#7/7 Colorado School of Mines (12-0/10-0 RMAC) vs. Texas A&M-Commerce (10-2/7-1 LSC), Saturday, 12 p.m.
Marv Kay Stadium, Golden, Colo.
[Streaming: RMAC Network] [Live Stats] [Mines Media Notes] 
 

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For the first time ever, Mines hosts an NCAA Second Round game as they take on Texas A&M-Commerce in the regional semifinals.

WATCH US
Saturday's game will stream live and for free on the RMAC Network, which is also available on smart TV services like Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire. Miles Dunklin, Justin Adams, and John Simmer will have the call. 

TICKETS AND PARKING
Digital tickets are available through Mines' online ticketing portal. Pricing remains the same as the regular season, but no passes or season tickets are accepted for NCAA play. Mines students will be admitted free courtesy of Student Life. Parking in Lot K (north of the soccer stadium) is available for $10 - a reminder to all fans that Lot K does not open until 10 a.m. Free parking is available anywhere else on campus. 

WEATHER REPORT
Bundle up - while Saturday's forecast is snow-free, highs will only be in the mid-30s with high winds predicted throughout the game. "Feels like" temperatures will only be the lower 20s at game time.

CAPTAINS NAMED FOR 2019
Mines has elected four captains for the 2019 season: senior linebackers Jimmy Bauer and James Kohlschmidt, senior running back Cameron Mayberry, and senior tackle Grant Stewart. Stewart is a returning captain from 2018.

REIGNING, DEFENDING, UNDISPUTED
Mines wrapped up only the second 11-0 regular season in program history (and first since 2004) with a 70-28 win at Chadron State. The Orediggers won consecutive RMAC title for the first time ever, and completed their fifth unbeaten RMAC season ever, joining 2004 (11-0), 1939 (8-0), the war-shortened 1918 season (4-0), and 1914 (5-0-1).

MOVING ON
Last week's win over Sioux Falls advanced Mines to the NCAA Second Round for only the third time in program history (joining 2004 and 2016), and for the first time, Mines will host a second-round game. The Orediggers also made it to 12-0 for the second time ever, joining the 2004 team.

MINES ENTERED POSTSEASON AT #7 IN POLLS
Mines stayed at #7 in both the AFCA and D2football.com rankings this week. The Orediggers have been ranked in every poll this year since debuting at #17 in preseason. Texas A&M-Commerce was #21 in the final regular-season AFCA poll and #20 in the D2football.com poll.

AROUND THE SUPER REGION
Last week's Super Region 4 results and this week's match-ups:

ROUND 1    
[1] Minnesota State (11-0) - Bye    
Texas A&M-Commerce 23, [2] Tarleton St. 16    
[3] Mines 24, Sioux Falls 21    
[4] CSU-Pueblo 17,  Augustana 0    

ROUND 2    
[1] Minnesota State (11-0) vs. [4] CSU-Pueblo (11-1), 12 p.m.    
[3] Mines (12-0) vs. Texas A&M-Commerce (10-2), 12 p.m.    
all times Mountain    

NICE TO MEET YOU
This will be the first time Mines and Texas A&M-Commerce have met, and Mines has not played a Lone Star Conference member since the 2004 NCAA First Round against Midwestern State. Coincidentally, Mines will open the 2020 season at LSC member Angelo State. Texas A&M-Commerce is no stranger to the RMAC though, having matched up with CSU-Pueblo in recent years; the Thunderwolves won their game 24-17 back on Sept. 28 this year one week after playing Mines.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY
Texas A&M-Commerce comes in at 10-2 overall with losses to CSU-Pueblo and Tarleton State in the regular season. The Lions avenged their 35-21 loss to Tarleton from Week 7 with a 23-16 win on the road last week to advance. Dynamic dual-threat quarterback Miklo Smalls has thrown for 2,526 yards and 22 touchdowns and run for 373 yards and two touchdowns. Antonio Leali'ie'e is the feature back with 689 rushing yards and seven touchdowns while the Lions have eight receivers with 100+ yards and at least one touchdown this year, led by Ryan Stokes (553 yards, 4 TD) as Smalls likes to spread it around. Defensively, the Lions allow 20 points and 312 yards per game, and like Mines are good at taking care of the ball (12 giveaways) but not exceptional at generating turnovers (+6 overall). 

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Since the opening of Marv Kay Stadium, Golden has been very friendly to the Orediggers with a remarkable homefield advantage. Mines is 25-3 at home since the first game in 2015.

LET IT SNOW
Marv Kay Stadium has seen its fair share of snow this season, but this week's epic snowstorm will be one Goldenites will talk about for a long time. Golden received 22" of snow - one of the largest November storms on record - and an army of Mines facilities staff, coaches and administrators, and football freshmen went to work on Wednesday to remove it all from the stadium. It's the third time this year that Golden has received snow during a home game week, but by far the highest accumulations seen.

IT'S GETTING LATE
Speaking of Marv Kay Stadium, even though football has been played at the site since 1893, the Mines-Commerce game will be a first in the stadium's history: it will be the latest home game ever played in Golden. Thanksgiving Day games were a longtime tradition until the 1940s (although often played at a neutral venue in Denver, and often against Colorado College), and although Mines has played several postseason games in December over the year, they've never been this deep in the postseason at home.

OREDIGGERS OUTLAST SIOUX FALLS
Scott Marshall's 23-yard field goal with three seconds remaining capped a 14-point comeback as #7 Colorado School of Mines survived Sioux Falls 24-21 last week. Mines trailed 21-7 in the third quarter before John Matocha touchdown passes to Zach Peterson and Garrett Hyles tied it at 21, and Marshall's field goal won it in the closing seconds. Matocha ran for Mines' other score in the second quarter.  Michael Zeman was held to 78 yards and Matocha 71 with a touchdown, but both did just enough to complement Matocha's 265-yard, two-touchdown passing performance. Josh Johnston led all receivers with 113 yards on eight catches. 

MATOCHA A HARLON HILL NOMINEE
Now 11-0 as a starter, quarterback John Matocha has arguably been the nation's top freshman in 2019 as he has led Mines to an unbeaten season, the RMAC championship, and now the NCAA Second Round. Now, he's one of 36 national candidates - and the only freshman nominee - for the Harlon Hill Trophy, given to D-II's top player. A First-Team All-RMAC selection and the RMAC Offensive Freshman of the Year, Matocha has thrown for 2,617 yards and 29 touchdowns with an impressive 73.7 percent completion rate. On the ground, he's run for 604 yards and 11 touchdowns (averaging 4.6 yards per carry, even with sacks taken into account) and he's even caught a touchdown this season.

STEWART MAKES UPSHAW AWARD SHORTLIST
Mines tackle Grant Stewart is one of eight national finalists for the Gene Upshaw Division II Lineman of the Year Award, given to the nation's top senior offensive or defensive lineman. The versatile Stewart has started every game of his career and is the Mines co-career leader in starts (48), playing two seasons at center, one at right tackle, and now 2019 at left tackle. He has three RMAC championship rings (2016, 2018, 2019) is has been captain for two, and in both 2016 and 2018, Mines had NCAA D-II's #1 total offense. Impressively, Mines has produced a 1,000-yard rusher in each of Stewart's four seasons, and the team has produced four of its top five all-time rushing yardage games during Stewart's career.

BRANDON EARNS RMAC COACH OF THE YEAR
Gregg Brandon picked up his second straight RMAC Coach of the Year honor last week after guiding the Orediggers to an undefeated regular season. The Orediggers own one of the nation's best defenses as well as a potent offense, and finished the regular season as one of only three teams nationally to own both a top-10 offense and defense.

MILLENNIUM MEN
Three weeks ago, Zeman became the seventh different Oredigger to reach 1,000 rushing yards in a season. Remarkably, of the nine total 1,000-yard seasons in program history, six have come in the last six years:

Cameron Mayberry, 2018, 1,615 yards        
Cameron Mayberry, 2017, 1,563 yards        
Michael Zeman, 2019, 1,370 yards        
Lloyd Madden, 1939, 1,316 yards        
Sam Seeton, 2016, 1,268 yards        
Sam Seeton, 2015, 1,150 yards         
Tevin Champagne, 2014, 1,084 yards        
Bryan Florendo, 2006, 1,018 yards        
Dan Palmer, 2011, 1,016 yards        

THAT'S TIGHT
John Matocha threw two touchdowns last week. That isn't unusual. What is unusual - for Mines anyway - is that both went to tight ends in Zach Peterson and Garrett Hyles. The two have been key red-zone targets for Matocha this season; Hyles has only four catches this year but three have been for touchdowns, while Peterson has three total receptions with two scores.

IT'S BEEN AWHILE
When Scott Marshall's field goal sailed through the uprights last week, he did something no Oredigger in a decade has done - win a game with his leg. Not since Dalton Lane's 29-yard boot in overtime against Chadron State in 2009 had Mines won a game on a field goal either in a walk-off or closing-seconds situation.

THIIIIIIRD DOWN
Mines has the nation's stingiest defense on third down this year, allowing only a 23.9 percent conversion rate to lead NCAA Division II. The Orediggers have not allowed more than five third-down conversions in a game all season, including an 0-for-13 shutout against Fort Lewis, 2-for-13 at SDSMT, a 2-for-16 performance against Adams State, and a 2-for-13 game at Chadron State in the regular-season finale. 

ROOKIE REVOLUTION
It's been unusual under head coach Gregg Brandon to have true freshmen play as rookies, with typically only one or two standouts per season (guys like Chris Clore, Evan Gill, Luke Jeter, Scott Marshall, and Mason Pierce) not utilizing their red shirt. But this year, four true freshmen - John Matocha (QB), Logan Rayburn (DB), Myles Ruiz (DB), and Zach Heckman (OL) - have appeared in games with Matocha and Heckman earning starts. It's the largest group of freshmen to play during Brandon's time at Mines.

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK
The hard hat is a longtime symbol of Mines students (every freshman receives one when they embark on the M Climb) and engineers everywhere. This season, the Mines bench is featuring a Turnover Hard Hat, which is awarded to and signed by a player generating a takeaway. So far the hard hat has been worn by 12 different players, with Kobe Brewster leading the way with four takeaways, all on interceptions.