Defensive end Odell Willis will be expected to play a big role against his former team on Sunday. (photo courtesy of Riderville.com)

Mosaic Stadium will be ready to rock on Sunday afternoon as the Saskatchewan Roughriders get set to host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the annual Labour Day Classic.

The Roughriders will be looking to turn the page on the current chapter of their 2012 CFL season as they come into the game riding a five-game losing streak that has plummeted them into the basement of the West Division with a 3-5 record.  Good news for the Riders coming into the game though, is that they've won seven consecutive Labour Day Classics.

Head coach Corey Chamblin says there has been some good energy in practice this week as the players look forward to getting back in the win column, "We've had a couple losses here and I talked to the guys about frustration and I said sometimes frustration is good because that means we had a goal and we're fighting for it.  We've had some the best practices that we've had in a long time (this week).  The guys are very focused because they want to get back on the winning track."

This week's matchup could be called a "must win" for both teams with the Riders on their long losing streak and Winnipeg having just fired their head coach and sitting in the bottom of the East Division with a 2-6 record.  

"We're both just scratching and crawling to get a win," said quarterback Darian Durant in the lead up to Sunday's game.  "We both need a win to stay in the playoff hunt and I think both teams are going to come out very hungry."

Saskatchewan came into the Labour Day game last season in even worse shape as they had just fired head coach Greg Marshall, who had led the team to a 1-7 record up until that point.  The team was able to turn things around for a short period of time starting with a 27-7 victory on Taylor Field against Winnipeg.  They would beat the Bombers the next week in the Banjo Bowl and follow that up with another win in Toronto, but those wins quickly turned back to losses.

"We have to take it one game at a time and we can't worry about trying to roll off three in a row, we've got to roll off one in a row," added Durant.  "We just need to get that winning feeling back, just get some joy in that locker room, so that's the goal."

Winnipeg came into Labour Day in first place in the East Division last year and we're looking to roll over the Riders, but their in a completely different place this time around.  Durant says he sees a lot of similarities between the Riders last year and this year's Winnipeg team.

"A lot of guys are kind of happy about the move that happened over there, so there definitely going to come out and play harder for coach Burke.  From what I hear he's a players coach, they love him over there, and that was the same circumstance with coach (Ken) Miller.  Not saying that we didn't like coach Marshall, but we had a guy in coach Miller that the guys really wanted to play for, so I think it's the same case over there."

The atmosphere is expected to be electric as always for the Labour Day Classic at Mosaic Stadium and Chamblin says he's looking forward to being on the right sideline this year, "Our fans are good every game, but I know this will be cranked up times ten."

Durant says he looks forward to playing in this game every year, "Everything is special about this weekend, the atmosphere -- not only on game day, but throughout weekend -- it's going to be nuts.  This is just an awesome weekend for football, for the province of Saskatchewan, and there will be no better way then to cap it off with a win."

In order to get that win, the Riders are going to need to play a complete game, which is something they've been unable to do since winning three straight games to start the season.  That was something Chamblin touched on following the team's walk-through on Saturday.

"At one point in time the defence was having some amazing stats and then earlier in the season, it was the offence with some pretty good stats, so we just need to come together as a team," said Chamblin.  "I spoke to the team about what's positive with this team, and what's positive is that we've had an opportunity to really win six to seven games, with two that we gave away."

The Riders will try to start the second half with a win when they hit the field on Sunday afternoon at Mosaic Stadium.  Kick-off is at 2:00pm.

Click here for more on the Riders preparations for the Bombers.