Inside the Series vs. Black Hills State
Colorado Mesa and Black Hills State will meet up for the sixth time on Saturday at Lyle Hare Stadium in Spearfish, S.D. The Mavericks are 5-1 all-time against the Yellow Jackets with their lone loss coming two years ago in South Dakota.
The Black Hills State defense was a bright spot in last weekend's win over New Mexico Highlands. The defense features one of the top tacklers in the conference in Austin Goddard as he averages 10 tackles per game, third best in the conference.
Offensively, Payten Gilmore averages 81 yards per game and has found pay dirt five times. He set the school record for rushing yards in a game in the win over New Mexico Highlands with 248 yards in the snow. Ryan Hommel is a four-year starter at quarterback and is the team's second leading rusher.
ALL-TIME SERIES: Colorado Mesa 5-1
AT COLORADO MESA: Colorado Mesa 3-0
AT BLACK HILLS STATE: Colorado Mesa 2-1
LAST FIVE MEETINGS
vs. Black Hills State
SEASON LOCATION RESULT
2017 Grand Junction W, 49-37
2016 Spearfish L, 48-34
2015 Grand Junction W, 48-7
2014 Spearfish W, 48-31
2013 Grand Junction W, 49-11
QUICK RECAP
Colorado Mesa fell to the No. 14 ranked team in the AFCA poll for the second time this season. This time came at the hands of the CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves 36-14 at Stocker Stadium on Saturday. Four turnovers proved costly as CSU-Pueblo scored 17 points off of those mistakes. Nonetheless, the Mavericks outgained the Pack 346-316 in the game.
QUARTERBACK PLAY
Senior signal caller Eystin Salum missed last weekend's game with an injury, snapping a streak of 17 straight starts and 18 consecutive games played. Rope Ruel earned his first career start after not appearing on the two-deep list all season. Ruel was 12-for-21 for 210 yards and a touchdown. All three active quarterbacks saw time with the other two combining to go 5-for-8 for 32 yards and an interception.
THROUGH THE AIR
The Mavericks have relied more on their passing game this season than in the past. They are averaging 277.7 yards per game passing while just 173.0 on the ground. They are on pace to finish the seaosn with 3,052 yards passing, which would be the second highest passing yardage total in Colorado Mesa history behind the 2016 team who finished with 3,155 yards.
BREAKING RECORDS
Junior Peter Anderson continues to knife opposing defenses with his speed and agility. This past week, Anderson set a program record with his fifth caonsecutive 100+ yard receiving game after catching four passes for 136 yards and a touchdown. He averaged 34 yards per completion with the help of two 65 yard catches with one going for a touchdown on the second play of the game.
COVERING GROUND
Tommy Saager was a tackling machine in the loss to CSU-Pueblo last Saturday. He finished the game with 17 tackles, his best effort of the season and second best mark of his career. He turned in an 18 tackle performance in the 2015 season opener against Midwestern State. Currently, Saager ranks third in the RMAC in total tackles with 68.
IN COVERAGE
Senior defensive back Antonio Clark is closing in on a career-high for passes defended. He has 11 this season and his season-high came last year when he batted down 15 passes. He has 40 in his career which ranks him fifth all-time behind his former teammate Dustin Rivas who had 47 passes defnded in his career.
