#10/8 Mines vs. #23/NR Colorado Mesa, Saturday, 12 p.m.
Marv Kay Stadium | Streaming: RMAC Network [Live Video] [Live Stats] [Media Notes] [Tickets] 
 

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The Nyikos Cup will be on the line as #10/8 Colorado School of Mines hosts RMAC foe #23/NR Colorado Mesa in a battle of two teams tied atop the RMAC standings early this season.

WATCH US
Every remaining Mines game this season will be seen live online on the RMAC Network at MinesAthletics.com/tv. Archived games are available on demand any time as well.

WEATHER REPORT
A beautiful day for football is forecast for Saturday with mostly clear skies, a high in the low 70s, and only a slight chance of a passing shower early in the game.

FAN PARKING
Lot K parking (next to Stermole Soccer Stadium and accessed off 11th Street) is available to all fans for $10. Handicap parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis at the 12th and Maple Street lot and Lot K. Handicap fans can also be dropped off at the 12th Street (Gate 1) entrance to the stadium. All other campus parking is free. Please obey posted signs if using Golden city parking. For driving directions and a gameday parking map visit Directions.

THE NYIKOS CUP
The alumni associations of Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa established the Nyikos Cup in 2010 in honor of Dr. Michael Nyikos, who was Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Mesa, as well as Vice President of Student Affairs and External Relations at Mines. In February 2002 Dr. Nyikos was appointed to the Mines Board of Trustees, and reappointed in March 2006. He served as Chairman of the Board, and was also a member of the Board of the CSM Foundation until his death in February 2009. Colorado Mesa is the current holder of the cup, having snapped five straight Mines wins last season.

WEEK 2 REWIND
#11/12 Mines turned in another dominating effort on both sides of the ball to rout New Mexico Highlands, 54-14, in week 2. Brody Oliver caught four touchdowns on 164 yards receiving, and Justin Dvorak threw for five on 424 yards passing to lead the offense. Mines' defense came up with several huge early stops as they forced seven 3-and-outs in the game. Drew Stephon had a game-high seven tackles, and Michael Kelso dropped in two sacks. The Orediggers punished Highlands with 11 tackles for loss and four sacks.

IN THE POLLS
Both Mines and Colorado Mesa are nationally ranked heading into Week 3. The Orediggers moved up one spot to #10 in this week's AFCA poll and four spots to #8 in the D2football.com rankings. The Mavericks are #23 in the AFCA poll, up two spots from last week, and unranked by D2football.com.

LEADING THE WAY
Mines' impressive numbers to start the year have them at or near the top of the NCAA Division II statistical rankings. Mines leads the nation in passing offense at 432.5 yards per game and are second in scoring (55.5), third tackles for loss allowed (2.5 per game), eighth in sacks allowed (0.5 per game), and eighth in total offense (554.5). Individual, Justin Dvorak leads NCAA D-II in both passing yards (826) and touchdowns (11), while Brody Oliver leads the nation in receiving touchdowns (5).

DVORAK BREAKS RECORDS
After breaking the Mines passing touchdowns record in week 1, Justin Dvorak surpassed former Harlon Hill Trophy winner Chad Friehauf as Mines' all-time completions leader last week, and has two more milestones in his sights. Dvorak is now 166 yards away from surpassing Friehauf for the Mines passing yards record, and is 292 yards away from being the first Oredigger to pass for 10,000 yards in a career. He now has 775 completions, 9,708 yards, and 92 touchdowns in his career.

WITH HONORS
Mines tight end Brody Oliver captured his first career RMAC Player of the Week honor on Monday thanks to his 164-yard, four-touchdown performance at New Mexico Highlands. Justin Dvorak and Oliver have gone back-to-back as RMAC Offensive Player of the Week to start the season.

OLIVER BREAKING OUT
To say Brody Oliver has had an impressive start to the season would be an understatement. After catching only two career passes heading into the season, Oliver has thrived in the slot receiver role, catching a team-best 15 balls on 20 targets for 266 yards and five touchdowns. After catching six passes for 102 yards and a score against CSU-Pueblo, Oliver broke out at Highlands for nine catches, 164 yards, and four touchdowns - only the fourth time in program history that an Oredigger had caught four or more TDs.

YOUNG CROSSES 2K
Senior wide receiver Ty Young surpassed 2,000 career yards in last week's game at NMHU, and is Mines' active leader in every receiving category with 135 catches, 2,054 yards, and 16 touchdowns. Young has at least four catches and 90+ yards in each of the first two games this season.

PRECIOUS CARGO
Mines' offensive line, which has four returning all-RMAC starters from 2015, has been outstanding this season as expected. The Mines starters have not allowed a sack in two games, and the Orediggers have given up only 15 sacks in 13 games dating back to the start of last season. Already this season, Mines has allowed the third-fewest tackles for loss in NCAA Division II with only five across two games.

RED(DISH) ZONE
Mines has been very good in the red zone this year, converting 8-of-9 chances. But it turned out last week at New Mexico Highlands that getting to the red zone isn't exactly a prerequisite for scoring as six of Mines' eight scoring plays came from outside the opponents' 20. That included rushing touchdowns of 47 and 32 yards by Zac Guy and Cameron Mayberry, and receiving TDs of 59 yards by Logan Woish and 38, 27, and 55 yards by Brody Oliver.

BOTTLED LIGHTNING
25. 35. 28. 59. 31. 16. 9. Don't worry, it isn't a math riddle. That's the length, in seconds, of seven different Mines scoring drives this season that have lasted less than a minute. The Orediggers have been lightning fast on offense, averaging an incredible 1:25 per scoring drive this season (15 drives). That includes seven of less than a minute and only four over two minutes in length.

GET OFF THE FIELD
The Mines defense has been very good over the opening two games, but one thing in particular stands out - they love leaving the field. Mines has generated 11 opponent three-and-outs, stopped five other drives with turnovers, and notched a safety over two games this season. Eight of those drives resulted in negative yardage for opponents.

RIGHT AT HOME
After making the move from linebacker to safety in the offseason, Drew Stephon hasn't missed a beat. He leads the team so far with 13 tackles, and also has an interception this season. Ten of Stephon's 13 tackles are solo stops, a team best.

HE'S THE BROCKMAN
It's no coincidence that former D-I FCS standout Chris Brockman landed at Mines - his younger brother, running back Chad Brockman, is a redshirt junior for the Orediggers. The elder Brockman sat out his senior season at Lafayette due to injury after starting 11 games and earning the Leopards' linebacker MVP honor in 2014 with 77 tackles, 7.0 TFL, and 3.0 sacks, including two sacks against Lehigh in their 150th meeting game at Yankee Stadium. Now, he's making an impact as a graduate student at Mines, leading the team with 2.5 tackles for loss and co-leading (with Michael Kelso) with 2.0 sacks.

BLASTER TRACKER
Mines' friendly mascot, Blaster the Burro, loves to graze on the west end's grass during games. But when Mines finds the end zone, Blaster takes off on a goal line-to-goal line run with his handlers, Mines Blue Key. Last year, the racing burro (yes, that's a real thing) ran the field 32 times for a whopping 6,400 rushing yards. In Week 1, Mines' eight touchdowns yielded 1,600 yards. 

ENGINEERING THE WAY
Mines student-athletes don't major in underwater basket weaving, although most of them would be happy to  develop an autonomous submarine robot that could mass produce the baskets for you. Of the Mines football upperclassmen who have declared a major, here's the breakdown for 2016:

Mechanical Engineering - 30
Petroleum Engineering - 29
Chemical Engineering - 7
Civil Engineering - 5
Engineering & Tech. Management - 5
Chemical & Biochemical Engineering - 4
Metallurgical & Materials Engineering - 4
Electrical Engineering - 3
Computer Science - 2
Geophysical Engineering - 1
Mining Engineering - 1

THE MINES-MESA SERIES
Mesa holds a 29-11 all-time series advantage dating back to 1975. Mines has won six of the last seven with CMU's win last season snapping a six-game Mines winning streak.

SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
Colorado Mesa is 2-0 in RMAC play with wins over Chadron State (47033) and Western State (34-14) this season. The Maverick passing game has emerged as a big threat with quarterback Sean Rubalcaba throwing for 722 yards and three touchdowns, completing 65.3 percent of his passes. Marcus Hines (182 yards, 1 TD) and Virnel Moon (168 yards, 2 TD) have led the receivers. The CMU running game is also dangerous led by David Tann (131 yds, 3 TD). Defensively, Mesa is allowing 23.5 points per game led by Blake Nelson, who has 3.5 sacks and 15 tackles, and Marcus Cross, with 15 tackles. Dustin Rivas has all three of Mesa's interceptions this year.

NEXT TIME
The Orediggers visit Western State in Week 4 before visit Fort Lewis. They return home Oct. 8 against #16/21 Azusa Pacific on Homecoming.