In the course of a football game, things often change and do change quickly. For Colorado Mesa University, a mere three-and-half minutes last Saturday changed everything.

Trailing 10-3 midway through the third quarter in a nonconference game at Northern Colorado, a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program, the Mavericks seemed to be in great shape. But 210 seconds later, great shape became any but that and at the end of day, CMU was on the wrong side of a 40-3 loss.

“We had a three-minute time span that changed the game dramatically,” first-year coach Russ Martin said. “We did a lot of good things early on and played really well for parts of the game but that three minutes changed the outcome of the game.”

In that three-and-half minute time span, CMU went from one play away from tying the game at 10 to watching a seven-point deficit turn into a 23-point one. And things got out-of-hand after that.

Down seven early in the third period, the Mavericks executed a play-action pass that almost worked to perfection - a blown coverage by UNC left a receiver wide open – but ended up with quarterback Deke Cisco taking a sack.  After a punt, the Bears then needed just two minutes to drive 60 yards in four plays to take a 17-3 lead.

On the Mavs next possession, a fumble took a fortunate bounce right into the hands of Leilon Willingham who rumbled 30 yards to put UNC up 23-3. After a three-and-out by the Mavs, Dominic Gunn returned a Mike Brady punt 67 yards to the 2-yard line and a few plays later, UNC lead 26-3.

And after fighting so hard to stay in the game, just seconds took the Mavericks out of the game.

“That ultimately changed what we were trying to do offensively and defensively,” Martin said. “We knew we had to be in the game going into the fourth quarter to have a chance because of their depth. They wore us down.”

The Bears put the game away with two long, time consuming drives in the fourth quarter, the first going 73 yards in 11 plays while the second took 12 plays to cover 72 yards, both ending on touchdown runs by Tromaine Dennis. In all, the two UNC fourth-quarter drives ate up 11-minutes, 21-seconds of the game's final 15 minutes.

In all, CMU turned the ball over four times and struggled offensively. Cisco completed 10 of 20 passes but for just 69 yards and was picked off three times. Jake Cimolino rushed for 84 yards on 13 carries as the Mavericks managed just 192 yards of total offense to the Bears' 409.

Despite entering Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play winless, the Mavs play host to Chadron State Saturday at Stocker Stadium, Martin is ever optimistic.

“The mistakes we made were directly related to our performance,” Martin said. “They were in no way directly associated with anything UNC did. Therefore, they are fixable. So we need to figure out what we have learned from this game and what lessons we can take from it.  I'm looking forward to a great week of practice and seeing us continue to get better.“

Notes

Players of the game for week two included Jake Edmiston and Mike Brady. Edmiston, a junior linebacker, was the defensive player of the week for the second straight week. Against UNC, Edmiston recorded nine tackles, including four solo. Brady was named special teams player of the game. Brady, a junior defensive back/punter, had five tackles in the game and punted seven times for an average of 47.1 yards a kick, including a long of 53 yards. Martin did not name an offensive player of the game this week, citing no one player graded high enough to earn the honor.

Junior quarterback Austen Fales has left the team, Martin said. Fales, a transfer who competed for the starting quarterback position during August workouts, did not take a snap in the season-opener at Humboldt State and left the team last week before the Northern Colorado game. Martin said Fales also withdrew from the university.