#1/1 Colorado School of Mines (8-0, 6-0 RMAC) vs. #9/13 Western Colorado (8-0, 6-0 RMAC) // Saturday, Oct. 28 // 12 p.m.
Alumni Field at Marv Kay Stadium, Golden, Colo.
[TV: KCDO Local3 tape delayed at 4 p.m.] [RMAC Network] [Live Stats] [Mines Media Notes]

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In one of the biggest games in RMAC history, #1/1 Colorado School of Mines hosts #9/13 Western Colorado with both teams putting undefeated records on the line for first place in the conference.

LIVE COVERAGE
The game will stream live and for free on the RMAC Network and will air on tape delay on KCDO Local3 at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Miles Dunklin and Josh Dover have the call. 

GAME SOLD OUT
Saturday's game is sold out, and no tickets will be sold on the day of the game. Mines students, faculty, and staff will be admitted with their BlasterCards and do not need tickets in advance; students should enter through Gate 2 (by the soccer stadium at the end of 12th St.) and faculty and staff via Gates 1 or 3.

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.
- 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
Saturday's weather could be, shall we say, interesting. While the forecast is still uncertain, the weekend looks to bring much chillier temperatures with a high of only 38 degrees and going lower throughout the afternoon on Saturday; snow and wind could develop during the game as a cold front passes through the region. Fans should be prepared for anything. 

AT THE HELM
Head Coach Pete Sterbick has won his first eight games in charge of the Orediggers after the former offensive coordinator took over the head job last April. Sterbick is now only the second coach in Mines history to start out 8-0 - Thomas Beadle is the only other in 1898. 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. 

IN THE POLLS
Mines remains #1 in the national polls for a second consecutive week, the top team in both the AFCA and D2football.com polls after previous #1 Ferris State lost to Grand Valley State on Oct. 14. The Orediggers are the sixth Mines team to be ranked #1 joining men's soccer, men's basketball, men's golf, men's cross country, and men's track & field; the Oredigger cross country team is also currently ranked #1 in their poll. Meanwhile, Western Colorado cracked the AFCA top 10 this week at #9, and are ranked #13 by D2football.com. This will mark the third top-10 matchup of the season for Mines, who defeated then-#3/2 Grand Valley State and #4/6 Angelo State in weeks 1 and 2. In the conference poll announced in August, Mines was selected atop the RMAC preseason coaches' poll, with Western Colorado third.

HIGH STAKES
With the regular season coming down to the final three weeks, this week's game between the undefeated Orediggers and Mountaineers - both 6-0 in RMAC play - won't clinch the RMAC title for either side, but it will give the winner the chance to win out for the crown. A ring isn't all that's at stake - the winner will also likely be the #1 seed - and earn a first-round bye - in Super Region 4 when the NCAA playoff brackets are announced Nov. 12. The Orediggers hope to continue one of the most dominant runs in conference history as they seek their fifth consecutive RMAC crown. The Orediggers have won either an outright or shared title each year since 2018 (no championship was awarded in 2020). Mines joins an elite list of programs to have won four straight rings: CSU Pueblo (2011-14), Colorado Mesa (1985-88), Western Colorado (1973-79 and 1963-66), and Utah (1928-33).

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 34-2 all-time in RMAC games since Marv Kay Stadium opened in 2015, and have won 30 straight since that 2016 loss, a span of 2,597 days.

GREAT 8
The Orediggers are 8-0 for the sixth time in program history and third time since 2018; Mines started 12-0 in 2019 and 9-0 in 2018, and were also 12-0 in 2004. The two previous times are a bit farther back: an 8-0 final record in 1939, and 9-0 in 1898. As for Western Colorado, they are 8-0 for the first time since 1978. The only time Mines has met another unbeaten opponent this late in the season was in 2004, when they faced 11-0 Pitt State in the NCAA Second Round while 12-0. 

LAST YEAR VS. WESTERN COLORADO
Mines scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to overcome a 17-point deficit and defeat Western Colorado, 30-20. The Orediggers trailed 20-3 in the third quarter before reeling off the game's final 27 points. 
Michael Zeman ran for three touchdowns, all in the second half, as part of an 88-yard day, and John Matocha overcame three interceptions to lead his team back with 346 yards passing and a touchdown. Josh Johnston had 146 yards off five catches as Max McLeod went for 69 and a score. Turnovers were critical in the game as Mines generated three of their four in the fourth quarter on a fumble forced by Zach Hester and interceptions by Cam Forrest and Jaden Williams. 

SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERS
Off to an 8-0 start - their best record since 1978 - Western Colorado enters this weekend tied with Mines for first place in the RMAC and ranked #9 by the AFCA and #13 by D2football.com. The Mountaineers have not trailed for a second of the season, and own quality out-of-conference wins over a now-ranked UT-Permian Basin and West Texas A&M. Western Colorado owns the RMAC's #1 scoring defense (13.88 ppg) just ahead of the Orediggers, and they are an impressive +13 including 11 fumble recoveries and 10 interceptions this season. Kendall Lightfoot's 51 tackles leads the team while Ricky Freymond has 7.0 sacks and 10.0 tackles for loss with four forced fumbles. Offensively, quarterback Drew Nash has thrown for 1,671 yards and 14 touchdowns and is mobile as well with 298 yards and four rushing touchdowns. Deyvon Butler is the RMAC's leading scorer from the tailback spot with 12 touchdowns off 577 yards, and Drew Montez has been Nash's favorite target with 434 yards and five scores.

NOTING THE SERIES
Colorado's longest continuous football rivalry, Mines and Western Colorado are meeting for the 98th time ... Western leads the series 52-43-2 but Mines has won five straight and eight of the last 10 ... The two first met in 1925 (a 15-6 Western Colorado win) and, other than a five-year break for World War II and the 2020 pandemic season, have met at least once every year since ... Western (19 titles) and Mines (15 titles) are #1 and #2 all-time in terms of RMAC Championships and shared the 2021 crown ... In 97 previous meetings, the two have not met while 8-0 or better.

WEEK 8 REWIND
Black Hills State gave #1 Mines its best shot, but a second-half surge by the Orediggers helped them win 42-17 on the road. The Orediggers trailed 17-14 at halftime, but outscored the Yellow Jackets (4-4, 3-3 RMAC) 28-0 in the second half with John Matocha throwing for five touchdowns and Max McLeod catching three. Matocha found seven different receivers led by McLeod's nine-catch, 101-yard, three-touchdown game and Flynn Schiele's 96 yards off four receptions. Landon Walker matched his career high with 130 yards on 21 carries to lead Mines' ground game. The Orediggers held BH quarterback Tanner Clarkson to 9-of-21 in the air and made a second-half adjustment to contain him on the ground. Turnovers were key for Mines after giving up an early fumble with Devyn Lauer recovering Josh Wojciechowicz's forced fumble on a punt return, Jackson Zimmermann snaring an interception, and Evan Alexander causing and recovering a fumble to set up the offense. 

WEEK 8 QUICK HITS
Standouts from Week 8's win at Black Hills State:

- For a second straight week, John Matocha tied his career high with five touchdown throws going for 323 yards overall with a 190 QBR.
- Max McLeod also matched his career best with three touchdown catches on 101 yards.
- Landon Walker tied his career high for rushing yardage with 130 on 21 carries, and Chris Yoo had a touchdown.
- Flynn Schiele produced 96 yards off four catches, and Zach Hoffman and Nick Stone caught scores.
- Jackson Zimmermann made his fifth interception of the season and fourth in three games.
- Jack Peterson, Kyle Bahnsen, Hayden Gregg, and James Hess were all part of sacks.
- Evan Alexander forced and recovered a fumble on a batted backwards pass in addition to having a tackle for loss.
- Long snapper Josh Wojciechowicz forced a fumble and had a tackle in the game.

WELL-AWARDED
Blake Doud was named the RMAC Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday for the third time this season after averaging 49.8 yards per punt last week at Black Hills State. Doud had a long of 60 yards and had three over 50 on the day.

VERY OFFENSIVE
Under Pete Sterbick as offensive coordinator between 2019 and 2022, Mines' offense routinely ranked among the best in the nation, leading the RMAC in scoring all three of those seasons (and leading the nation last year), and also ranking atop the RMAC in total offensive yards twice and in the NCAA top-10 last year. This year? Mines has the highest numbers of Sterbick and now-offensive coordinator Tim Brandon's careers so far, producing 45.1 points per game and 491.0 yards per game (24 yards per game more than 2022) to rank #8 and #4, respectively, in D-II.

MATOCHA SETS MORE RECORDS
It was only a matter of time before John Matocha reached Mines, RMAC, and NCAA Division II records as he plays the final season of a historic career. A starter since week 2 of his true freshman season in 2019, Matocha is 44-6 since then (his 50 starts are a Mines record) and already has several career records under his belt with more in sight. Matocha is now on the cusp of setting his first national record, the NCAA Divison II mark for Touchdowns Responsible For; Matocha comes into Week 9 with 169, three away from breaking former Shepherd (and now Chicago Bears) quarterback Tyson Bagent's mark of 171. The all-divisions record of 178 is co-held by Houston's Case Keenum (FBS) and Central Iowa's Blaine Hawkins (D-III), and that could be in reach as well. At Colorado Mesa, Matocha 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 now sits at 145 in that category, three behind East Stroudsburg's Jimmy Terwilliger for second and 14 behind Bagent for the national record. Last week at Black Hills State, another Mines and RMAC record went down as Matocha broke Dvorak's total offensive yards record of 14,608; Matocha's 14,834 total yards are fifth-most in D-II history. And now Matocha is only 370 yards from breaking another of Dvorak's Mines and RMAC records, for career passing yards as he became the 10th player in D-II history to surpass 13,000 passing yards, now sitting at 13,097.

NCAA D-II Career Passing Touchdowns        
1. Tyson Bagent, Shepherd - 159        
2. Jimmy Terwilliger, E. Stroudsburg - 148        
3. John Matocha, Mines - 145        
4. Justin Dvorak, Mines - 134        

NCAA D-II Career Total Touchdowns        
171 - Tyson Bagent, Shepherd (159 pass/12 rush)        
169 - John Matocha, Mines (145 pass/23 rush/1 rec.)    
166 - Jason Vander Lann, Ferris State (85 pass/81 rush)    

NCAA D-II Career Total Offensive Yards        
1. Tyson Bagent, Shepherd - 17,213        
2. Bo Cordell, Tusculum - 16,432        
3. Jimmy Terwilliger, E. Stroudsburg - 16,064        
4. Steven Gachette, SW Baptist - 15,235        
5. John Matocha, Mines - 14,834        
6. Justin Dvorak, Mines - 14,608        
7. Zach Amedro, West Liberty - 14,598        

Mines Career Passing Yards                
1. Justin Dvorak (2013-16) - 13,466        
2. John Matocha (2019-23) - 13,097      

 
TO THE MAX
Max McLeod has had back-to-back monster games, catching three touchdowns in each of the last two weeks. He leads NCAA Division II this season with 932 yards and is seventh with nine touchdowns, and he is on the verge of recording a second consecutive 1,000-yard season. In only his third year, McLeod is reaching the upper echelon of Mines' record book, as well, and is now third on the Orediggers' all-time receiving touchdowns list and sixth on the yards list, only three yards away from cracking the top five. 

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. Max McLeod (2021-pres.) - 2,886        
7. Ty Young (2012-2016) - 2,696        

Mines Career Receiving Touchdowns        
1. Brody Oliver (2014-2018) - 59        
2. Josh Johnston (2018-22) - 40        
3. Max McLeod (2021-pres.) - 37        
4. Adam Saur (2005-2009) - 32        
5. Jonny Chan (2000-2004) - 31        

NO-FLY ZONE
Two members of the Mines secondary stood out at Black Hills State, albeit for very different reasons. Safety Jaden Williams co-led Mines with six tackles in the game, with a career-high three of them being tackles for loss (and he had a fourth for no gain) as an aggressive Mines defense utilized Williams around the line of scrimmage. Meanwhile, cornerback Jackson Zimmermann continued to be a ballhawk with his team- and RMAC-leading fifth interception of the season; Zimmermann has picks in three consecutive games and four in that span. 

REEVE LEADS THE WAY
Nolan Reeve continues to be college football's active leader in sacks, compiling 37.5 in his career to lead all divisions of the NCAA. Reeve has a team-leading 5.0 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. 

NCAA Football Active Sacks Leaders            
1. Nolan Reeve (Mines) - 37.5        
2. Josh Bever (Ohio Northern) - 35.5        
3. Ryan Bodolus (Ursinus) - 35.5        

THIIIIIIIRD DOWN
Third downs have been kind to the Orediggers this season on both sides of the ball as Mines ranks fourth in NCAA Division II third down conversion offense and fifth in defense. Mines has converted 55.3 percent of its third-down opportunities offensively, while the defense has allowed opponents to convert only 23.9 percent; both marks lead the RMAC. 

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 17 of their last 20 coin tosses to start the game dating back to early last season, including seven of eight this season (winning only on Jack Peterson's call at CSU Pueblo). The good news? The Orediggers are 17-0 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 49-of-49 on PATs and 6-of-8 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 in October. The award is given to the top non-FBS kicker in college football.

BIG LEG BLAKE
Mines has a legacy of great punters in its history, and Blake Doud's 2023 season is shaping up to be another great chapter. Doud currently leads NCAA Division II in punting average at 46.7 yards on 30 kicks; of that 30, he's put 15 inside the 20, had a dozen of 50+ yards, and opponents have only seven returns for an average of 5.4 yards. The redshirt sophomore from Parker, Colo. is a three-time RMAC Specialist of the Week and two-time D2football.com National Specialist of the Week this season. 

PRODIGGER
Former all-American cornerback Mason Pierce made his CFL debut on Labor Day (or Labour Day as our friends to the north call it), 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 five games. Pierce has 29 total tackles and two interceptions in eight total games, including one last week in the final minute to halt Saskatchewan's final drive in a one-score game. Toronto is 15-2 and has already clinched the East's #1 seed as they try to repeat as Grey Cup champions. 

NEXT UP
Mines will host New Mexico Highlands on Nov. 4 at noon on Senior Day.