Mark Kilam dedicates Edmonton Elks’ victory to ‘CFL schedule makers’ after trio of short weeks

Photo courtesy: Edmonton Elks.

Edmonton Elks head coach Mark Kilam has turned his franchise around with a 6-1 start to the 2026 season, but the CFL head office hasn’t made that an easy task.

Following Thursday’s 36-34 win over Saskatchewan, the 47-year-old made his feelings known.

“That one was for the CFL schedule makers,” he said, responding to an unrelated question. “That’s our third short week in seven games, and we won them all. That’s what it is. I can’t even remember what your question was, but as soon as you said that, I wanted to make sure I fit that into this interview.”

The 2026 CFL season has presented unique challenges for several franchises, as the league was forced to adapt to the B.C. Lions and Toronto Argonauts being evicted from their home stadiums. The Elks have borne the brunt of that as much as any team, with a number of tight turnarounds.

In Week 4, Edmonton upset the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-18 on the road on just five days’ rest. They repeated the feat in Week 6, albeit in a 40-17 romp at home against the woeful Ottawa Redblacks. Week 8’s win in Saskatchewan came with an additional day of rest, six days instead of five, but still less than a full week.

The Bombers and Riders were both coming off bye weeks in their matchups with the Elks, intensifying the rest discrepancy between the two teams. The Green and Gold also defeated the B.C. Lions after a bye week, further proving their ability to win at a disadvantage.

“There’s no quit in this football team. They play with heart. They play for each other. They play tough,” Kilam said. “Some bad sh** happened there at the end of the game, and we found a way to overcome it. Full credit to Saskatchewan; that’s a good football team. That was two heavyweights going at it, and we were fortunate to make the plays at the end.”

The Elks took a 33-28 lead in the fourth quarter, but allowed Saskatchewan back in front due to a comedy of errors. Cody Fajardo hit the crossbar on a two-point conversion attempt and coughed up an unforced fumble deep in his own territory, Cole Snyder was stuffed on a QB sneak in his own end, and a holding penalty on the final kickoff pinned the team at their own eight-yard line down 34-33.

None of it would matter, as Edmonton mounted a nine-play, 52-yard drive to set up Vincent Blanchard for a game-winning field goal. The Laval product stroked it through from 57 yards out with zeroes on the clock, putting the Elks in sole control of first place in the West Division.

“We talked about it all week. We thought it was going to come down to the last possession, so that’s why we tried to stress that. We knew it was going to take 60 minutes to beat them. At halftime, we reiterated it,” Kilam said. “It was a battle. It was a battle right to the end. Credit them for fighting, and then credit our guys for making one more play.”

Edmonton will play on a short week three more times this season — Week 12, Week 15, and Week 19 — though just one of those matchups is on a five-day break. They do not play another opponent coming off a bye in 2026.

The Elks (6-1) will now get a few extra days of rest before a rematch with the Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-2) on Saturday, August 1. Kickoff at Commonwealth Stadium is slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT.

J.C. Abbott is a University of British Columbia graduate and high school football coach. He covers the CFL, B.C. Lions, CFL Draft and the three-down league’s Global initiative.