CMU Mavs Hope to Engineer Victory at Mines

The best defense against high-flying offense?
Keep the ball away from them.
When Colorado Mesa University travels to Golden on Saturday at noon to take on Colorado School of Mines, the Mavericks will face the top offense in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
The Orediggers lead the RMAC in total offense, scoring offense and passing offense. Mines boasts the conference's top passer in Matt Brown and have four receivers in the RMAC's top 10 pass catchers.

"You're not going to stop them," CMU coach Russ Martin said. "You want to control them — control the football, run the football and put points on the board."

The best way to keep Mines from scoring too many points is to keep that offense off the field.
The Mavs think they can do that, and they have a great weapon in that regard - the RMAC's leading rusher, sophomore Jake Cimolino. The Mavs are second in rushing offense, but Cimolino leads the conference, averaging 147.6 yards per game, including a 220-yard performance last week against Fort Lewis, including a pair of touchdowns.

So, the Mavs will rely on Cimolino, an offensive line that gets better each week, and junior quarterback Jason Haferman to chew up yards, chew up the clock and keep the Orediggers' potent offense in more of a spectator role.

Another great way to do that?
"We have to win the turnover battle," Martin said.
Sounds like a sound plan.

(Thanks to contributor Greg Reed who joins Zane Mathews in the broadcast booth for CMU Football on 99.9 FM, 1230 AM, and 101.1 FM -Parachute/Rifle)