Colorado School of Mines at Black Hills State, Saturday, 1 p.m.
Lyle Hare Stadium, Spearfish, S.D.
[Streaming: RMAC Network] [Live Stats] [Mines Media Notes]
 

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Coming off a 49-7 win over Adams State in which it dominated every phase of the game, Mines looks to get to 2-0 as it visits Black Hills State in Week 2.

WATCH US
Every Mines game this season will be seen live and for free on the RMAC Network at minesathletics.com/tv. Fans can also watch on their smart TV by searching "RMAC" in the app store of their Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire device.

TICKETS
Game day tickets at BHSU's Lyle Hare Stadium are $15 for reserved seats, $12 for adult general admission, and $8 for senior and youth tickets.

WEATHER REPORT
Early weather forecasts for Spearfish call for mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid-80s.

BY THE NUMBERS
74 - plays run by Mines in only three quarters of play vs. Adams State. Mines' seven scoring drives averaged just 2:36, including three of 1:30 or less 
53.5 - average points per game scored by Mines in six all-time meetings against Black Hills State
46 - minutes of football played by Mines last week in a lightning-shortened win over Adams State
5 - touchdowns thrown last week by Isaac Harker, the most ever by a quarterback making his Mines debut
5 - touchdown receptions for Brody Oliver vs. Adams State last week, tying both the Mines and RMAC single-game records

THE MINES-BLACK HILLS STATE STATE SERIES
The Orediggers are 6-0 against Black Hills State ... The two first met in 1962, but didn't play again until 2012 and have met each year since BHSU joined the RMAC for the 2014 season ... Mines has never scored fewer than 41 points against the Yellow Jackets ... Mines' last trip to Spearfish was an 83-28 win in 2016 that sealed a share of the RMAC title.

MINES EARNS NATIONAL LOOKS
Mines continued to receive votes in this week's AFCA Top 25 poll. Mines. The Orediggers had also received votes in the AFCA preseason coaches' poll, and appeared in the top 25 of two magazine rankings earlier in the summer with a #17 showing in Lindy's and #25 in Street & Smith's.

BRODY'S BIG DAY
Brody Oliver's record-setting day against Adams State included 10 catches on 14 targets, catching five touchdowns and drawing a pass interference call. All 10 of his catches resulted in either a score or a first down. Oliver tied or broke five different single-game records: his four TDs in the first quarter matched the NCAA Division II mark for TD catches in a quarter, and his five overall tied the Mines and RMAC single-game records. He also broke Marv Kay Stadium records for receiving yards (198) and touchdowns. Oliver was the only player in the nation with five touchdowns (of any type) last weekend. 

OLIVER EARNS RMAC, NFFCC HONORS
For his performance against Adams State, Brody Oliver picked up two player of the week awards: the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week, and the National Football Foundation Colorado Chapter's state player of the week. It was his second career RMAC and first career NFFCC honor.

HARKER HAS UNIQUE DEBUT
Isaac Harker, an offseason graduate transfer from Indiana State, proved up to the hype in his first start as an Oredigger with an outstanding game. Harker was 22-of-34 for 317 yards and five touchdowns in only three quarters of play, and he is the only quarterback in Mines history to throw five touchdowns in his blue and silver debut. And the last Oredigger quarterback to throw for 300+ yards in his first Mines start? Justin Dvorak, who threw for 356 yards and one touchdown in his debut against Colorado Mesa in 2013. 

LIGHTNING QUICK
For the third straight year, Mines had its season opener disrupted by lightning, this time causing the game with Adams State to be called off with 13:26 remaining in the fourth quarter and Mines handily winning 49-7. But when the game was on, the Mines offense was doing its best lightning impersonation, running 74 plays in three quarters and averaging a tidy 2:36 per scoring drive. Mines had three scoring drives of 1:30 or less just in the first quarter, including a five-play, 75-yard, 1:23 opening drive, a four-play, 66-yard, 1:30 span, and three-play, 73-yard, 1:23 drive.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
With last week's win, Mines ran its home winning streak to 10 games. The Orediggers have not lost at Marv Kay Stadium since week 3 of the 2016 season, and are 15-2 overall since the facility opened in 2015.

MAYBERRY CROSSES CENTURY MARK AGAIN
Cameron Mayberry had a relatively quiet day (by his standards, anyway) against Adams State, racking up 140 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. That continued two streaks: five straight 100+ yard games, and 10 consecutive games scoring a touchdown. Mayberry's performance was his ninth 100+ yard day out of his last 11 games.

SHUT-DOWN SECONDARY
One of the big storylines heading into week 1 was how Mines' new-look secondary would fare against an Adams State passing attack that returned all of its big weapons after ranking #1 in NCAA Division II last year at 353 yards per game. The verdict? Pretty darn good. Mines forced ASU quarterback Nick Rooney into a 17-for-41 day for only 107 yards through three quarters, and limited all-American Chad Hovasse (87 catches for 1,201 yards in 2017) to six catches for 60 yards and a score and all-RMAC receiver Marquese Surrell (68 catches for 954 yards last year) to only 11 yards on three catches. Graduate transfer corner Anthony Makransky was a spark with two breakups and five tackles working against Hovasse, and safety Geoff Keating had a team-high seven stops with an interception. Kobe Brewster, Miguel Rosendo, and Logan Braden all had pass break-ups and Brewster added a red-zone interception as well.

O-LINE WINS TRENCH BATTLE
Mines' offensive line owned the trenches against Adams State, keeping Isaac Harker sack-free and helping Mines average a very healthy 6.8 yards per play. The Oredigger line also produced a 4.7-yard run average (184 yards overall). That was all with only two starters returning at their position (LT Riley Miller and LG Jason van de Graaf) and first-time but experienced starters at center (Cody Ullestad), right guard (Joey Roselli), and right tackle (Grant Stewart); Stewart was all-RMAC a year ago at center but was taking his first snaps at tackle last week.

THIRD-DOWN SUCCESS
Against Adams State, Mines' defense came up big when it needed to, holding the Grizzlies to just 2-of-15 (13.3%) on third-down conversion opportunities. The last time a Mines defense did that in a game was in the 2015 season, holding Western New Mexico to the same percentage. Among Mines' 13 third-down stops: a sack and a pick from Geoff Keating, a sack and a batted pass by Brockton Sterling, an Anthony Makransky pass break-up, and a no-gain stop by James Kohlschmidt and Kobe Brewster.

LAST YEAR VS. BLACK HILLS
Last year's season finale saw Mines pull out a 41-33 win at home over the Yellow Jackets. Mines produced four interceptions, including Drew Stephon's 31-yard pick-six, to win despite being outgained 577 to 402 yards by BHSU. Cody Limmer threw for three touchdowns and 214 yards while Ben Bottlinger ran for a 12-yard score; Cameron Mayberry rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown as well. Mines never trailed after making it 14-6, but BHSU drew as close as two points (28-26) in the third quarter and again (35-33) midway through the fourth before Bottlinger's touchdown run with 2:33 left sealed it.

LAST WEEK FOR BLACK HILLS STATE
Black Hills State visited Chadron State in week 1 and took a 45-8 loss as CSC opened their new stadium under the lights. Ryan Hommel threw for 198 yards and Payton Gilmore ran for 59 yards with a score, but BHSU couldn't stop Chadron's Kevin Coy, Jr. who ran for three touchdowns as CSC racked up 284 yards rushing in all. Black Hills' defensive highlight was forcing a turnover on downs and immediately converting a safety in the third quarter; Josh Gurnaby made 13 tackles.

OREDIGGERS PICKED THIRD BY RMAC COACHES
The RMAC preseason poll released on July 30 had Mines third behind CSU-Pueblo and Colorado Mesa, despite the Orediggers picking up two first-place votes and 84 points overall. Adams State was ninth in the poll. 

MAYBERRY, OLIVER RACK UP PRESEASON AWARDS
Running back Cameron Mayberry and receiver Brody Oliver picked up numerous preseason all-America nods this summer, the latest coming from D2football.com, which put Mayberry on its first team and Oliver on its second team. Mayberry was also a Lindy's Preseason First-Team All-American; the pair both picked up Preseason All-RMAC honors along with offensive lineman Grant Stewart, as well.

LOOKING AHEAD
Mines will return home to host CSU-Pueblo on Sept. 15 starting at noon.