#11/8 Colorado School of Mines (8-2, 8-0 RMAC) vs. Fort Lewis (0-9, 0-8 RMAC) // Saturday, Nov. 12 // Noon
Alumni Field at Marv Kay Stadium, Golden, Colo.
[TV: KWGN] [Stream: RMAC Network] [Live Stats] [Tickets] 

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Looking to finish only the second 10-0 RMAC season in program history, #11/8 Colorado School of Mines hosts Fort Lewis in the regular-season finale at Marv Kay Stadium.

LIVE COVERAGE
Saturday's game will be televised live on KWGN Colorado's Own Channel 2 in the Denver metro, and stream for free on the RMAC Network. 

FAN INFORMATION
For this week's game, please note the following important pieces of information:

- Gates and the tailgating lot open at 10 a.m.
- Parking in Lot K (next to Stermole Soccer Stadium) costs $10 with solar-canopy-covered parking now available. Tailgating is permitted in Lot K only. Fans are encouraged to park for free in the parking garage at 1400 Maple Street, located two blocks south of Marv Kay Stadium. Visit the Mines Parking page for more information.
- Over the summer, the City of Golden changed its residential neighborhood parking to require a permit seven days a week. Fans can not park in the neighborhood surrounding the stadium. Fans can utilize paid City of Golden parking downtown near Washington Street. 
- Tickets are available at the gate (cash or credit) or online at minesathletics.com/tickets. Reserved seats have sold out for Homecoming Weekend. Fans are encouraged to utilize print-at-home or digital ticket options to skip waiting in line at the game. Kids under 12 are free, but must visit the ticket window to get tickets. 
- Mines students, faculty, and staff are admitted free with their BlasterCard.
- The New Terrain Beer Garden will be open in the west end zone for all fans 21 and over. 

WEATHER REPORT
Saturday is forecast to be seasonably chilly at 46 degrees but with abundant sunshine and light winds.

LEADING THE WAY
The Mines team has elected four captains for 2022: quarterback John Matocha and running Michael Zeman lead the Orediggers on offense while linebacker Mack Minnehan and cornerback Mason Pierce are the defensive leaders.

A NEW ERA
This season marks a new era for Mines Football under head coach Brandon Moore, named the successor to Gregg Brandon last winter after the former Oredigger boss announced his retirement. Moore is only the seventh head coach of the program since World War II, and since 2000, the Orediggers have known only three coaches - Bob Stitt (2000-14), Gregg Brandon (2015-21), and now Moore. Before being elevated to the head spot, Moore had been on staff at Mines since 2016, including as defensive coordinator since 2018. Moore kept the entire coaching staff from 2021 intact under him, including offensive coordinator Pete Sterbick and special teams coordinator Clement Grinstead, with defensive line coach Tripp Thomas promoted to defensive coordinator. Moore picked up his first career win in Week 3 at Adams State in the Orediggers' 84-10 victory and is now 8-2.

SENIOR DAY
Mines will honor the winningest senior class in program history prior to this week's game, with a dozen Orediggers and their families recognized: Matt Armendariz, Josh Johnston, Mason Karp, Robert Miller, Mack Minnehan, Mason Pierce, Cameron Reller, Tristan Smith, Roberto Valenzuela, Jacob Wienecke, and Michael Zeman. Since 2018 the class has put together 42 victories and they are the only senior class in program history with four RMAC rings; they also expect to be the first four-time NCAA qualifiers after making the national semifinals a year ago. 

IN THE POLLS
Mines inched up a spot in both national polls this week, moving to #11 in the AFCA coaches' poll and #8 in the D2football.com ranking. After starting out in the top five of both polls in preseason, the Orediggers have retained the pollsters' respect with both of their losses coming to now-#1/1 Grand Valley State and #2/2 Angelo State by a combined six points. The Orediggers have been ranked in 32 consecutive polls dating back to Week 3 of the 2018 season. 

On Monday, Mines appeared at #2 in the final public edition of the NCAA Super Region 4 rankings, holding steady from a week prior. The top seven teams in the ranking make the NCAA Championship tournament. Angelo State (9-0) tops the SR4 rankings, while NSIC squads Minnesota State, Bemidji State, Winona State, and Wayne State at 8-2, and Sioux Falls at 7-3, round out the top seven.

MINES CAPTURES RMAC TITLE 
This week will mark a coronation for the Orediggers having already wrapped up the outright RMAC championship with their win last week at New Mexico Highlands, the fourth in a row for the program. The Orediggers won the crown either outright or shared in 2018, 2019, and 2021 (no champion was awarded in 2020 due to the pandemic), and Mines has won five of the last six dating back to 2016.

QUAD SQUAD
By clinching its fourth consecutive RMAC title, Mines Football joins an elite group of programs to have earned four straight rings: CSU Pueblo (2011-14), Colorado Mesa (1985-88), Western Colorado (1973-79 and 1963-66), and Utah (1928-33). In Mines Athletics history, football becomes the fifth program to four-peat joining men's soccer (six in a row from 2017 to present), women's soccer (2013-16), men's swimming (1981-84), and women's volleyball (2012-15).

RUNNING THE TABLE
This week, Mines has a chance to do a very rare thing - complete a perfect conference schedule. Excluding shortened seasons around the two World Wars, Mines has ran the table in the RMAC only five times, and just twice with nine or more members in the league:

Mines' Unbeaten RMAC Seasons        
2019  -  10-0        
2004  -  8-0        
1951  -  4-0        
1939  -  4-0        
1914  -  5-0-1        

NOTING THE SERIES
Mines and Fort Lewis are meeting for the 60th time since 1963 ... The two have met every season since the Skyhawks began football in 1963, save for the 2020 season when Mines didn't play ... The all-time series is close, with Mines owning a 32-27 lead ... The Orediggers have won 14 straight dating back to 2007 ... Mines has scored 40+ points in each game of the series dating back to 2012 ... The Orediggers are 15-13 against Fort Lewis in Golden ... Mines has back-to-back shutouts over the Skyhawks (42-0 in 2019 and 76-0 in 2021).

LAST TIME WE MET
Mines blanked Fort Lewis 76-0 last year in Durango, executing every phase of the game led by three turnovers and a defense that held FLC to only 29 yards of offense. Beau Collins had a pick-six and Logan Brayden and Preston Yates had takeaways. Offensively, despite playing just a half, John Matocha threw for three touchdowns and Michael Zeman ran for three, with Evan Foster tossing two scores in relief. 

SCOUTING THE SKYHAWKS
It's been a tough season for Fort Lewis at 0-9 overall, but the Skyhawks have some positives to take away from 2022. Quarterback Braden Wingle is coming off his best start of the season throwing for a season-high 246 yards and a touchdown last week against Western Colorado, and Christopher Thomas Jr. has a pair of 70+ yard games in the last three weeks including a touchdown in that span to lead the receiver group. OLB Cameron Carter is among the RMAC's leaders in tackle with 65 total and 7.0 for a loss, and DE Max Hyson leads the team with 4.5 sacks and 9.0 TFL to go with two forced fumbles. 

WEEK 10 REWIND
Mines left no doubt about who is the RMAC's top team in 2022, securing the outright conference championship with a 54-16 road win at New Mexico Highlands. The Orediggers finished their fourth consecutive RMAC title with a game to go as they rolled out 564 yards of offense behind John Matocha's five touchdown passes. Matocha matched his career high with five scoring passes as he went for 384 yards, producing four 70+ yard receivers on the day with Tristan Smith catching two of his touchdowns for 103 yards and Max McLeod snaring a career-best eight catches for 80 yards and a score. Meanwhile Michael Zeman had touchdowns both on the ground and in the air, Mason Karp caught the opening score, and Mines added a defensive touchdown on Mack Minnehan's end zone fumble recovery as the Oredigger defense limited the Cowboys (3-6, 3-5 RMAC) to 262 yards including 125 in the air. 

WEEK 10 STANDOUTS
Standouts from the New Mexico Highlands game:

- John Matocha passed for a career-high 384 yards and tied his career-best with five touchdown throws.
- Michael Zeman scored two touchdowns (one receiving, one rushing) to tie the program total career touchdowns record of 59.
- Josh Johnston had 96 yards on six catches, and Max McLeod 80 off seven with a touchdown.
- Tristan Smith had his best game of the year with 103 yards and two touchdowns in the air.
- Mack Minnehan scored his first career defensive touchdown on a fumble recovery in the end zone.
- Steve Street tied his career-high with six tackles with a sack, and Brock Ewing also racked up a career-best six stops.
- Eb Alfred-Igbokwe had a career-best four tackles with a sack and a batted pass.
- The Mines defense generated 9.0 TFL and four sacks in the game.

MATOCHA RECOGNIZED BY RMAC
John Matocha was named the RMAC offensive player of the week for the third time this season on Monday after a career game at New Mexico Highlands. Matocha set a new career yardage high with 384 passing yards, going interception-free as he matched his career-best touchdown total at five.

HEAD OF THE CLASS
Mines heads into Week 11 leading the RMAC in multiple statistical categories. The Orediggers own the league's best scoring offense (44.1 ppg) and defense (16.8 ppg), as well as the best total offense (490.8 ypg) and defense (284.8 ypg). The Orediggers unsurprisingly also have the RMAC's top passing (194.5 ypg) and rushing (90.3 ypg) defenses as well. 

LIVING IN THE BACKFIELD
The Oredigger defense has been terrorizing opposing quarterbacks this season to the tune of 4.1 sacks per game, which leads the nation through 10 weeks. It's been a true team effort - 17 different Orediggers have at least half a sack this season, led by Jack Peterson (5.5), Nolan Reeve (5.0), and Cameron Reller (4.5), and  Mines has only gotten better as the season has gone on, averaging 4.83 sacks per game over their last six outings and 5.3 over the last three games.

RISING UP THE RANKS, PART I
Michael Zeman stands on the cusp of three career records as he enters the last stage of his decorated career. Zeman's next trip to the end zone will be his 60th as an Oredigger, breaking Brody Oliver's Mines total touchdowns record of 59; he also scored his 50th career rushing touchdown last week meaning three more would surpass Cam Mayberry's career record of 52. And then there's rushing yards - last week Zeman joined Mayberry as the only other Oredigger to surpass 4,000 career yards, and now at 4,022 he is 53 away from topping Mayberry's program record of 4,074.

Mines Career Rushing Yards                
1. Cam Mayberry (2016-19) - 4,074         
2. Michael Zeman (2018-22) - 4,022        
3. Greg Marshall (1989-92) - 2,576         
4. Sam Seeton (2013-16) - 2,454        

Mines Career Rushing Touchdowns            
1. Cam Mayberry (2016-19) - 52        
2. Michael Zeman (2018-22) - 50        
3. Greg Marshall (1989-92) - 37        

Mines Career Total Touchdowns Scored
1. Brody Oliver (2015-18) - 59 (59 rec.)        
1. Michael Zeman (2018-22) - 59 (50 rush, 9 rec.)    
3. Cam Mayberry (2016-19) - 54 (52 rush, 2 rec.)    

RISING UP THE RANKS, PART II
Quarterback John Matocha is only in his third season since starting as a true freshman in 2019, but he's already rapidly moving up the career passer lists at Mines. Earlier this season, Matocha surpassed Chad Friehauf in career passing touchdowns and is now second all-time at Mines with 97, trying this week to join Justin Dvorak as the only other member of the 100-TD club. Matocha also is third among active NCAA Division II quarterbacks in career touchdown passes (and the only junior in the top five), and he is the only active D-II quarterback with 8,000+ passing and 1,000+ career rushing yards. This season, he ranks in the national top 10 in completion percentage (2nd), efficiency (1st), passing touchdowns (3rd), and passing yards (5th), and has already started to receive some Harlon Hill Trophy buzz being included on D2football.com's early eight-man watchlist earlier in October. 

Mines Career Passing Touchdowns            
1. Justin Dvorak (2013-16) - 134        
2. John Matocha (2019-22) - 97        
3. Chad Friehauf (2001-04) - 84        

Mines Career Passing Yards
1. Justin Dvorak (2013-16) - 13,466        
2. Chad Friehauf (2001-04) - 9,873        
3. John Matocha (2019-22) - 9,064        

THREE BILLS
Speaking of John Matocha, his yardage productivity has climbed as the season has gone on and he now finds himself going over 300 yards passing in seven consecutive games. That's the longest such streak in his career and the longest by a Mines quarterback since Justin Dvorak's Harlon Hill-winning 2016 season when he did it in his first 10 games.

DANGEROUS DUO
There have only been ten 1,000-yard receiving seasons in Mines history, but two more could be added to the list by the time the dust settles on the 2022 season. Both Josh Johnston and Max McLeod will threaten the plateau; Johnston has 946 receiving yards this season and is averaging 94.6 per game, while McLeod is right behind at 913 yards averaging 921.3 per game. Only once before has Mines had two 1,000-yard receivers in the same season, and you'd have to go back to 2004 when Jonny Chan (1,376 yards) and Justin Gallas (1,352 yards) did it in Chad Friehauf's Harlon Hill-winning year. Johnston also continues his climb up the Mines career receiving list with 2,416 yards entering this week's game, putting him eighth with Jerrod Doucett (2,476) next; his 33 career touchdowns are second all-time at Mines. 

MINES TAKES TOP HONORS
Mines was well-represented on the RMAC All-Academic Teams announced Wednesday as John Matocha repeated as the RMAC Offensive Academic Player of the Year among five first-team selections. Matocha, Mason Karp, Jack Peterson, Nolan Reeve, and Joel Diaz were all named First-Team Academic All-RMAC, and 28 players were named to the Academic Honor Roll for holding 3.3+ cumulative GPAs.

TO THE HOUSE
The Mines defense sports a +11 turnover margin this season, but that only tells part of the story. The Orediggers have also been good at scoring off those turnovers - to the tune of four defensive touchdowns this season. Mason Pierce has a pair of pick-sixes to his credit, but Mines also has a couple of fumble recoveries in the end zone courtesy of James Hess at Adams State and Mack Minnehan at New mexico Highlands.

LET'S GET IT STARTED
There are now six active Orediggers with 30 or more career starts led by Josh Johnston and Mason Pierce with 37. John Matocha and Mack Minnehan are at 36, Matt Armendariz 35, and Michael Zeman 321. Twenty-four different Orediggers have 10 or more career starts, with Johnston's 37 consecutive starts leading the way.

NEXT UP
Mines will learn its postseason assignment during the NCAA.com selection show, streaming Sunday at 3:30 p.m. MT. The NCAA First Round will be played Nov. 19.