The Colorado Mesa football team will be hosting their final home game of the regular season this weekend at Stocker Stadium as they welcome in the Black Hills State Yellowjackets. Below is all you need and more for the matchup on Saturday at 1pm.
 
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Mavericks have the opportunity on Saturday to do something that they haven't done since 2017. Finish with a perfect record at home.
 
A win over Black Hills State would give the Mavericks a perfect 5-0 record at home this season. They have wins over William Jewell, Chadron State, Adams State, and Colorado School of Mines on the year and have only allowed an average of 13 points per game in the four wins.
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE
While the loss at Western Colorado didn't help the Mavericks in their hunt for the playoffs, it did not eliminate them either. Colorado Mesa checked in at No. 9 in this week's NCAA Super Region IV rankings with the top seven making the postseason.
 
The Mavericks must win against Black Hills State this weekend at Stocker Stadium and then go on the road and win at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City for the first step in this journey. The next step is getting some help from others around the region. Below are three matchups the Mavericks will need to go in their favor. We have a brief outline of each matchup and links in case you want to scoreboard watch.
 
Augustana at Minnesota-Duluth || 12:05pm (MT) || Live Stats || Live Video
Augustana comes into the weekend as the No. 2 team in the region and takes on No. 8 in the region in Minnesota Duluth. If the Vikings deal a loss to the Huskies, that will give them three losses on the season, likely eliminating them from the postseason. If Augie loses, the Mavericks would be looking for a Southwest Minnesota win over the Vikings in the final week of the season.
 
Bemidji State at Northern State || 12pm (MT) || Live Stats || Live Video
This is a tricky matchup as Bemidji State enters this week at No. 7 in the rankings and Northern State at No. 10. The Mavericks need the Wolves to win this matchup over the Beavers to hand them three losses on the season then would need Minnesota Duluth to defeat Northern State the following weekend to give them their third loss.
 
Texas A&M Commerce at Angelo State || 5pm (MT) || Live Stats || Live Video ($)
Angelo State comes into the week as the No. 5 team in the Super Region IV rankings and are the highest team in the rankings with two losses. The Lions enter the game as the likely top team with three losses on the season with those coming to Midwestern State, West Florida and Saginaw Valley State. Colorado Mesa needs Texas A&M-Commerce to hand Angelo State their third loss of the season.
 
212
You may hear or have heard the defense chanting "212" during the game or in practices last season and this season. This refers to the motto of the defense and we will try to give you a brief explanation where that comes from.
 
Water boils at 212 degrees and creates steam. Steam is extremely powerful and can power a locomotive which doesn't stop for anything in its path.
 
SERIES HISTORY WITH BLACK HILLS STATE
Colorado Mesa owns a 7-2 all-time mark over the Yellowjackets with a perfect 4-0 record at home. In the matchups at home, the Mavericks have averaged 51 points and have allowed an average of 19 points in those four matchups.
 
The lone two losses in the series have come in Spearfish in 2016 and 2018 but the Mavericks atoned for those losses and picked up their first win on the road since 2014 last season 56-7 in the COVID Snow Bowl.
 
SCOUTING THE YELLOWJACKETS
Black Hills State hired head coach Josh Breske roughly in the same time frame the Mavericks hired coach Tremaine Jackson and both come from the same coaching tree in Lindenwood head coach Jed Stugart. The familiarity between the coaching staffs at Black Hills State and Colorado Mesa is real.
 
Coach Breske has the Yellowjackets headed in the right direction as they will finish this season with their highest win total since 2017 with two games left on the schedule.
 
Black Hills State does it on offense with a two-headed monster at running back with Matthew Collier and Nolan Susel. Collier has rushed for 837 yards and four touchdowns while Susel has churned up 435 yards and three touchdowns. Collier, a San Antonio, Texas native, has five 100-yard rushing games while Susel had three scores in the win over Adams State.
 
The Yellowjackets have a tackling machine in freshman Doodles Quinones. He has three double digit tackle games this year including a 21-tackle effort against Adams State. The 5-6 safety has 87 tackles on the season along with five pass break-ups.
 
THE COACH
Head coach Tremaine Jackson enters his second season at the helm of the Maverick football team. He guided Colorado Mesa to a 2-1 mark during the COVID shortened 2020 season.
 
He was hired in December 2019 just prior to the COVID pandemic and thus has had to wait almost 19 months to compete in his first game that could go towards a championship.
 
Coach Jackson has made several stops along his coaching path that ranges from all levels. Most recently he made stops at Texas State as the defensive line coach and at Abilene Christian as the defensive coordinator.
 
RMAC PRESEASON POLL
Colorado Mesa was picked to finish in fourth place in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference as voted on by the coaches. The Mavericks finished last season's abbreviated schedule with a 2-1 mark with wins over both Chadron State and Black Hills State. Their lone setback came to South Dakota Mines at home in what turned out to be the final game of the season.
 
Colorado School of Mines was selected to win the conference with seven first place votes and 76 points. Mines finished the 2019 season with a 12-1 mark and a perfect 10-0 mark in the RMAC.
 
CSU Pueblo was second in the poll followed by Chadron State to round out the top four.
 
ON THE HORIZON
Colorado Mesa will close out the regular season next Saturday when they travel to Rapid City, S.D. to take on the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers. In last season's COVID matchup, the Hardrockers came away with a 24-9 victory in Grand Junction.