WEEKLY REWIND
Colorado Mesa fell to 2-4 on the season and 1-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference after a 52-0 loss to No. 2 ranked Colorado School of Mines last Saturday at Stocker Stadium.

Despite the tough loss, there were signs of imporvement in the game. The Mavericks ran for 87 yards which is the second best output of the season behind the road win over FCS San Diego in week two. Marvin Jones led the charge with a career-high 52 yards on 13 carries against the Orediggers.

Not that you ever want to punt but sometimes its a necessity. Coloradao Mesa got a season best 43.25 yards per punt and a long of 47 yards off the foot of Ben Sargent on Saturday.

Liban Shongolo and La'Markus Reed led the defense with 13 tackles a piece. Shongolo now has 120 tackles in his career and tied his career-high with the 13 tackles with the Orediggers. Reed continues to shine as he now has back-to-back double digit tackle performances.

THE MATCHUP
The Mavericks and Skyhawks are meeting up for the 49th time in the two program's history on Saturday in Durango. Colorado Mesa leads the all-time series 36-11-1 and own an 18-5-1 mark on the road. They have won seven straight in the series and are 9-1 in the last 10 matchups with the Skyhawks.

The Mavericks won last season's matchup 70-10 at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction. The margin of victory was the largest for the Mavericks in the series and havent lost to Fort Lewis at home since 2014.

In last season's matchup in Grand Junction, the Mavericks had three touchdowns through the air and five touchdowns on the ground in the 70-10 win. The only players that will suit up in this year's game that scored in last year's game are tight end Markell Quinney and Kash Bradley. Quinney caught a 12-yard touchdown pass while Bradley had a 13-yard scoop and score.

Last Five Matchups with Fort Lewis
Oct. 15, 2022: W, 70-10 in Grand Jct.
Oct. 16, 2021: W, 55-3 in Durango
Oct. 12, 2019: W, 17-10 in Grand Jct.
Oct. 6, 2018: W, 31-24 in Durango
Sept. 23, 2017: W, 40-14 in Grand Jct.

KNOW YOUR FOE
There is no hiding that Fort Lewis has struggled since the COVID-19 season and that has continued. They are 0-6 this season with non-conference losses to William Jewell and NAIA receiving votes Arizona Christian. The Skyhawks have lost 34 straight games dating back to the 2019 season. The Mavericks were the first loss in the streak on October 12, 2019, a 17-10 loss at Stocker Stadium.

The Skyhawks are led by second year coach Johnny Cox and is the 16th head coach in program history. Cox, a two-time All-American at Fort Lewis in 1992 and 1993, spent time previously at UNC Pembroke, North Carolina A&T, and North Dakota State along with stops in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars as a quality control coach.

Senior signal caller Braden Wingle is a veteran quarterback in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and would likely rank in the top half of the conference if you were to rank all the quarterbacks. He has thrown for 1,169 yards and six touchdowns while completing 64 percent of his passes. He threw for a season-high 277 yards and two touchdowns while adding a score on the ground in a one-pont loss at Adams State earlier this season.

Defensively, the Skyhawks have yet to gain an interception and have made just three sacks on the season. Despite that, redshirt freshman Jacob Penney leads the defense in tackles with 38. He had a season-high 11 tackles against CSU Pueblo just two weeks ago and has recorded a tackle for loss in three straight games.

THE RUN GAME
The running game has been a sore spot of the offense all season but has shown signs of improvement that began this past weekend. The Mavericks rushed for 87 yards on 28 carries which is the second highest rushing output of the season behind the 126 yards they gained in the win over FCS opponent San Diego.

Redshirt freshman Marvin Jones led the charge against Colorado School of Mines last weekend as he had 52 yards on 13 carries which are both career-highs for the Smoky Hill High School product.

Senior running back Gianni Hurd leads the Mavericks in rushing this season with 139 yards on 30 carries while quarterback Gavin Herberg leads the team in carries with 51 and has 191 yards on the season but loses yardage for sacks due to college football rules.

SCHEDULE STRENGTH
The Mavericks had a tough first half of the schedule as they are just over the halfway mark of the season. The combined winning percentage of the Mavericks first six opponents is .714 which ranks fourth in the country (tied with UNC Pembroke) and second in the RMAC behind Chadron State at .733.

The schedule will certainly ease up in the final five games as the remaining opponents combined winning percentage is .333 with a record of 10-20. That mark is tied for the seventh easiest remaining schedule in all of NCAA Division II.

Taking a quick look at the opponents for the Mavericks. In all of the stats given in this section, only Division II opponents are considered:

Texas A&M-Kingsville - 4-1
San Diego - 1-4
South Dakota Mines - 3-3
Black Hills State - 4-2
Western Colorado - 6-0
Colorado School of Mines - 6-0

MAVS ON THE TUBE
It was recently announced that the final four home games will be broadcast on KREX/KGJT in Grand Junction. It will be on channels 5.1 and 27.1 via antenna and channel 16 for Spectrum users. Ethan Jordan will provide play-by-play with Paxton Ritchey providing the color commentary.

While those games will be broadcast on TV, fans may still also watch the game on the RMAC Network by visiting CMUMavericks.com/TV

ON THE HORIZON
The Mavericks will be back at home next weekend on October 21 for their homecoming game as they take on the Adams State Grizzlies at Stocker Stadium with a 1:05pm kickoff.

Colorado Mesa will be back on the road in two weeks as they will travel to Pueblo for a showdown with CSU Pueblo on October 28. A quick tidbit for that matchup and something that we will dive into that week is the ThunderWolves are coached by former Maverick quarterback Phil Vigil.