month ago when we went up there."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, TSN

ABOUT THE TIGER-CATS (5-11): Brandon Banks was named one of the CFL's Top Performers of the Week after he returned a punt for a touchdown and hauled in six passes for 129 yards and a score against Montreal to register his fourth straight 100-yard receiving game. Jeremiah Masoli completed 19-of-28 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns, including a scoring toss to Mike Jones for the slotback's first CFL score, to go over 300 yards for the third consecutive game. "We're a really good football team right now," Masoli told reporters. "I know we're not in the playoffs but if we had gotten in we really believed we had a chance of taking the championship."

ABOUT THE REDBLACKS (7-9-1): Harris threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns as Ottawa scored 13 points in the final 2:31 against Saskatchewan to give him five TDs in two games after missing the previous three contests with a bruised shoulder. Wide receiver Brad Sinopoli, who leads the team with 91 receptions, requires surgery to repair a broken bone in his shoulder and will miss the rest of the campaign. "It's something that he can definitely recover from but it's not going to be in the next month," Ottawa coach Rick Campbell told reporters. "We'll miss Brad but we have other guys who can step up and fill the role."

EXTRA POINTS

1. Ottawa's last three games have been decided by a combined seven points.

2. Banks has accounted for five total touchdowns in his last five games.

3. Harris is tied for the league lead in touchdown passes (28).

PREDICTION: Redblacks 31, Tiger-Cats 28