THE WEEK IN REVIEW
Colorado Mesa went on the road for the first time during the 2026 season and came away with their first win of the campaign in a 42-23 triumph over the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds in Portales, N.M. 

Eastern New Mexico struck first, as quarterback Clifton Cooper hit Darwin Parker on a 46 yard touchdown pass, though the extra point was missed. Colorado Mesa answered immediately when Liu Aumavae found Trek Keyworth for a 48 yard score, and the Mavericks never trailed again. A field goal briefly put ENMU ahead 9 to 7, but Colorado Mesa closed the first half on a run of three straight touchdowns, including a 28 yard scamper by Jalen Hankins and a 13 yard touchdown catch by Ky Oday, to take a 21 to 9 lead into the break.

The third quarter belonged entirely to the Mavericks. Oday hauled in a 54 yard touchdown, and Bronco Hartson capped a short field drive set up by a La'Markus Reed interception with an 11 yard rushing score, pushing the margin to 35 to 9. Hartson added a second short touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to make it 42 to 9.

Eastern New Mexico scored a pair of touchdowns late when the matchup had already been settled.

Colorado Mesa finished with 206 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns, while Aumavae completed 8 of 13 passes for 160 yards and three touchdowns. Eastern New Mexico actually outgained the Mavericks 533 yards to 430 but was undone by penalties, totaling 97 yards to Colorado Mesa's 45, and by the Mavericks' 40:35 to 19:25 advantage in time of possession. Colorado Mesa's defense also recorded four sacks and forced a turnover on downs on three separate ENMU drives.

THE ROAD TRAVELED
Colorado Mesa made the 1,226 mile round trip bus ride to Portales, N.M. and came away with a win. They will look to do that again this week as they make the 1,260 round trip bus ride to Rapid City, S.D. for a matchup with South Dakota Mines on Saturday. 

The Mavericks will travel nearly 2,500 miles in their first two road trips of the season. In their final three road trips of the season they will total 1,538 miles with their longest round trip being to CSU Pueblo in two weeks.

Colorado Mesa will dip almost 1,400 feet (4,583 to 3,202) when they travel to Rapid City so not a huge drop in elevation but the air will be thicker nonetheless.

KNOW YOUR FOE
South Dakota Mines is off to their best since the 2021 season when they also started 2-0 after defeating MIssouri S&T and Mayville State. This year they opened the season by knocking off Division I FCS opponent Drake and then backed it up with a win over Southwest Baptist last weekend in their home opener at O'Harra Stadium. 

Head coach Charlie Flohr is now in his seventh season in charge of the Hardrockers after coming over from perennial power Northwest Missouri State. He is 31-30 in those seven seasons with his best season coming in 2022 when South Dakota Mines finished 7-4 that season.

As you will read throughout the notes, Dawson Dunbar will be a problem for Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opponents starting with Colorado Mesa on Saturday. The Chadron, Neb. native has rushed for 258 yards and four touchdowns in the Hardrockers two games this season. He went for 120 rushing yards and two touchdowns with another 93 yards and a score receiving in the win over FCS Drake in the opener.

The Hardrockers have generally been sound on defense since Coach Flohr arrived. Charlie Johnson is the leader of this season's defense. He has doubled up his next teammate in total tackles this season with 24and has had an interception in each of the first two contests this season including the game clincher against Drake. 

South Dakota Mines will head out on the road next week for one of their longer trips of the season when they travel to Alamosa for a bout with winless Adams State.

Last Five Matchups
Nov. 8, 2025 Grand Junction, Colo. W, 38-12
Nov. 9, 2024 Rapid City, S.D. L, 17-14
Sept. 16, 2023 Rapid City, S.D. W, 38-30
Sept. 17, 2022 Grand Junction, Colo. L, 31-17
Nov. 13, 2021 Rapid City, S.D. W, 13-10

KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Dawson Dunbar is the guy CMU has to account for. South Dakota Mines' do-it-all back has been the best player on the field through two weeks with 120 rushing yards and 2 TDs plus a 58-yard touchdown catch against Drake, then 138 more rushing yards and two more scores against Southwest Baptist. He's averaging over seven yards a carry and beating people through the air too. How will Colorado Mesa's front-seven keep Dunbar in check and contain him?

2. Turnovers were the swing factor in both of Colorado Mesa's games, and South Dakota Mines' defense has been opportunistic. Mesa's two turnovers were the difference in the Minnesota State loss. Meanwhile, Hardrocker linebacker Charlie Johnson has an interception in each of his team's first two games, including the game-sealing pick against Drake. If CMU's quarterbacks (Liu Aumavae/Cole Hansen split time last weekend at Eastern New Mexico) put the ball on the ground or in the air carelessly, the Hardrocker's defense has shown it'll make you pay.

3. Colorado Mesa's offense has actually been more productive through the air than expected. Against Eastern New Mexico, Mesa was outgained 553-412 yet still put up 42 points by capitalizing on short fields and finishing drives with Aumavae and Ky Oday Jr. connecting for a long touchdown, and Bronco Hartson chipped in on the ground. Efficiency over volume has been the formula; they'll need that again against a Hardrocker defense that just held two different offenses in check for stretches. The Mavericks controlled the clock in both matchups thus far, look for them to continue that trend on Saturday.

4. Special teams/hidden yardage could matter. The Hardrockers got a blocked-field-goal return for a touchdown against Southwest Baptist. That kind of game-changing special teams play has already shown up twice this young season for the Hardrockers. The return game has proven to be deadly for the Mavericks in prior years but hasnt really had the opportunity to get going on the young season. 

5. Weather delays have been a theme for both teams already this year (rain in Portales for Mesa, lightning in Rapid City for SDM) so neither should be rattled if Saturday's game gets interrupted. Saturday's weather is Rapid City is calling for mostly sunny skies with a high near 74 degrees and light winds. 

6. This is Colorado Mesa's first true road atmosphere test of the year at altitude/distance, and it's South Dakota Mines' home conference opener, where they'll be riding real momentum from their best start in five years. The Mavericks historically have not traveled well to South Dakota, will this year be the breakthrough?

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Fifth-year's Liu Aumavae and Cole Hansen split time behind center against Eastern New Mexico. Both quarterbacks did a good job and have done a good job spreading the ball around to several different pass catchers. The Mavericks had 11 players targeted for passes with seven grabbing catches in the win over the Greyhounds. Trek Keyworth led the way with five catches for 93 yards and a touchdown with Ky Oday having his best game as a Mav with three catches for 69 yards and two touchdowns. 

For the season, 13 players have targets with 10 of those having at least one catch on the season. Keyworth leads the team in receptions with 10 while Bryson Brown is behind him with eight catches. 

Aumavae is slated to start again this weekend but expect Hansen to get a handful of series against the Hardrockers. Keyworth and Brown will continue to start on the outside while Alex Turpin and Colton Mills-Younger have started the first two games of the season as the Mavericks have used double tight formations to begin the game. 

THE HOG MOLLIES UP FRONT
Much was made before the season started that the entire offensive line was making a return this year for Colorado Mesa. That is a major contributor to the success the offense has had early in the season with the continuity the group has experienced. 

Cooper Mumford, Calem Grimble, Max Kibbee, Kaden Butts and Zach Dibella have started both games this season and most of the group have been starters for either three or four seasons. Mumford and Grimble have played and started together for over 30 games in their four seasons. 

Through two games this season, the crew has only allowed just one sack and has helped the running backs average four yards a carry as a unit. The Mavericks also have a vaunted passing attack that has gone for 420 yards and four touchdowns which puts them at No. 77 nationally in passing yards. 

Aside from the starting five across the offensive line, four other lineman have picked up some experience. Caprice Coffey, DJ Elchlinger, Aaron Hutson and JayDee Kahawai have all seen action on the offensive line.

BEND BUT DONT BREAK
In the first two weeks of the season, the Colorado Mesa defense has been a bend but dont break defense. They have given up chunk plays but once opponents reach the red zone they have beared down and made stops on third and fourth down. 

The Mavericks allowed 425 yards and 533 yards of total offense in the first two games. Despite the high yardage numbers they have forced three punts, three turnovers on downs, a missed field goal, and an interception, while also notching four sacks in the win over Eastern New Mexico.

Colorado Mesa should get the services of George Soppe back in the coming weeks. The Lakewood, Colo. native led the team in tackles last season with 95 and was also able to bat away four passes. He has missed the early portion of the schedule due to an injury. 

Look for the Mavericks to continue to improve this week and take a big step with a tough stretch of games on the horizon.

WILLIAMS GOES WILD
Senior outside linebacker Noah Williams had a breakout game against Eastern New Mexico and wound up earning an honorable mention nod for RMAC Defensive Player of the Week for having nine tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks in the Mavericks win over the Greyhounds.

The sack was his first since the Chadron State game last season on September 27, 2025. 

The Broomfield native is scheduled to start at outside linebacker again this week and will need to help provide a good pass rush in obvious passing downs. 

Williams has now played 24 games and has recorded 70 tackles, four and a half sacks and three forced fumbles in his career.

PRESEASON POLLS & ALL-RMAC
Colorado Mesa was picked to finish fifth in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll after finishing in a tie for fourth-place during the 2025 season. The Mavericks finished 6-5 last season and 5-4 in the conference, tied with Colorado School of Mines whom they defeated on October 24. 

Colorado Mesa earned a total of 52 votes that came with a second place vote and a third place vote as voted on by the league's 10 sponsoring schools.

CSU Pueblo was picked to repeat as the RMAC Champion with 80 points including eight first place votes and one second place vote. Western Colorado was picked second with 69 total points with one first place votes, five second place votes and two third place votes. Colorado School of Mines was picked third with 62 points on two second place votes and four third place votes.

2025 NCAA Playoff team Chadron State was picked fourth with 60 points on one first place vote, one second place vote, and three third place votes. 

The Mavericks had four players named to the Preseason All-RMAC team. Three of the four selections came on the offensive side of the ball with Alex Turpin earning a spot at tight end and seniors Calem Grimble and Cooper Mumford earning spots across the offensive line. Turpin played in all 11 games in 2025 and caught 22 passes for 180 yards and four touchdowns while Grimble and Mumford played in and started all 11 games on the left side of the offensive line.

Senior defensive back Gibson Leafgreen was named to the Preseason All-RMAC Team on the defensive side of the ball. In 2025, he played in 11 games and finished with 56 total tackles, four passes defended and two interceptions. 

EYES ON THE SCHEDULE
• Season opener at home on a Thursday night Colorado Mesa will host NSIC power Minnesota State on Thursday August 27 at 6:00 PM to open the season. It will be the first meeting between the two schools and will be the first time the Mavericks have opened the season on a Thursday at home since the 2021 season when they defeated William Jewell 40-3.

• Back-to-back road trips to open conference play The following two weeks the Mavericks will have their longest two game road trip of the season — first at Eastern New Mexico on September 5, then at South Dakota Mines to open RMAC play on September 12.

• Gauntlet of 2025 playoff teams The Mavericks will take on three straight 2025 NCAA Playoff teams — Western Colorado (home, Sept. 19), CSU Pueblo (road, Sept. 26), and then Chadron State (home, Oct. 3). That's a brutal three-week stretch right in the heart of the schedule.

• Six home games The schedule features six home games and five road games for the upcoming season, with three of the final five games at home and the two final road games being the shortest trips of the season. 

• Halloween Matinee A Halloween afternoon kickoff will feature the Mavericks taking on New Mexico Highlands at Stocker Stadium on Saturday October 31, with many different spooky promotions expected and the possibility of a special surprise.

• Bye week placement The bye falls on October 10, right after that brutal playoff-team gauntlet — a fortunate breather before the back half of the conference schedule. The entire Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference will observe a bye during that week with practice and meeting times varying throughout the week.

• Beyond 2026 Colorado Mesa and West Texas A&M announced a four-year football schedule agreement beginning in 2028, with games scheduled for August 24, 2028 (at Canyon, TX), August 23, 2029 (at Grand Junction), August 29, 2030 (at Canyon), and August 28, 2031 (at Grand Junction). Coach Kochevar has a personal connection there — he served as West Texas A&M's defensive coordinator from 2016–18. 

WHAT'S NEW THIS YEAR 
• Coach to player communication
Beginning this year in Division II, coach to player communication is legal and will be available in all games the Mavericks play in. The technology uses encrypted radio and in-helmet speakers that allow coaches to communicate to players on the field. The individuals will be allowed open communication until there are 15 seconds left on the play clock each play.

Colorado Mesa utilizes CoachComm communications systems with the coach's communications and has their solution for the Coach to Player system.

• Tailgate Time
Colorado Mesa will introduce premium tailgating this year with different level options. The premium package includes a 10x20 space that includes tent, tables, chairs, bottled water, two coolers and 40lbs. of ice while the select package comes with a 10x10 space that includes tent, tables, chairs, bottled water, cooler and 20lbs. of ice. The final option is the traditional tailgate where you get one reserved parking spot used to tailgate at your own will.

All of this is brought to us by our friends at FCI Constructors.

• Five-for-5
On August 5, the NCAA approved a new age-based or clock eligibility model that allows student-athletes a streamlined five-year period to compete, starting upon full-time enrollment or after turning 19. 

This new rule replaces complex redshirt tracking and waivers and takes full effect for incoming cohorts starting in the fall of 2027. This rule also eliminates most traditional extension waivers outside of the major exceptions of military service, religious missions or pregnancy.