The Saskatchewan Roughriders came out of the tunnel ready to play at the start of the game, but couldn't hang on as they took on the best team in the West, the Edmonton Eskimos.

The Riders had jumped out to a 14-3 lead after the first quarter, thanks to a Rob Bagg rushing touchdown after an opening drive interception by the Riders, and a 65-yard catch and run by Ryan Smith.

On the first play of the second quarter, the Roughriders put in Keith Price at quarterback and on his first CFL pass, he found Naaman Roosevelt for a 29-yard touchdown. From that point on, not much else went the Riders way. They allowed the Eskimos to chip their way back into the game and after two Mike Reilly passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown, the Eskimos went in at halftime with a 24-21 lead.

In the second half, it was much of the same for the Eskimos, who kicked a field goal in the third quarter and then went on to complete an 11-yard touchdown pass and execute on the 2-point convert.

The Riders, with new kicker Tyler Crapigna, kicked a 22-yard field goal near the end of the fourth quarter to make it 35-24, which is where the score would stay.

After the game, Head Coach Bob Dyce explained what went wrong for the Riders in the second quarter, when they allowed 21 consecutive points.

"We missed some opportunities to make some tackles that would have stopped some big plays or would have made Edmonton work harder for some of those touchdowns."

The Riders went into the game with a lot of the younger and newer players getting more time on the field as they look to try and play for a spot on next year's team.

Dyce spoke about some of the better performances he saw from those players.

"Naaman (Roosevelt) had some big catches that helped us. Keenan MacDougall got to make his first real opportunity to start, and he made some big plays out there. Matt Webster did well out there at safety. I have to watch the film to get a full analysis, but there were some bright spots out there."

The Riders now are on the road for the next two weeks as they close out the season.

Next week they are in Calgary to take on the Stampeders on Halloween. Kickoff is at 1 P.M.