#2/2 Colorado School of Mines (5-0, 3-0 RMAC) at Colorado Mesa (2-3, 1-2 RMAC) // Saturday, Oct. 7 // 1 p.m.
Stocker Stadium - Grand Junction, Colo.
[TV: KREX/KGJT] [RMAC Network] [Live Stats] [Tickets] [Mines Media Notes] [Mesa Media Notes]

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Unbeaten at 5-0 this season, #2 Colorado School of Mines heads across the Rockies to put the Nyikos Cup on the line at Colorado Mesa in Week 6.

LIVE COVERAGE
Saturday's game will stream live and for free on the RMAC Network. The game will also be televised on the Western Slope on KREX and KGJT out of Grand Junction. 

WEATHER REPORT
Saturday's forecast is for a great day in Grand Junction - sunny and a high of 79 with light winds.

AT THE HELM
Head Coach Pete Sterbick has won his first five games in charge of the Orediggers after the former offensive coordinator took over the head job last April. Sterbick is now the fourth coach in Mines history to start out 5-0. With Sterbick's promotion, Mines retained all of its assistant coaches, promoting offensive line coach Tim Brandon to offensive coordinator to replace Sterbick. 

Mines Coaches To Start 5-0 (Or Better)   
Pete Sterbick, 2023 - 5-0        
Gregg Brandon, 2015 - 7-0        
William Hanley, 1914 - 5-0        
Thomas Beadle, 1898 - 9-0        

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.

FOR THE NYIKOS CUP
The winner of the Mines-Mesa game gets to keep the Nyikos Cup to go with the bragging rights for the next year. The alumni associations of the two universities established the cup in 2010 in honor of Dr. Michael Nyikos, who was Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Mesa, as well as Vice President of Student Affairs and External Relations at Mines. In February 2002 Dr. Nyikos was appointed to the Mines Board of Trustees, and reappointed in March 2006. He served as Chairman of the Board, and was also a member of the Board of the Mines Foundation until his death in February 2009. The Orediggers have won it eight times to CMU's four and are the current holders of the cup after 2022's 48-21 win.

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 six consecutive weeks at #2 for the Orediggers. In the conference poll announced in August, Mines was selected atop the RMAC preseason coaches' poll, with Colorado Mesa sixth.

QUAD SQUAD
With RMAC play underway, 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), going 36-2 in that span against the RMAC. 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).

AROUND THE RMAC
Speaking of the RMAC, through three weeks of play, a separation has already shown up in the standings as Mines and Western Colorado are the lone unbeaten teams remaining at 3-0 in-league and 5-0 overall. Adams State, Black Hills State, and South Dakota Mines all sit at 2-1.

LAST YEAR VS. COLORADO MESA
Mines reclaimed the Nyikos Cup with a 48-21 win over Colorado Mesa, scoring 24 points in the second quarter to blow open a close game and win. John Matocha threw for 328 yards and three touchdowns with Max McLeod producing a then-career-nest 177-yard, two-touchdown day, while Michael Zeman led a punishing ground attack to the tune of 152 yards and two touchdowns. The Mines defense held Colorado Mesa scoreless after a 21-21 tie, with Mason Pierce's pick-six at the stroke of halftime changing the entire complexion of the game. CMU's quarterback Karst Hunter threw for 252 yards with a touchdown, but was held to -9 net yards with a score on the ground as the Mines defense limited the Mavericks to only 25 rushing yards.

SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
Colorado Mesa has had an up and down start to the season at 2-3, which includes a pair of quality wins over FCS San Diego, 28-21 in overtime, and over a 3-2 South Dakota Mines squad, 38-30. They have lost two straight, however, with a close 25-23 setback at home against Black Hills State in Week 4 and then a 43-7 loss to #17 Western Colorado last week that saw CMU limited to only 53 yards of offense and four first downs. Quarterback Gavin Herberg has thrown for 731 yards and five touchdowns, with Keenan Brown their big-play receiver averaging 25.4 yards per catch with three touchdowns. Gianni Hurd is their top rusher with 139 yards, and Herberg has three rushing touchdowns as well. Defensively the Mavs allow 402 yards and 29.8 points per game; Kash Bradley is their leading tackler with 35, and Jason Thome has four interceptions in five games. 

NOTING THE MINES-MESA SERIES
Mines and Colorado Mesa are meeting for the 47th time ... The two have met every year since 1977 save for the canceled 2020 season ... The series has been very competitive in recent years with Mines winning six of the last 10 meetings but Mesa taking three straight wins between 2015 and 2018 and then again in 2021 ... The Orediggers won the first meeting 21-7 in 1975 ... Either Mines or Colorado Mesa - or both - have been RMAC champion in every season since 2014 ... Mines is 6-18 playing in Grand Junction and has won only one of their last four trips there, in 2019.

WEEK 5 REWIND
Mines improved to 5-0, handling business against Chadron State in a 35-7 Homecoming win before a sellout crowd at Marv Kay Stadium. The Oredigger defense held the Eagles to just 2-of-16 on third-down opportunities and sacked CSC quarterback Preston Pearson five times with constant backfield pressure. John Matocha threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns, while Noah Roper had a career game with 110 yards and two scores on the ground and another touchdown in the air. Max McLeod ran his century-yards streak to five straight games with 103 on 10 catches, and Zach Hoffman had a career day with 84 yards and two touchdown catches. Peyton Rose had 1.5 sacks to lead the Mines pass rush with Blake Ramsey, Kyle Bahnsen, Zach Hester, and Jack Peterson also getting in hits. Chadron State was limited to just 107 yards in the first half and 247 for the game, including 93 on the ground. 

WEEK 5 QUICK HITS
Standouts from Week 5's win against Chadron State:

- John Matocha threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a season-high 72 yards.
- Zach Hoffman had a career game with 84 yards on seven catches including two touchdowns.
- Noah Roper crossed 100 yards for the first time as an Oredigger, rushing for 110 yards and two touchdowns - and catching another - on just 11 touches.
- Max McLeod had 103 yards on a game-high 10 catches.
- Peyton Rose had 1.5 sacks and three hurries to lead a defense that recorded five sacks.
- Jaden Williams snared an interception early in the game, and Mason Dickerson forced his first career fumble.
- Blake Doud averaged 45.4 yards on five punts putting two inside the 20 with two over 50 yards.

MATOCHA MAGIC
John Matocha's electric 2022 season caught national attention, and the quarterback has been no less impressive in 2023 after winning the Harlon Hill Award as Division II's national player of the year. This season, Matocha has thrown for 1,523 yards and 14 touchdowns. A starter since week 2 of his true freshman season in 2019, Matocha is 41-6 since then and is on the verge of breaking several of fellow Harlon Hill winner Justin Dvorak's Mines and RMAC passing records, sitting one behind tying Dvorak for the career passing touchdowns mark and 1,235 yards behind his passing yards standard. Last weekend, Matocha became only the 20th player in NCAA D-II and third player in RMAC history to cross 12,000 career passing yards, and he is fourth in D-II history in passing touchdowns as he is 26 away from ex-Shepherd and current Chicago Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent's NCAA D-II record. 

NCAA D-II Career Passing Touchdowns        
1. Tyson Bagent, Shepherd, 159        
2. Jimmy Terwilliger, E. Stroudsburg, 148        
3. Justin Dvorak, Mines, 134        
4. John Matocha, Mines, 133        

Mines Career Passing Yards                
1. Justin Dvorak (2013-16), 13,466        
2. John Matocha (2019-23), 12,231        
3. Chad Friehauf (2001-04), 9,873        

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

NCAA Career Touchdowns Responsible For, Active Players        
1. John Matocha (Mines), 157        
2. Austin Reed (Western Ky.), 151        
3. Braxton Plunk (Mount Union), 144        
4. Sam Hartman (Notre Dame), 143        

Mines Career Total Touchdowns            
1. Justin Dvorak (2013-16), 161        
2. John Matocha (2019-23), 157        

GET IT STARTED
Speaking of records, with his first snap this week, John Matocha will break the Mines all-time starts record with his 48th consecutive, surpassing his former tackle Grant Stewart, who started 47 times in 49 career games between 2016 and 2019. Matocha has started every game since Week 2 of his freshman 2019 campaign and is 41-6 as starter. Safety Jaden Williams will join him in the 40-start club with his 40th overall and 38th consecutive.

KEEPING IT 100
Max McLeod is on an exceptional streak at the moment as he has become only the third player in program history to record five consecutive 100+ yard receiving games, going for 157, 147, 109, 106, and 103 so far. His 622 yards rank second in NCAA Division II through the first month, and is the first Oredigger to have such a streak since the great Brody Oliver in 2018. Meanwhile, McLeod continues to move up the Mines career receiving ranks, now tied for fourth in career touchdown catches, and jumping up to seventh on the career receiving yards list last week. 

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

TWO-HEADED MONSTER
Landon Walker and Noah Roper have had an outstanding first half of the season, helping lead a Mines rushing offense that is averaging an RMAC-best 193.6 yards per game. Roper, coming off his career-best game last week with three total touchdowns, leads the team with 333 rushing yards with Walker at 243, and Walker has an edge in yards per carry at 6.2 to Roper's 5.6. They are both dangerous in the passing game as well, combining for four receiving touchdowns (two each). Walker and Roper are both tied for second in the RMAC in scoring with 42 points on seven total touchdowns each.

THIIIIIIIRD DOWN
Third downs have been kind to the Orediggers this season on both sides of the ball as Mines ranks second in NCAA Division II third down conversion defense and fourth in offense. Mines has converted 56.2 percent of its third-down opportunities offensively, while the defense has allowed opponents to convert only 11 of 69 tries (17.4 percent); the Orediggers have not allowed more than four third-down conversions in any game this year, and are an even-better 6-of-42 (14.3%) in RMAC games.

REEVE LEADS THE WAY
Nolan Reeve continues to be college football's active leader in sacks, compiling 35.5 in his career to lead all divisions of the NCAA. Reeve has 3.0 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 also ranks fourth among active D-II players in tackles for loss with 44.5. Reeve is also nearing a career milestone as he is four tackles away from 200 in his career; he is the Orediggers' active leader in tackles.

NCAA Football Active Sacks Leaders            
1. Nolan Reeve (Mines), 35.5        
2. Josh Bever (Ohio Northern), 33.5        
3. Mazin Richards (North Texas), 30.5        

GIMME THAT
Jaden Williams grabbed his 10th career interception last week, and the veteran safety is moving up in career takeaways. In addition to his 10 interceptions, Williams has recovered three fumbles (including one this year at CSU Pueblo) and forced two. 

SIMPLY PERFECT
Kicker Hunter Pearson has been perfect this season, converting all four of his field goals and 30 of his PATs along with long snapper Josh Wojciechowicz and holder Jacob Click. The Virginia grad transfer hit a career-long 44-yarder into a crosswind at CSU Pueblo and currently leads the RMAC in scoring among kickers with 42 points. On Wednesday, Pearson was named to the Fred Mitchell Award October watchlist; the award is given to the top placekicker in FCS, D-II, D-III, or NAIA. 

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.

BIG BRAIN SQUAD
In July, Mines' 2022 team was honored as the RMAC's Brechler Award winner for holding the top team GPA in the conference last season. The Orediggers combined for a 3.21 GPA to win the award for the fourth time in the last decade. 

PRESEASON HONORS
Mines players received a number of preseason honors over the summer, most recently with a quartet named to the D2football.com Preseason Elite 100 list in mid-August. Quarterback John Matocha, right tackle Levi Johnson, and receiver Max McLeod earned first-team spots and Zach Hester was named to the Elite 100 Squad. Lindy's magazine also gave preseason all-America honors to Matocha and McLeod, also naming Matocha its preseason D-II MVP.

NEXT UP
Mines is back home to host South Dakota Mines on Oct. 14 at noon.