CMU Mavericks Begin Football Season

The Colorado Mesa University Mavericks kick off their 2012 football season tonight in Arcata, California against the Humboldt State University Lumberjacks. Normally, I would be there preparing to broadcast the game on the radio, but a snafu in the travel plans prevented that from happening. As it turns out, part of the team took a plane, and some had to take the bus - which, by the way,  is about an 18 hour drive from Grand Junction.

The Mavericks have a new head football coach this year in Russ Martin. Coach Martin has spent the last 8 seasons as the offensive coordinator for the highly successful football program at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, and has prior head coaching experience.

His job is to turn around a program that has seen three consecutive losing  seasons and won just four games one year ago.

You don't turn a program around in one year, but I know from my conversations with Coach Martin he has high expectations for this season - and from his players.

"How many starters we have returning is not important. What is important is what these guys are willing to do to get themselves ready." - Russ Martin

The fact is, last year's 4-win season is a bit misleading. The Mavericks did not have a bad football team. In fact, there was a number of games that the Mavericks could have won and I think that with a break or two  this team could win 5 or 6 games this year.

The Mavericks bring back quite a bit of experience and have added some quality new players to the mix including red-shirt freshman quarterback Deke Cisco who begins the season as the starting quarterback.

Tonight's game (6:15pm on 99.9FM and AM 1230) with Humboldt is a tough way to start the season. The Lumberjacks are ranked #13 in the USA Today AFCA college football poll. But the Mavericks are ready for some football and are excited about the challenge. An upset is not beyond the realm of possibility. But, regardless, it's an eleven game season, and this team IS going to be a winner.