Black Hills State football is back home to host the top DII team in the nation in No. 1 Colorado School of Mines on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 1 p.m. at Lyle Hare Stadium.
This will be the first time the BHSU football program plays a No. 1 nationally ranked opponent in its history. Saturday will also be our 2023 Heroes Day game, as we honor and pay tribute to all of our veterans, first responders, and volunteers throughout the game.
Yellow Jackets Ranked
This season, BHSU ranks top-25 nationally in seven different statistical categories, including 6th in fewest intercepted passes (2), 13th in fewest turnovers lost (6), 23rd in passing offense (262.0), 24th in team passing efficiency (154.9), and 25th in blocked kicks (3).
Among individual ranks,
Tanner Clarkson sits 11th in the nation in total offense per game (295.0) and total passing yards (1,821), 14th in passing yards per game (260.1), 17th in yards per passing attempt (8.8), and 22nd in passing efficiency (155.4).
Hasaan Williams is 16th nationally in receptions per game (6.0), while
Nolan Susel ranks 16th in the nation in total touchdowns (10) and 22nd in total points scored (60).
TJ Chukwurah is ninth in the nation in yards per catch (22.6).
Coleman Chapman's average of 1.4 field goals per game ranks him fifth in the nation.
Defensively, Zechariah Rodriguez-Brown ranks 25th in the nation, averaging 1.3 pass breakups per game.
No. 1 Colorado School of Mines
The Orediggers have been a DII football juggernaut and are an undefeated 7-0 this year, including 5-0 in RMAC play. CSM earned non-conference wins over No. 3 Grand Valley State and No. 4 Angelo State to open the season. In the RMAC, they have rolled by Adams State (70-7), CSU Pueblo (55-14), Chadron State (35-7), Colorado Mesa (52-0) and South Dakota Mines (45-22), which has been their lowest margin of victory (23) in league play this season.
CSM comes into the game leading the RMAC in 18 statistical categories, and top-5 nationally in nine, including second in red zone offense (94.7%) and net punting (41.28), third in total offense (499.3) and offensive first downs (187), fourth in third down conversion percentage (55.2%) and fifth in passing offense (315.9).
Series History
The Yellow Jackets are 0-10 all-time against the Orediggers dating back to 2012. Last year in Golden, Colo., BHSU lost to the then No. 9 Orediggers, 38-0.
Tickets
Tickets and Will Call open 1.5Â hours prior to kickoff (11:30Â a.m. MT). To purchase tickets, please go onlineÂ
here and order them now to avoid lines on game day. NO outside food or drink is allowed inside Lyle Hare Stadium, including waters and water bottles of any kind.
Coverage
Yellow Jacket fans can catch Steve Ammerman on KDSJ 980 AM/103.5 FM, or live online at https://listen.streamon.fm/kdsjam. Ammerman is the voice of the Yellow Jacket Athletics and can be heard for every football, and women's and men's basketball game throughout the year.
A live video stream of the game can be viewed free at rmacnetwork.com/bhsu.
Yellow Jackets' Last Time Out
Black Hills State football dropped its Saturday matchup with No. 14 Western Colorado, 35-20.
The Yellow Jackets (4-3, 3-2 RMAC) outpaced their ranked opponent in first downs (16) and passing yards (208).
Tanner Clarkson completed 18 of 40 passing attempts for 208 yards and a touchdown, which was a 50-yard pass to
Cameron Goods.
That was Goods' lone catch of the afternoon, as he also finished with 24 yards on the ground on four rushing attempts.
Nolan Susel rushed 12 times against WCU's strong rush defense for 15 yards and a touchdown, and added one catch for 45 yards.
Hasaan Williams hauled in six catches for 23 yards while
Connor Boyd and
TJ Chukwurah each had three catches.
Mitch McKibbin rushed three times for 30 yards in addition to having two receptions for six yards.
Defensively,
Aaron Thiele led the team with seven tackles which included 2.5 for a loss.
Kellen Collier made six tackles, including three for loss, a sack and a forced fumble.
Zecheriah Rodriguez-Brown made four tackles to go along with a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.
Sebastian O'Farrell also tallied a breakup and
Cooper Brown registered two QB hurries.
On special teams,
Coleman Chapman was good for two field goals of 35 and 47 yards on the day.
WCU opened with a touchdown on their first drive to take a 7-0 lead before adding on to make it 14-0 with 5:17 to go in the first quarter.
A forced fumble by Collier in the final seconds of the first quarter that was snatched up by Rodriguez-Brown led to a 35-yard field goal to make it 14-3 early in the second. But another touchdown from WCU midway through the second half made it 21-3.
Chapman added a 47-yard field goal at 4:33 in the second to cut the WCU lead to 21-6, but an 83-yard touchdown rush on their ensuing drive extended the Mountaineer lead to 28-6 that held into halftime.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but at the end of the third, WCU drove into BHSU territory before opening up the fourth quarter with a touchdown to move up 35-6.
Midway through the fourth, the Yellow Jackets scored a touchdown on a Susel 2-yard touchdown rush to make it 35-12.
Then in the final minutes of play, a 50-yard touchdown catch by Goods and a converted 2-pt try on a Clarkson pass to McKibbin made it 35-20. The Yellow Jackets would run out of time, though, going on to fall by that score.
Orediggers' Last Time Out
John Matocha and Max McLeod linked up for three touchdowns to lead #2 Colorado School of Mines past South Dakota Mines, 45-22, to stay unbeaten.
The Orediggers (7-0, 5-0 RMAC) shut down the Hardrockers (3-4, 2-3 RMAC) in the first half as Matocha threw for 344 yards and tied a career high with five touchdown passes, and McLeod compiled 133 yards and three scores. Mines ran out to a 31-0 lead through the middle of the third quarter and never looked back.
The win kept Mines both undefeated and in a tie with Western Colorado for first place in the RMAC. With #7 Grand Valley State's win over #1 Ferris State on Saturday, the Orediggers are likely to be the nation's #1 team when the polls are announced Monday.
The Hardrockers' Ben Noland was outstanding, catching 16 passes for 137 yards, as Jayden Johannsen tried to will his team back in the second half with 265 yards and three touchdowns.
It was an unsettled start to the game as the Hardrockers punted their opening possession away before Elrey Brooks III intercepted Matocha on the Orediggers' first play from scrimmage.
The home team earned a red zone turnover on downs, however, dropping no-gain tackles on consecutive plays with Nolan Reeve and Kyle Bahnsen on 3rd and 1, and a team effort led by Peyton Rose and Hayden Gregg to halt a quarterback sneak on 4th and 1 at the 15. From there, Mines drove 85 yards for their first score, a three-yard Noah Roper run, to take the lead late in the first quarter.
The Orediggers wouldn't score against until the midpoint of the second quarter, but it would break the game open as Matocha hit McLeod in stride over the middle and he rolled 54 yards to score.
A muffed punt recovered by Hall Edmonds on the Hardrocker 3 set the Orediggers up later in the quarter, with Matocha dumping a short pass to Landon Walker for six and a 21-0 halftime lead.
Mines scored on the opening drive of the second half with a 12-play journey finished by Hunter Pearson's 37-yard field goal, then were set up for another big play thanks to Konnor Mickelsen's 31-yard punt return into Hardrocker territory as Matocha found McLeod on the first play for a 37-yard touchdown.
The Hardrockers got on the board on their next possession with Johannsen's 17-yard pass to Henry Dryden, making it 31-7, but the hosts answered back with McLeod's third of the day, a five-yard strike, the next time down the field to close the third quarter up 38-7.
Dryden would catch two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, from five and 17 yards, to give South Dakota Mines a glimmer of hope, but Mines chewed up clock and scored the game-sealer with 1:43 remaining on Blake Smotherman's first career touchdown, a 12-yard drop over the middle from Matocha, with 1:43 remaining.
-BHSUAthletics.com-
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