Darian Durant raises his arms as Roughriders teammate Stu Foord heads for the end zone during Saturday's win at Mosaic Stadium. (Geoff Howe/Canadian Press)

Quarterback Darian Durant was coldly efficient for the Saskatchewan Roughriders at home on Saturday, counting three touchdown passes among his first eight completions in the team's 32-22 victory over the Toronto Argonauts.

"That's part of how he perceives himself, as being somebody who's going to excel in a tough situation," Saskatchewan head coach Ken Miller said of Durant.

"Certainly he's done that several times on the year, so he has confidence in himself and I think our players have confidence in him."

Saskatchewan (8-6) scored 21 points in the second quarter to help put the game out of reach for the visitors to Mosaic Stadium.

"I feel bad for the guys because they worked really hard and that's part of it," said Argos head coach Bart Andrus. "I'm proud of them the way they keep fighting, keep hanging in, but we're just too hot and cold right now.

"Consistency is our deal. We have to get consistent."

Durant found Chris Getzlaf in the first quarter on a 33-yard throw to put the Riders up by a touchdown.

After Stu Foord of the Roughriders and Toronto's Jeff Johnson traded rushing touchdowns early in the second, Durant then connected with Gerran Walker and Wes Dressler for touchdown passes.

The Riders will end the week no worse than being alone in second place in the West, depending on how Calgary fares in Montreal on Thanksgiving Monday. Should the Stampeders lose, the teams will be tied.

"Now we're in a situation where we're back battling in a place to shape our own destiny," said Miller.

Joseph returns

The win came at a cost for Saskatchewan, with Dressler not able to leave on his own after a late injury.

Argos coach Bart Andrus decided to put in former most outstanding player of the league Kerry Joseph as starting quarterback. Joseph had a gutsy touchdown run just before halftime to make the score 28-14, but he left the game after getting drilled on the play.

Joseph returned after replacement Cody Pickett suffered a late shoulder injury but was off the mark on his last six pass attempts. Joseph went 8-for-22 passing for 82 yards and an interception.

"Cody tore an oblique muscle ... and every time he would throw the ball, it felt like he was getting stabbed in the side," said Andrus.

"So he couldn't throw the ball as effectively as he should have been able to do it ... so that's when we decided to get Kerry back in the game."

Toronto (3-11) crept back into the game thanks to its defence in the second half but Luca Congi of the Riders ended most doubt in the outcome with a field goal with just 92 seconds left.

Durant completed 14 of 23 passes for 196 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 60 yards on seven runs.

The pivot helped end any notion of a Toronto comeback, scrambling for a first down deep in Argos territory to set up the late Congi kick.

Toronto quarterbacks, meanwhile, have not thrown a passing touchdown since Aug. 28, a span of six games.

Saskatchewan scored on its first offensive drive, a short field as the result of Jason Armstead's 43-yard punt return. Getzlaf did the bulk of the work on the score, taking a short pass and blowing by the Toronto defence.

Fools defenders

Foord fooled the Argos' defenders to make it a two-touchdown lead before Toronto scored.

With the score 21-7, Lance Frazier of the Roughriders read a Joseph pass and returned his interception 53 yards to set up the seven-yard scoring toss to Dressler.

Joseph, who took a mean lick earlier from Keith Shologan, was tattooed by Jerrell Freeman on the scoring play that knocked him out of the game for a while.

Toronto used two Justin Medlock field goals and a conceded safety to get within seven points but Pickett once again could not get his offensive unit into the end zone. He finished with just 34 yards passing on five completions in six attempts.

Ronald Flemons and Kevin Huntley kept the Argos in the game, each recording sacks in the second half as the Riders sputtered on offence.

With files from The Canadian Press