FIRST AND TEN
Colorado Mesa will host the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets on Saturday at Stocker Stadium. This is their fifth home game of the season and have now hosted teams from five different states in those games.

The Yellow Jackets are coming off a sweep of their rivalry games this season as they defeated Chadron State 21-18 last weekend in Spearfish. BH defeated Western South Dakota rival South Dakota Mines earlier in the season 22-20.

The Mavericks have run their win streak to five games as they defeated the Fort Lewis Skyhawks 49-0 in Durango last weekend. They will now have back-to-back games against the South Dakota schools with Black Hills State coming to town this week.

Next week the Mavericks will embark on their final road trip of the regular season when they make the 630 mile trek to Rapid City and a matchup with South Dakota Mines.

ROUNDUP
Colorado Mesa moved their winning streak to five games following a 49-0 win over the Fort Lewis Skyhawks on their homecoming game at Dennison Memorial Field in Durango. It was the first time since October 19, 2013 that the Mavericks have shutout an opponent and it just so happens that game came against Fort Lewis as well.

For the third straight game, Colorado Mesa topped the 300-yard rushing mark with a 303-yard effort against the Skyhawks. Aiden Taylor led the way with 101 yards rushing while Sean Kidd added a career best 100-yard effort as well. The Mavericks averaged 5.8 yards per run and scored three rushing touchdowns.

The Mavericks continue to give their opponents fits as they only allowed the Skyhawks to gain 146 yards on 60 offensive plays for an average of 2.4 yards per play. They racked up four sacks and George Soppe was credit with a fumble recovery for a touchdown as he intercepted a backwards pass and made a house call.

The special teams unit completed the trifecta in the win over Fort Lewis as they earned a score giving the team a touchdown in all three phases of the game. Eli Keith blocked his second punt of the season and Sean Sharp scooped the ball up in the endzone for the blocked punt touchdown.

THE MATCHUP
The Mavericks and Yellow Jackets are meeting up for the 13th time in the two program's history. While Colorado Mesa holds an all-time edge of eight wins against four losses, Black Hills State has won the last two meetings with one coming in Grand Junction and the other in Spearfish.

Black Hills State is one of three teams that head coach Mile Kochevar has yet to beat. The Mavericks are 5-1 at home against the Yellow Jackets with the lone loss occurring last season in Stocker Stadium. Coach K has also not beaten CSU Pueblo and Western Colorado. 

The Mavericks dropped last season's matchup with the Yellow Jackets 25-23 at Stocker Stadium in an extremely close contest. With one second left on the clock, Black Hills kicked a 50 yard field goal which gave them the win. That came after Henry Katelman kicked a 36-yard field goal with 38 seconds left.

Last Five Matchups with Black Hills
Sept. 23, 2023: L, 25-23 in Grand Jct.
Sept. 24, 2022: L, 31-28 in Spearfish
Nov. 6, 2021: W, 52-9 in Grand Jct.
Oct. 17, 2020: W, 56-7 in Spearfish
Oct. 26, 2019: W, 58-21 in Grand Jct.

KNOW YOUR FOE
Black HIlls State has had a bit of an up and down year. They started off splitting their non-conference matchups by winning at home against Southwest Baptist then falling in a close one against FCS opponent St. Thomas 24-14. Then, the Yellow Jackets went on a streak where they lost to the teams in the top half of the conference (Mines, Western, CSU Pueblo) and beat the ones in the lower half (Fort Lewis, S.D. Mines, and Chadron). 

Black Hills State head coach Josh Breske is in his fifth season at the helm of the Yellow Jackets. Breske has led the Yellow Jackets to a 21-22 record in his four plus seasons at the helm of the program. Breske was an offensive lineman at BH from 2005-09 and was named an NAIA All-American in two of those seasons.

Cameron Goods does a lot of delivering in the Yellow Jacket offense as he leads the team in touchdowns with six on the season. He has 407 yards on 88 carries this season which averages out to 4.6 yards per carry. He doesnt have a 100-yard rushing game this season but went for 98 last week against Chadron State.

The Black Hills State defense has the reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Week in their defensive backfield in redshirt senior Nicc Quinones. The Peoria, Ariz. native is one of the best defensive players in the RMAC as he currently leads the Yellow Jackets in tackles with 56 and is near the top of the leaderboard in interceptions with four. 

RISING TO THE TOP
The Maverick defensive unit has been discussed at length this season but now they have the stats to back it up.

They now have the No. 1 scoring defense in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference allowing just 14.4 points per game. They have allowed just 36 points during the five game winning streak, an average of 6.5 points during that stretch.

The Mavericks now are ranked No. 1 in total defense as they have allowed 242.3 yards per game this season. In five of the seven games this season, they have held their opponents under 300 yards of total offense. Ironically, in their two losses they allowed 372 and 367 yards respectively.

KEEP IMPROVING
The Colorado Mesa offense has stedily improved all season long and may be hitting their stride when it matters most...at the end of the season.

The Mavericks have gone over 400-yards of total offense in each of their last three games. That is do in large part to the vaunted running game that has rushed for more than 300 yards in each of those three games. Also, by having that dominant running attack the Mavericks have been on the plus side of the time of possession battle.

While the yards havent shown up in the box score, the passing game has improved with Liu Aumavae under center. His completion percentage is nearing the 65 percent mark and he has thrown two touchdown passes in four straight games.

PLAYOFFS START NOW
The Colorado Mesa football team starts the playoff push this week. Keep winning and they are in. A loss puts them on the outside looking in. There strength of schedule has dipped over the last three weeks but they do check in at No. 8 in performance indicator, just one spot out of the playoff picture.

The NCAA released their initial official regional rankings with an alphabetical order listing of teams in consideration. Colorado Mesa found themselves on the 10 team list with non-conference foe Central Washington also making it on.

The Mavericks are one of the final three teams in the hunt for the RMAC Championship as they have just one loss and still have a game against one of the others. Both CSU Pueblo and Western Colorado are undefeated in the conference.

MAVS ON THE TUBE
Colorado Mesa and KREX/KGJT TV are continuing their partnership by allowing patrons to view all RMAC and home games this year through the RMAC Network. Viewers will be able to access the video broadcasts through CMUMavericks.com/TV along with WesternSlopeNow.com.

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

RMAC PRESEASON POLL
Colorado Mesa was picked to finish fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this season after finishing with a 6-5 record a season ago. The Mavericks finished in a tie for fourth place with Black Hills State last season with a record of 5-4. CMU started the conference season with a 1-3 record but closed out the season by winning four of their final five games that included a season finale win over New Mexico Highlands. 

2023 National Runner-up Colorado School of Mines was the unanimous selection to win the RMAC again as they garnered seven first-place votes. They were followed by Western Colorado, who qualified for the 2023 NCAA Playoffs, and CSU Puebl0 to round out the top three teams.

COACHING STAFF QUICKIES
Offensive line coach and Offensive Coordinator Trevor Wikre is back where his college football career took place in Grand Junction. Wikre played both defensive and offensive line and holds a place in college football lore after an incident during his playing days. Wikre damaged his pinkie finger at the end of practice during his senior year and had to get it surgically repaired. His options were to get it repaired right and lose his final season of football or amputate and miss one game and play the remaining four. He chose the latter and his story reached People Magazine, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times and ESPN.

Assistant Defensive Line Coach Austin Berk is a former Colorado State Ram player who prepped at Grand Junction High School. His father, Mike Berk, was an All-American offensive lineman for the Mavericks in 1985.

Colorado Mesa added Darrell Funk to the coaching staff during the offseason and he is slated to assist Trevor WIkre with coaching the offensive line. Funk will be making his second appearance on the Maverick sidelines as he coached then Mesa State in the early to mid-90s. Funk has made stops at Colorado State, Ball State, San Diego State, Michigan, Akron, Purdue, Indiana State, Texas-San Antonio, and most recently at BYU.

SIGHTS ON THE SCHEDULE
This will be the second straight season the Mavericks will play a full 11-game schedule and are one of six schools taking advantage of the new zero week in Division II college football. After their season-opening game, Colorado Mesa will have a 'bye' week next week before their home opener with Central Washington. 

The Mavericks will play in five games that feature teams ranked or receiving votes in the preseason AFCA poll and the two Super Region IV finalists from a season ago. They will play three of those five teams at home beginning with the home opener on September 14 against No. 8 Central Washington. Texas A&M-Kingsville (RV), CSU Pueblo (RV), Colorado School of Mines (5), and Western Colorado (15) are all on this season's schedule. 

This season's homecoming game is set for Saturday October 19 as Colorado Mesa will play host to New Mexico Highlands at 1pm from Stocker Stadium. The Mavericks will look to make it 11 in a row against the Cowboys.

OUT ON THE RANGE
The NCAA membership passed a proposal to permit football games to be played a week prior to the Thursday precedeing September 6. The change allows schools the flexibility to schedule and play 11 contests over 12 weeks. It provides the ability to schedule a bye week during the season, benefitting student-athlete health and safety.

New this season all across college football, tablets will be allowed on the sideline to help with game planning and scheme adjustments. In the RMAC, coaching staffs are allowed five tablets to be used with two in the coaching box and three on the sidelines. 

ON THE HORIZON
Colorado Mesa will head back out on the road for a long road trip to Rapid City, S.D. for a matchup with the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers. South Dakota Mines is currently 3-5 on the season and 2-4 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.

Colorado Mesa will return home for the final game of the regular season following the trip to South Dakota. They will take on their rivals from Gunnison, the Western Colorado Mountaineers who are currently undefeated and ranked in the top-10 nationally.