It’s the one game on the CFL schedule that’s larger than all the others — more massive at the moment than the entire regular season of games that surround it.

The Labour Day Classic is such on it’s own there’s not a lot of talk about the standings. And that’s despite the fact that seldom has there been a Labour Day doubleheader with more swing to it than this September’s set.

The Calgary Stampeders turned the corner on the first half of the season with a 7-1-1 record.

The Eskimos are 5-4.

A pair of wins for Calgary and they’re 9-1-1 and the Eskimos will be left behind in the ditch at 5-6 with five of their last seven on the road.

But nobody is focusing on that.

A sweep for Edmonton and the Eskimos suddenly have a five-game winning streak and it’s ‘fasten your seats belts’ with the Stampeders at 7-3-1 and the Eskimos at 7-4.

Nobody is mentioning that, either.

“I think that’s exactly it,” said Eskimos coach Jason Maas.

“We’re playing really good football right now. We just have to continue that. They’re a measuring stick for us but I do believe we’re a measuring stick for them as well.

“The bottom line is the two points in the standings but with the hype around the game, it is what it is. The past is the past. Don’t worry about the past. Just look forward. I think we’re playing our best football right now. I think we’re going to be a real test for them. We have players who have won here, who are winners and when we go down there we are going to be very confident we come out with a win.”

This is the 19th time in 51 editions that both teams have gone in with winning records. Seventeen times the Eskimos have been the only team that went in with a winning record and eight times it’s been Calgary. Only seven times have both teams been at .500 or worse.

Edmonton has been favored to win every game they’ve played this year but Calgary has been established as 6½-point favorites by the Las Vegas odds-makers.

“This year we only get to play them twice and they’re the back-to-back games around Labour Day. You can only look ahead to Monday. Bottom line,” said Maas.

“For both teams, I think it’s exciting. We’re both playing good football,” he added of the 2014 Grey Cup champion Stampeders and the 2015 Grey Cup champion Eskimos.

“That’s what’s cool about it if you ask me.”

Maas is not trying to play down the biggest-game-of-the-season aspect of it. Indeed he’s talking that up.

“I don’t think it can ever be too big. I think the bigger a game is, the better guys generally play. That’s why I’m so excited this year because both of us are playing good football and it makes it even more exciting to think about this game and what it can entail. The better the atmosphere is.

“I want our guys to feel that. I want our new guys to feel what it’s like to play Calgary, at their best, at home on Labour Day and have those juices flowing. I think it’s great the Stampeders are where they are and that’s where we need to get to.”

The Labour Day Classic has it’s own history and it’s like you play it for what it is and worry about the affect on the standing on the bus trip back to Edmonton and the short week leading into the Labour Day Replay in Edmonton.

Last year was the 50th edition of THE regular season game in the CFL and the Calgary won it to leave the all-time Labour Day Classic record at 25-24-1 in favor of Edmonton. It was the 12th straight loss by the Eskimos to the Stampeders and quarterback Mike Reilly, returning to start the second game in Edmonton, said the standings didn’t mean a damn thing.

The Eskimos had to prove they could beat Calgary or all the positives we were watching with the club wouldn’t mean a damn thing.

The Eskimos won in Edmonton, won a third regular season meeting in Calgary to take the season series, won the Western Final and went on to win the Grey Cup with a 10-game winning streak to end the season.

This year it’s about keeping that three-game winning streak against Calgary alive and continuing the three-game winning streak they’ve got going.

“I’m excited for this game,” said Reilly.

“We’ve come along way from where we were at the start of the season. There’s nothing better than playing against Calgary, the Battle of Alberta, on Labour Day.We look forward to this game. They look forward to this game.

“This year it an opportunity to show how we’ve improved. They have the best record in the league right now. It’s a great chance to go down there and show them what we’re capable of.”