#2 Colorado School of Mines (6-0, 4-0 RMAC) vs. South Dakota Mines (3-3, 2-2 RMAC) // Saturday, Oct. 14 // 12 p.m.
Alumni Field at Marv Kay Stadium, Golden, Colo.
[TV: KCDO Local3] [RMAC Network] [Live Stats] [Tickets] [Mines Media Notes]

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#2 Colorado School of Mines hosts their engineering counterparts from South Dakota as they welcome the Hardrockers to Marv Kay Stadium in Week 7.

LIVE COVERAGE
Mines Football will be televised on its new home live on KCDO Local3 in Colorado, and stream for free on the RMAC Network. Miles Dunklin and Josh Dover have the call. 

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

- The Ore Cart Shuttles will run on game day for fans - visit the Parking page for more information.
- Fans are strongly encouraged to purchase digital tickets or print at home tickets ahead of time at minesathletics.com/tickets.
- Mines students, faculty, and staff will be admitted free with their BlasterCard. 
- Gates and the tailgating lot open two hours before kickoff at 10 a.m.
- Tailgating is permitted in Lot K only (next to Stermole Soccer Stadium, $10). 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 Parking page for more information.
- The City of Golden's street parking requires a permit seven days a week. Fans can not park in the neighborhood surrounding the stadium. 
- The New Terrain Beer Garden in the McKee West End Zone will be open for all fans 21+. 

WEATHER REPORT
Football weather is finally here, and Saturday's forecast is for an autumnal temperature of 50 degrees at kickoff going up to 57 under partly cloudy skies with light winds. 

AT THE HELM
Head Coach Pete Sterbick has won his first six games in charge of the Orediggers after the former offensive coordinator took over the head job last April. Sterbick is now the third coach in Mines history to start out 6-0. With Sterbick's promotion, Mines retained all of its assistant coaches, promoting offensive line coach Tim Brandon to offensive coordinator to replace Sterbick.  

LEADING THE WAY
The Orediggers elected four captains for the 2023 season, with quarterback John Matocha earning his second "C" patch alongside center Steele Petty, defensive tackle Jack Peterson, and safety Logan Rayburn being first-time captains. With Rayburn unavailable for last week's game, linebacker Ben Fuchs filled in as a game captain at Colorado Mesa.

IN THE POLLS
Mines stayed at #2 in both major polls this week, tying their best showings in program history in both the AFCA and D2football.com rankings. Mines is receiving three first-place votes in the AFCA poll. It marks seven consecutive weeks at #2 for the Orediggers. In the conference poll announced in August, Mines was selected atop the RMAC preseason coaches' poll, with South Dakota Mines fourth.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Marv Kay Stadium is a tough place to play, and that's especially true against conference foes; Mines has not lost a home RMAC game since 2016. The Orediggers are 33-2 all-time against the RMAC since Marv Kay Stadium opened in 2015, and have won 29 straight since that 2016 loss, a span of 2,583 days.

THE RICHEST GAME IN D-II
This week's game has been touted as the "richest in Division II football" thanks to the high earning potential of graduates on both sides of the line of scrimmage. According to the most recent Payscale.com data, Colorado School of Mines graduates are #1 in NCAA Division II in both early career pay ($87,800) and mid-career pay ($165,700). South Dakota Mines ranks #3 in D-II at $79,800 and $131,500. Combined, that's upwards of $70 million per year in mid-career salary between the future graduates of the teams. 

AROUND THE RMAC
This week marks the halfway point of the RMAC schedule, and Colorado School of Mines is one of two unbeaten teams - along with Western Colorado - left in the standings. Black Hills State is alone at 3-1, then three teams - South Dakota Mines, Adams State, and CSU Pueblo - are tied for fourth at 2-2.

LAST YEAR VS. THE HARDROCKERS
Colorado School of Mines scored on the first play of the game and never looked back, shutting down South Dakota Mines in a 48-20 road win. The Orediggers shut down a high-powered Hardrocker offense while producing a 34-point first half on offense to run away with the victory. John Matocha passed for 338 yards and four first-half touchdowns on the way to a career-high five, while adding 57 yards on the ground, with Max McLeod turning in a 169-yard, two-touchdown day through the air. Michael Zeman had 116 total yards and two scores.  Nolan Reeve's two sacks and seven tackles led a defense that bent but didn't break, holding the Hardrockers nearly 70 yards below their season aerial average at 286 yards and limiting SDM to 4-of-14 on third downs. 

SCOUTING THE HARDROCKERS
South Dakota Mines has had an up-and-down season at 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the RMAC. They are led by dynamic quarterback Jayden Johannsen, a true dual threat who has thrown for 1,442 yards and 14 touchdowns with seven interceptions, and has rushed for 308 yards and six touchdowns. Jalen Frye is the team's leading rusher with 468 yards and two scores, and Ben Noland is one of the nation's leading receivers with 556 yards and eight touchdowns. Defensively, the Hardrockers allow 24 points and 332.7 yards per game with Hunter Newsome their leading tackler with 41 and 2.0 sacks. The Hardrockers' have been bitten by turnovers, sitting at -7 this season, including three interceptions and two lost fumbles last week in a 43-20 loss to Western Colorado. 

NOTING THE SERIES
The series between Colorado School of Mines and South Dakota Mines - the last two athletics-playing schools of mines in the United States - dates back to 1917, a 58-6 Orediggers win ... The two met sporadically after that but stopped the series for nearly 50 years after the 1949 game, not resuming until 1996 ... This will be the 24th meeting all-time ... The two have met every year since 2010, and since 2016 when South Dakota Mines became a full D-II and RMAC member ... Colorado School of Mines leads the all-time series 22-1 ... The winning team has scored 37+ points in every game of the series since 1997. 

WEEK 6 REWIND
Mines retained the Nyikos Cup, shutting out Colorado Mesa in a comprehensive 52-0 win at Stocker Stadium. John Matocha became the RMAC's all-time leader in career passing touchdowns, Noah Roper rushed for three first-half scores, and a stifling Mines defense generated four turnovers in earning their first goose egg of the season. The Orediggers improved to 6-0 and 4-0 in the RMAC. Matocha, in three quarters of play, had an efficient 21-of-26, 197-yard, two-touchdown afternoon to go with 62 rushing yards, with Roper producing his second straight 100+ yard day going for 100 and three touchdowns on only 14 carries. Flynn Schiele caught a couple of touchdowns with Nick Stone and Sean Roberts the others. Evan Foster threw two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.Jackson Zimmermann snagged two first-half interceptions and Zach Hester recoverd a third-quarter fumble caused by Nolan Reeve, and Will Ramsey had his first career interception as well.

WEEK 6 QUICK HITS
Standouts from Week 6's win at Colorado Mesa:

- John Matocha threw for two touchdowns and rushed for 62 yards, his second consecutive 60+ yard ground performance.
- Noah Roper scored three first-half touchdowns in a 100-yard game.
- Nine different receivers caught a pass led by Max McLeod's nine-reception, 76-yard day. Flynn Schiele had two touchdowns among six catches for 55 yards. 
- Jackson Zimmermann had two interceptions with a pass break-up, and Will Ramsey also had a pick.
- Adrian Moreno had a team-high six tackles including one for a loss to lead a run defense that allowed only 87 net yards.
- Nate Sutter and Nolan Reeve had sacks, with Reeve causing a fumble recovered by Zach Hester. 

WELL-AWARDED
Jackson Zimmermann's two-interception game earned him the first RMAC Defensive Player of the Week award of the cornerback's career on Monday. Zimmermann's honor is the seventh of the season by an Oredigger, joining Jaden Healy (Week 4) as Mines' second defensive honoree of the season.

MATOCHA SETS RMAC RECORD
John Matocha is moving up the career lists for Mines, the RMAC, and NCAA Division II as he plays the final season of a historic career. A starter since week 2 of his true freshman season in 2019, Matocha is 42-6 since then and set a pair of records last week. With two touchdown passes at Colorado Mesa, he surpassed fellow Harlon Hill winner Justin Dvorak's Mines and RMAC passing touchdowns record with the 135th of his career, which also moved him to third all-time in NCAA Division II history. He is also now just over 1,000 yards from Dvorak's Mines and RMAC passing yards records, and three touchdowns of any type from breaking Dvorak's Mines career total touchdowns record of 161. Earlier this season, Matocha became only the 20th player in NCAA D-II and third player in RMAC history to cross 12,000 career passing yards. Matocha also set a program record for starts last week with the 48th of his career (all consecutive), surpassing his former tackle Grant Stewart; Matocha will tie Stewart for the Mines games played record this week at 49. 

NCAA D-II Career Passing Touchdowns        
1. Tyson Bagent, Shepherd - 159        
2. Jimmy Terwilliger, E. Stroudsburg - 148        
3. John Matocha, Mines - 135        
4. Justin Dvorak, Mines - 134        

Mines Career Passing Yards                
1. Justin Dvorak (2013-16) - 13,466        
2. John Matocha (2019-23)  -  12,430        
3. Chad Friehauf (2001-04)  -  9,873        

Mines Career Total Touchdowns            
1. Justin Dvorak (2013-16) - 161        
2. John Matocha (2019-23)  - 159        

Matocha is also at the top or close to the top of several NCAA all-division categories among active players, and leads all of college football in touchdowns responsible for with 157 in his career:

Active Career Touchdowns Responsible For        
1. John Matocha (Mines)  - 159        
2. Austin Reed (Western Ky.) -  154        
3. Braxton Plunk (Mount Union) - 146        
4. Sam Hartman (Notre Dame) - 145        

TO THE MAX
Max McLeod saw an exceptional streak broken last week as his consecutive 100+ yard receiving games run came to an end at five - but the receiver still led Mines with 76 yards on nine catches. His 698 yards rank second in NCAA Division II through the six weeks, and his five-game 100-yard game streak goes into the record book as tied for the second-longest in program history. Meanwhile, McLeod continues to move up the Mines career receiving ranks, now tied for fourth in career touchdown catches, and seventh on the career receiving yards list with a chance to move to sixth this week: 

Mines Career Receiving Yards            
1. Brody Oliver (2014-2018) - 4,010        
2. Justin Gallas (2001-2005) - 3,561        
3. Jonny Chan (2000-2004) - 2,972        
4. Josh Johnston (2019-22) - 2,939        
5. Adam Saur (2005-2009) -  2,888        
6. Ty Young (2012-2016) - 2,696        
7. Max McLeod (2021-pres.)  - 2,652        
8. Riley Hoff (2014-2018) - 2,496        

Mines Career Receiving Touchdowns        
1. Brody Oliver (2014-2018) -  59        
2. Josh Johnston (2018-22) -  40        
3. Adam Saur (2005-2009) - 32        
4. Jonny Chan (2000-2004) - 31        
     Max McLeod (2021-pres.) - 31        

Mines 5x100+ Yard Receiving Game Streaks        
Max McLeod - 5 (2023)            
Brody Oliver - 5 (2018), 8 (2016)        
Jonny Chan - 5 (2003)            

STAYING GROUNDED
Landon Walker and Noah Roper had worked as a two-headed monster the first five weeks of the season, and have combined for 767 rushing yards, 925 total yards, and 17 total touchdowns this season. But with Walker unavailable last week, Roper shouldered the first-half load and was outstanding, producing 100 yards and a career-best three touchdowns on only 14 carries. Roper now has back-to-back 100-yard games after going off for 110 and two scores on 11 touches against Chadron State, and is Mines' leading rusher with 433 yards this season. And they aren't the only two producing on the ground for Mines - John Matocha has 195 net yards, Braelon Tate 114 and a touchdown, Chris Yoo 76 yards on 13 touchdes, and Konnor Mickelsen 52 yards on 11 carries. The Orediggers average 196.83 rushing yards per game, more than 40 yards per game above the 2022 season and on pace for their best team average since 2019.

THIIIIIIIRD DOWN
Third downs have been kind to the Orediggers this season on both sides of the ball as Mines ranks third in NCAA Division II third down conversion defense and fifth in offense. Mines has converted 56.8 percent of its third-down opportunities offensively, while the defense has allowed opponents to convert only 15 of 82 tries (19.5 percent); the Orediggers have not allowed more than four third-down conversions in any game this year.

REEVE LEADS THE WAY
Nolan Reeve continues to be college football's active leader in sacks, compiling 36.5 in his career to lead all divisions of the NCAA. Reeve has 4.0 this season. Reeve still has work to get to Mines' career record, held by former Jacksonville Jaguar and all-American Marc Schiechl at 46.0, but Reeve has compiled double-digit sacks in each of the last two seasons, including tying Schiechl's single-season mark of 13.5 last year. Reeve is also nearing a career milestone as he is two tackles away from 200 in his career; he is the Orediggers' active leader in tackles, and forced his ninth career fumble last week.

NCAA Football Active Sacks Leaders            
1. Nolan Reeve (Mines) -  36.5        
2. Josh Bever (Ohio Northern) -33.5        
3. Ryan Bodolus (Ursinus) - 31.0        

GIMMEE THAT
Jaden Williams grabbed his 10th career interception two weeks ago, and had a heads-up play to bat down a sure-fire interception on a fourth-down deep pass last week to improve Mines' field position. In addition to his 10 interceptions, Williams has recovered three fumbles (including one this year at CSU Pueblo) and forced two in his career, and like Reeve is nearing the 200-tackle mark with 195 for his career. 

GOOSE EGG
Mines' shutout of Colorado Mesa last week marked the third under second-year defensive coordinator Tripp Thomas, who also called blankings of Black Hills State (38-0) and Fort Lewis (80-0) last season. It also marked the first shutout against Colorado Mesa in 48 meetings; Mines now owns historical shutouts over every RMAC program but one: CSU Pueblo.

HUGE LOSERS
As has been well-documented, Mines Football is good at a lot of things. Scoring touchdowns, stopping opposing offenses, you know - football stuff. Not included on that list is predicting coin flips. The Orediggers have lost 15 of their last 18 coin tosses to start the game dating back to early last season, including five of six this season (winning only on Jack Peterson's call at CSU Pueblo). The good news? The Orediggers are 15-0 when losing the coin toss since the start of the 2022 season.

PEARSON ON MITCHELL AWARD LIST
Kicker Hunter Pearson is the RMAC's leading scorer among kickers this season, going a perfect 37-of-37 on PATs and 5-of-6 on field goals this season in combination with long snapped Josh Wojciechowicz and holder Jacob Click. The Virginia grad transfer has gotten attention for his performance, landing on the Fred Mitchell Award watchlist earlier this week. The award is given to the top non-FBS kicker in college football.

BACK FOR MORE
With Mines electing not play a season in 2020, any player who was on the roster had their year of eligibility returned should they want to utilize it, and 22 players are doing so this season as the Orediggers will have one of the nation's most veteran rosters. Of that group, 17 are sixth-year seniors who entered in the recruiting class of 2018; the Orediggers' sixth-year players are marked on the roster (page 7-8) as "6-Sr." Zach Heckman, John Matocha, Logan Rayburn, and transfer Noah Roper are the only fifth-year seniors in their final seasons of eligibility as they each did not take a redshirt season.

PRODIGGER
Former all-American cornerback Mason Pierce made his professional debut on Labor Day, earning a call up from the Toronto Argonauts' practice squad and quickly earned a starting spot in the secondary, where he has stayed over the Argos' last four games. In six games, Pierce has 21 total tackles and last week snagged his first professional interception last week against Edmonton. Toronto is 13-2 and has already clinched the East's #1 seed as they try to repeat as Grey Cup champions. 

NEXT UP
Mines visits Black Hills State on Oct. 21.