WEEKLY REWIND
Colorado Mesa celebrated their annual homecoming game with a 42-7 win over Adams State last Saturday in front of a season-high 4,238 fans at Stocker Stadium. The win pushed the Mavericks win streak to two games with three games to play on the schedule.

The Mavericks were outstanding on defense as they allowed just 276 yards of offense and had six sacks in the game. The Grizzlies only had 3.5 yards per play and had the ball for a majority of the game as they held the time of possession battle with 36:26-23:34 advantage.

Levi Krebs led the defense with 10 tackles while both Liban Shongolo and Lex Leany each had nine tackles. Six different players got in on sacks in the win with La'Markus Reed leading that charge with a sack and a half on the day.

The offense continued to get the running game going and the two headed monster of Marvin Jones and Myles Newble continue to improve each week. They led the team to a season-high 307 yards on the ground including nine yards per carry. The Mavericks scored four touchdowns on the ground while Jones ripped off his first 100-yard rushing game of his career.

The lone black eye from the win is that the Mavericks committed four turnovers in the game and despite that still were able to win by a 35 point margin.

THE MATCHUP
The Mavericks and ThunderWolves will meet up for the 24th time in the two program's history on Saturday at The ThunderBowl in the Steel City of Pueblo, Colo. CSU Pueblo leads the all-time series 7-15-1 with the Mavericks 2-7-1 all-time on the road in the series. The ThunderWolves have won the past five matchups in the series and 11 of the past 12 meetings.

The Pack won last season's matchup in Grand Junction 33-28 as CSU Pueblo scored the final nine points of the game, all of which came in the fourth quarter. The ThunderWolves threw for 361 yards while the Mavericks had 143 yards on the ground with 64 coming from Keyshawn Ashford.

The Mavericks last win in the series came in 2016 but not without some controversy. Colorado Mesa came away from that game with a 20-19 win at Stocker Stadium. On the final play of the game, CSU Pueblo made it down to the goal line and went for it with little time on the clock and no timeouts. The Mavericks stuffed the ThunderWolves at the goal line according to the officials. Later, video and photos released appeared to show CSU Pueblo reaching the endzone on the play. Nonetheless, Colorado Mesa walked out with the victory.

Last Five Matchups with CSU Pueblo
Oct. 29, 2022: L, 33-28 in Grand Jct.
Oct. 2, 2021: L, 19-13 2OT in Pueblo
Oct. 19, 2019: L, 48-22 in Pueblo
Oct. 13, 2018: L, 36-14 in Grand Jct.
Sept. 30, 2017: L, 30-24 in Pueblo

KNOW YOUR FOE
CSU Pueblo had one of the toughest schedules to start the season off as they defeated Midwestern State 37-8 to open the year followed by three consecutive ranked matchups against now No. 2 Grand Valley State, now No. 9 Western Colorado and now No. 1 Colorado School of Mines all of which were losses. They rebounded with four consecutive wins and will look to make it five straight this weekend against Colorado Mesa.

Head coach Phil Vigil is in his first-year coaching the CSU Pueblo ThunderWolves after spending the last two seasons guiding the Western New Mexico Mustangs in the Lone Star Conference. Mavericks fans should be familiar with Vigil as he quarterbacked the Mavericks from 2005-08 and later coached for the Mavericks. Vigil ranks third all-time at Colorado Mesa in passing yards with 4,583 yards and sixth all-time in passing touchdowns with 25. Vigil also has another former Maverick player on staff with Associate Head Coach and defensive backs coach Mac Alexander who played both football and basketball at Colorado Mesa.

Senior Chance Fuller is having an All-Conference type of season as he leads the Pack offense. He has thrown for over 1,900 yards with 21 touchdowns against just five interceptions. He has thrown for five touchdowns twice this season with one coming against Grand Valley State and the other against Fort Lewis on just ten completions.

The strength of the CSU Pueblo defense is in their secondary. Daniel Bone III leads the team in tackles with 62 while Eli Pittman has two interceptions and five breakups. Keith Mckaney also has five break-ups.

DEFENSIVE SURGE
The defense got a huge shot in the arm last week as they welcomed back Levi Krebs to the linebacking corps. after missing the previous four games with an injury. All Krebs did was lead the team in tackles with 10 against Adams State marking three out of four games he has made 10 tackles this season. The only game he didnt was against South Dakota Mines, where he got hurt, and made two stops.

Freshman Leo Banuelos made his debut on Saturday and made a statement. Banuelos finished the game with two tackles, two quarterback hurries and was credited with blocking the Grizzlies field goal attempt with 9:41 to play in the second quarter.

Safety Liban Shongolo continues to lead the defense with 52 total tackles on the season with one and a half tackles for loss.

CONTINUE THE RUN GAME
Marvin Jones leads the running back room with 251 yards on 38 carries and two touchdowns. He is up to 6.6 yards per carry provides the Mavericks with a quick burst once he hits the hole. He had his first 100-yard rushing game of his career against Adams State last weekend with his yardage steadily increasing over the last three games. He had 52 yards against Mines followed by 77 yards against Fort Lewis and finally exactly 100 yards against Adams State.

Myles Newble is second on the team in rushing at 211 yards on 34 carries and two touchdowns. The Arizona native had 79 yards against Adams State and 77 yards against Adams State last weekend.

Keyshawn Ashford is the veteran of the group and came off of injury against Fort Lewis for his first field time of the season. He has 93 yards on nine carries this season with a touchdown in each game.

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 for the final time this season when they host Chadron State on Saturday November 4 at 1:05pm. Colorado Mesa will honor their seniors prior to the game as they will be playing in their final home game of their career.

Colorado Mesa will be on the road for their final game of the season when they travel to Las Vegas, N.M. for a matchup with New Mexico Highlands.