Complete Notes in PDF

The Colorado Mesa University football team will look for its first RMAC Championship since 2003 with a win at No. 4 CSU-Pueblo Saturday (Nov. 7). 

Series
CSU-Pueblo leads the all-time series with Colorado Mesa 2-5 since the Thunderwolves program was revived in 2008. CSUP has won the last five meetings between the two schools and has won two of the three meetings in Pueblo. 

Polls
For the second straight week, both teams are ranked in the top-25 by the AFCA. CSU-Pueblo enters the game ranked No. 4 while Colorado Mesa is ranked No. 16. CMU is ranked fifth in the NCAA Regional Poll and CSUP is sixth. Complete poll on page four. 

RMAC Championship
CMU and CSUP both enter this week's game with identical 7-0 records in the RMAC. The winner of the game will be crowned the RMAC Champion regardless of what happens the final week of the season. The last RMAC football championship for CMU came in 2003 when the Mavs finished a perfect 8-0 in league play and 10-2 overall. 

Ground Game
The rushing game will be a major story line for Saturday's game. Mesa and Pueblo enter with the top-two rushing offenses and the two-top rushing defenses in the RMAC. Pueblo is averaging a league-high 323.2 yards per game of rushing offense and Mesa is second at 242.3 yards. Pueblo is allowing a league-low of 67.3 rushing yards per game and Mesa is second giving up 141.2 yards per game. 

Battle of the Red Zone
Saturday's game will pit the RMAC's best red zone defense verse the best red zone offense. Colorado Mesa leads the RMAC and ranks third nationally in red zone defense at 54.8 percent. CSU-Pueblo leads the league and 18th nationally in red zone offense at 88.2 percent. 

Return Game
The Mavericks and Thunderwolves are both highly successful in the return game. CMU leads the league and ranks fifth in Div. II in punt returns averaging 19.16 yards. CSUP leads the RMAC and ranks second in the nation in kick returns averaging 28.56 yards. 

Interceptions
CMU has intercepted 18 passes this season, most in the RMAC and fifth most in Div. II. The Mavericks have had seven different players intercept a pass this season. Jackson Burrell and Salim Cleghorne lead the league with five picks a piece. Mesa has done a good job of not throwing interceptions as well. CMU has thrown only four interceptions, second fewest in the league. 

Receiving Game
Virnel Moon caught four passes for a season-high 104 yards, including a 74-yard touchdown reception last week against Colorado Mines. Moon was the first 100-yard receiver for CMU since Ian Juede finished with 105 receiving yards against New Mexico Highlands on Oct. 11, 2014. 

Ranked Teams
Saturday's win over No. 12 Colorado Mines was the first for the Mavericks over a ranked opponent since a 31-24 overtime win over North Dakota on Sept. 13, 2003. 

Offensive Line
Nick Leonard and Zeth Ramsay have started a combined 66 games on the offensive line for CMU. Leonard's first start for CMU came in the second game of his freshman year. The game he did not start since was the game against CSU-Pueblo in 2013. Ramsay started the last five games of his freshman year at defensive end before switching to the offensive line where he has started 31 straight games. 

Big Plays
Colorado Mesa posted a pair of big plays last week against Colorado Mines. Tony White recorded the longest interception return of the season by a Maverick returning an interception 90-yards before being tackled on the 10-yard line. Sean Rubalcaba's 74-yard touchdown pass to Virnel Moon was the longest pass play of the season for CMU. 

First Downs
Last week was the first time that CMU had fewer first downs than its opponents. 

Score 17
CMU is 8-0 this season when it scores 17 points and 0-1 when it scores 16 or less. 

Looking Ahead
Colorado Mesa will play its final regular season game at  Western State Nov. 14th.