WEEKLY REWIND
Colorado Mesa snapped their two game winning streak last weekend on the road as they fell 59-20 to CSU Pueblo in Pueblo, Colo. The loss dropped the Mavericks to 4-5 on the season and 3-4 in the conference.
Offensively, the Mavericks only managed 285 yards of offense which in large part came on the ground as they had moderate success finishing with 136 yards, 15 yards over their season average. Gianni Hurd led the ground attack with 48 yards on 10 carries.
David O'Connell led the Mavericks air attack with four catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown came in the third quarter from eight yards out off the hand of Kia'i Keone.
Kash Bradley and Levi Krebs led the team in tackles on the defensive end. Bradley tied for the game-high with eight tackles and intercepted his third pass of the season while Krebs finished the game with seven tackles from his linebacker positions.
Defensive back JaCari Williams finished the game with five tackles with one of those going for a loss and a career-high five pass break-ups against CSU Pueblo. Williams now has 10 pass break-ups on the year.
THE MATCHUP
The Mavericks and Eagles will meet up for the 33rd time since 1991 on Saturday. Chadron State leads the all-time series 20-12 but the Mavericks have won four straight and seven of the last eight matchups dating back to the 2015 season.
Colorado Mesa won last year's wild matchup 38-37 in overtime. The Mavericks trailed by 21 points at halftime and outscored the Eagles 28-7 in the second half to force overtime. CMU scored on their first possession of overtime and converted their point after try while Chadron State was able to score on their possession but attempted a two-point conversion which was stuffed at the goal line giving the Mavericks the road victory.
Chadron State had a run of wins over Colorado Mesa in the all-time series that spanned from October 9, 2004 all the way until September 26, 2015 with the winning streak reaching 11 games for the Eagles. The winning record went longer than that as Chadron State won 18 of 20 matchups between 1995 and 2015.
Last Five Matchups with Chadron
Nov. 5, 2022: W, 38-37 OT in Chadron
Sept. 25, 2021: W, 24-17 in Grand Jct.
Oct. 10, 2020: W, 10-7 OT in Grand Jct.
Sept. 28, 2019: W, 42-30 in Chadron
Sept. 22, 2018: L, 38-34 in Grand Jct.
KNOW YOUR FOE
Chadron State had a rough start to the season as they began the year with a 1-4 start to the season. They played four potential playoff teams in Quincy, Augustana, Colorado School of Mines and Western Colorado with a win coming against Quincy in the season opener. They followed it up by winning three of the next four games to get to 4-5 on the season.
Head coach Jay Long enters his 12th season at the helm of his alma mater and is the longest tenured coach in the conference. Long has amassed a 58-55 record at Chadron State along with a total career record of 73-70 as he spent three seasons at Black Hills State prior to returning. During his time as a student-athlete at Chadron State he was an All-American center on the football and wrestled at heavyweight for the Eagles where he qualified for the National Championship Tournament. Long is the third person to both coach and play for Chadron State but the first to do so since 1937.
Tommy Thomas is one of the top receivers in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this season. He has 51 catches for 859 yards and nine touchdowns while averaging nearly 100 yards per game this season. He had seven catches for 225 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Fort Lewis.
Linebacker Joey Geil leads the Chadron State defense with 63 tackles and two and a half sacks. He had a season-high 13 tackles in the last game he played in against CSU Pueblo two weeks ago. Hunter O'Connor is still a force to be reckoned with as he has five and a half sacks a little short of the pace he was on last season where he finished with a CSC record 16 sacks.
RED ZONE PLAY
The Mavericks have been among the conference and nation's best when it comes to the redzone on both sides of the ball.
On offense, Colorado Mesa has made 20 trips to the red zone this season and has converted those trips into points on 18 of those possessions including 14 touchdowns. The 90 percent conversion rate is third best in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and 11th best nationally.
Defensively, the Mavericks opponents have made 43 trips to the red zone and has converted on 31 of those opportunities which includes 23 touchdowns. With a 72.1 percent conversion rate, the red zone defense is second best in the conference and 39th best nationally.
SACK ARTISTS
The Colorado Mesa defense continue to be one of the best sacking teams in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference as they have 25 on the season for an average of 2.78 per game. They have 14 players credited with at least a half a sack but no one with more than four on the season. They have also recored a sack in seven of the nine games they played but failed to record a sack against South Dakota Mines and last weekend against CSU Pueblo.
Linebacker Colin Stuhr leads the team in sacks with four sacks with his biggest coming against Adams State that forced a fumble that led to the defensive score by freshman Charlie Smith.
Freshman Kade Street and junior Levi Krebs are the only Mavericks with two sacks in a game. Street has just two and a half sacks on the season with two coming in the game with Fort Lewis while Krebs has two sacks on the season withe both coming in the win over FCS San Diego.
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
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. In that game, the Mavericks will have a chance to exceed last season's win total or even finish with an above .500 record.
