FIRST AND TEN
Colorado Mesa will travel 630 miles to take on the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers at O'Harra Stadium in Rapid City, S.D. This is the final regular season toad trip for the Mavericks and also their longest in conference. 

The Mavericks are coming off a win at home against Black Hills State 23-13 which kept them in the hunt for a share of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title. In the game, Colorado Mesa found a way to score on offense and defense.

The Hardrockers enter the week coming off a win in a rivalry game against Chadron State 24-17 in the battle for the Eagle-Rock Trophy.

The Mavericks were able to secure a safety against Black Hills State which was their first since October 23, 2021 when they got one against Colorado School of Mines.

ROUNDUP
Colorado Mesa ran their win streak to six games in a row after a hard fought 23-13 win over the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets last Saturday at Stocker Stadium. After entering half time with a 7-0 lead the Mavericks outscored Black Hills State 16-13 in the second half to gain control for the win. 

The Mavericks churned up 139 yards rushing on one of the better rush defenses in the RMAC. Brandon Belgrave was the bell cow back and finished with a season-high 21 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown. Receivers Trevin Edwards and Noah Greer combined for four carries and 41 yards. 

Quarterback Liu Aumavae was 18-for-28 passing for 117 yards and had his fifth-straight game with two touchdown passes. The redshirt sophomore targeted nine different receivers in the game but completed six passes to Sam Horneck who finished with 38 yards and a touchdown.

The Maverick did what they are accustomed to and stiffled the Black Hills State offense as they limited the Yellow Jackets to 173 yards of offense with just 105 yards of that coming through the air.

THE MATCHUP
The Mavericks and Hardrockers will meet up for the ninth time in the two program's history on Saturday. Colorado Mesa holds a 6-2 advantage in the series and have never lost in Rapid City going 4-0. 

Colorado Mesa was able to come away with a win in Rapid City last season 38-30. Jason Thome had his show out party in the game as he finished with three interceptions while Gavin Herberg had two rushing touchdowns in the win. Kash Bradley had a 100-yard kickoff return for a score which helped him earn RMAC Special Teams Player of the Week.

This is the ultimate trap game for the Mavericks as they could be looking ahead to the showdown with Western Colorado next week. They shouldnt look ahead as the Mavericks have not fared well in the state of South Dakota. Aside from the first game in the series in 2017, each of the last three matchups in Rapid City have been decided by one possession.

Last Five Matchups with South Dakota Mines
Sept. 16, 2023: W, 38-30 in Rapid City
Sept. 17, 2022: L, 31-17 in Grand Jct.
Nov. 13, 2021: W, 13-10 in Rapid City
Oct. 24, 2020: L, 24-9 in Grand Jct.
Sept. 7, 2019: W, 37-33 in Rapid City

KNOW YOUR FOE
South Dakota Mines has had an up and down season as they lost their first two games of the season before winning three in a row against Upper Iowa, New Mexico Highlands, and Fort Lewis. They then dropped three games in a row to rival Black Hills State, No. 12 Mines, and No. 8 Western Colorado. They do enter the week coming off a win in the Battle for the Eagle-Rock Trophy against Chadron State 24-17.

The Hardrockers are coached by Charlie Flohr who is 24-22 in his fifth season in Rapid City. Flohr spent a majority of his coaching career at Northwest Missouri State on the offensive side of the ball including seven seasons as the offensive coordinator. He is the 37th head coach in the program's deep history.

Jake Martinelli is the signal caller for the Hardrockers and there is no hiding he wants to put the ball in the air. The redshirt senior has two five touchdown passing games including one where he was 39-for-61 for 443 yards and five scores through the air and rushed for 62 yards on the ground in an overtime loss to Michigan Tech.

The Hardrockers have a solid defense as they rank third in the RMAC in rush defense. Hunter Newsom leads South Dakota Mines with 60 tackles and 10 tackles for loss. Maybe the most dynamic defender they have is Isaac Engle. The sophomore from Highlands Ranch has five and a half sacks, four pass break-ups, two forced fumbles and two blocked kicks. He had two sacks and two forced fumbles last week.

STUHR CRAZY
For the second time this season, redshirt junior Colin Stuhr was named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Week for his play against Black Hills State. Stuhr finished with a season-high 10 tackles, four and a half tackles for loss, three and a half sacks, and a forced fumble. It was also his sack in the fourth quarter that forced an intentional grounding and a safety for the Yellow Jackets in the win.

The Littleton, Colo. native becomes the first player in the RMAC to win Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. He is now second in the conference in sacks  and sacks per game. His 0.89 sacks per game ranks No. 9 nationally in the category.

For the season, Stuhr has 46 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, eight sacks, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles.

BALL CONTROL OFFENSE
The Colorado Mesa offense has been centered around ball control and shortening the game and they have done well at that thus far. 

It seems pretty simple but in the Mavericks seven victories this season, they have won the time of possession battle. In their two losses, they have lost the time of possession battle. These two numbers go hand in hand but in five of the seven wins, they have run more plays than their opponent. The one anomaly was this past weekend where Black Hills State ran 71 plays to the Mavericks 58. 

All that means is that the Maverick defense is on the field less and rested for when opposing offenses come on the field. 

PLAYOFFS START NOW
In a topic that we will discuss until the end of the regular season, Colorado Mesa went 1-0 in their first playoff test with a home win over Black Hills State. Once again, if the Mavericks win out they are all but assured a spot in the NCAA Super Region IV playoffs. 

The NCAA released their first set of actual rankings this week and Colorado Mesa checked in at No. 9 in those rankings. The Mavericks have the ninth best strength of schedule and performance indicator in the region. 

Some big dominos are still to fall as Colorado School of Mines and CSU Pueblo play each other this week as well as Augustana and Sioux Falls are still to play. Western Oregon has Central Washington and Angelo State still to play.
 

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. 

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.

ON THE HORIZON
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 lost last week to CSU Pueblo for the first time this season. They come into this week ranked No. 11 in the AFCA National Poll.

The Mavericks will await the word from the NCAA as to whether or not they make the field of 28 teams for the NCAA National Tournament. The selection show is scheduled for Sunday November 17 on NCAA.com.