CHADRON, Neb. -- Two football teams with identical records will square off Saturday when the Chadron State Eagles visit the Colorado Mesa Mavericks in Grand Junction. Kickoff will be at noon.
             
Both are 4-5 for the season and they share sixth place in the RMAC with 3-4 records.  Both have defeated Fort Lewis and Adams State and lost to Black Hills State, Western Colorado, Colorado Mines and CSU-Pueblo.  The Eagles also have defeated New Mexico Highlands and Mesa upset South Dakota Mines in Rapid City on Sept 16.  CSC will host the Hardrockers next Saturday, Nov. 11, while Mesa will close out its season that day by visiting the Cowboys.

Several of the CSC-CMU season statistics are similar. The Eagles are averaging 344.8 yards of total offense and giving up 392.5 per game.  Mesa is averaging 326.2 and yielding 405 a game. 
             
Chadron State is rushing for 144.6 yards a game and giving up 129.7 per game. The Mavericks are averaging 121.8 yards a game on the ground and have allowed 159.1 per game. 

The Eagles' passing game has averaged 200.22 yards while the foes have averaged 262.89 yards through the air, lowered a great deal when New Mexico Highlands completed just six passes for 44 yards against CSC last Saturday. Mesa is averaging 204.44 yards passing while allowing 245.9 per game.

None of Mesa's statistical leaders have spectacular numbers.  Quarterback Gavin Herberg, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound junior, has completed 80 of 169 passes for 1,339 yards and eight touchdowns while being intercepted nine times.  However, he has rushed for six touchdowns while none of the other Mavs has scored more than two TDs.

Herberg has run for 343 yards, the team high, but has been sacked for a minus 136 yards, leaving him with 207 total net yards.  The team's top rusher is Marvin Jones, a 5-9, 170-pound sophomore, with 43 carries for 267 yards while playing in all nine games.  The Mavs' busiest receiver is Keenan Brown, a 6-2, 195-pound junior, with 22 receptions for 461 yards.

CSC's sophomore quarterback Preston Pearson has completed 91 of 166 passes for 1,235 yards and 12 TDs.  He's been picked off six times. Redshirt freshman James Marschall has run for 421 yards in the last four games after taking over the starting job and has now carried 91 times for 488 yards. Sophomore Tommy Thomas ranks third in the RMAC in receiving with 51 catches for 859 yards and nine TDs.

Chadron State leads the all-time series with Mesa by a 20-12 margin, but the Mavericks have won seven of the last eight contests. Two of the Mavs' recent victories have been in overtime.  They were 10-7 during the COVID-shortened season in 2020 and 38-37 last year in Chadron.   
             
Miles Kochevar is in his second season as Mesa's head coach.  He is a native of Colorado's Western Slope and was the leading tackler at Colorado State at Fort Collins as a senior in 2005.  He had been an assistant with several Division II teams, including a stint as the defensive coordinator at CSU-Pueblo, before going to Grand Junction in December 2021.