2005 COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
FOOTBALL WEEKLY RELEASE #2

Colorado School of Mines at Northern Colorado
Saturday, September 3, 2005 - 3:00 pm
Nottingham Field - Greeley, Colo.

Click HERE for a complete .PDF version of the notes

ABOUT THE SERIES
Colorado School of Mines and Northern Colorado have met on the gridiron 39 times with the Bears holding a 29-21-2 advantage in the all-time series dating back to 1893. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since 1975 when Northern Colorado earned a 37-6 victory. UNC has won 11 of the last 12 meetings with CSM.

ON THE TUBE
Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on Altitude Sports, with the kickoff moved back two hours to 3:00 pm to accomodate the broadcast. It will mark the third time in the last two years that CSM has played on Altitude. Last season, the Orediggers defeated New Mexico Highlands 42-17 in Golden and lost at Pittsburg State, 70-35, on Altitude.

THE HEAD COACHES
Bob Stitt is in his sixth season as the head coach at CSM and claims a 34-22 (.608) overall record. Stitt’s .607 winning percentage is the highest by a CSM football coach who has coached in at least 20 games and the highest for a modern day coach at CSM. In addition, his 34 wins are the third most in CSM history and trail only Marv Kay (84 wins from 1969-1995) and Fritz Brennecke (78 wins from 1947-1969). Stitt is 0-0 all-time vs. UNC. He has ties to Northern Colorado as he served as running backs coach in 1988-89 while earning his master’s degree from the University.

Northern Colorado is led by sixth-year Head Coach Kay Dalton. He claims an overall mark of 34-24 at UNC. In 16 years as a head coach, he is 95-75-4 overall. Dalton is 0-0 all-time against CSM.

ALL-TIME RECORD
CSM claims a 358-503-30 all-time record since its first collegiate football game in 1888, a 6-4 win over Denver University.

CSM vs. THE “N’s”
CSM is 39-60-5 all-time against the seven schools it has played that begin with the letter “N”. The Orediggers have won their last four games against schools that begin with the letter “N”. Over those four games, CSM has outscored its opponents, 178-85. The last loss to a school that begins with the letter “N” was Oct. 11, 2003, a 42-21 setback at home to Nebraska-Kearney.

UP NEXT FOR CSM
CSM will return to action on Sept. 10 when it hosts Western State at 1:00 pm at Brooks Field. It will be the annual Hall of Fame Game for CSM and the inductees will be honored during a halftime ceremony.

COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES ON THE INTERNET
Now you can get all the latest and most comprehensive news on Oredigger football and Colorado School of Mines athletics 24 hours a day by visiting the Colorado School of Mines Athletics Department official website at ...
http://athletics.mines.edu.

MINES INTERNET RADIO
CSM fans can now listen to all 11 Oredigger football games online. Simply visit radio.mines.edu and click on the listen live link to access the game live online.

JOIN THE OREDIGGER EMAIL LIST
Get all the latest news on all of Colorado School of Mines Athletics by signing up for the Orediggers’ E-Mail List. Receive daily updates, game recaps and press releases on all of CSM’s athletic teams by emailing Sports Information Director Gregory Murphy at gjmurphy@mines.edu. You can sign up to receive updates on one sport, numerous sports or all sports. Please indicate in your email what sports you would like to be included on or if you would like to be included for all sports.

ALL ABOUT NORTHERN COLORADO
Saturday’s game will be the season opener for Division I-AANorthern Colorado. Last year, the Bears finished 2-9 overall against a rugged schedule.

WHEN THE BEARS HAVE THE BALL
Despite the loss of wide receiver Vincent Jackson, a second round pick by the San Diego Chargers in April, the Bears will return a lot on offense. Leading the way is running back Andre Wilson who ran for 990 yards and two scores last year. Nick Hager is the No. 1 quarterback after completing 57-of-102 passes for 590 yards, five touchdowns and four picks a year ago. In 2004, UNC averaged 326.9 yards of offense per game.

AND WHEN THEY DON’T
Safety Reed Doughty returns to lead a Bears defense which allowed 372.8 yards of offense per game last season. Doughty, who amassed 116 tackles and six picks last season, was one of 16 players chosen to The Sports Network’s Buck Buchanan Battle list last week. The award is presented at the end of the season to the nation’s best I-AA defensive player.

LAST TIME vs. UNC (9/27/75)
Northern Colorado scored a 37-6 victory over Colorado School of Mines.

STITT IN OPENERS
CSM Head Coach Bob Stitt is 4-2 in season openers at CSM after a 28-17 loss to Washburn to open the 2005 season. CSM lost its first game under Stitt, 43-34, to MidAmerica Nazarene but rebounded to win four straight season openers before Saturday’s loss to Washburn. In the last 19 openers, CSM is 15-4. In overall season openers, CSM is 57-54-5.

BACK IT UP
Last season, the CSM football team captured its first RMAC Championship since 1958. A second consecutive RMAC Championship in 2005 would give CSM back-to-back conference titles for the first time since 1906-07.

PRESEASON RMAC POLL
CSM was picked second in the Preseason RMAC Poll with 17 points and three first place votes. Chadron State was voted first with 12 points and four first place votes, while Adams State received the other two first place votes and 25 points to finish third. Nebraska-Kearney was fourth with 30 points and was followed by Fort Hays (35), Mesa State (42), Fort Lewis (47), Western State (54) and New Mexico Highlands (62).

PRESEASON ALL-RMAC SELECTIONS
CSM had six players named to the Preseason All-RMAC Team. Senior Justin Gallas was named to the team as a wide receiver and punt return speacialist. Also earning honors were senior right guard Travis Yenne, junior linebacker Danny Sprague, senior linebacker Jared Heath, senior defensive end Mark Donnelly and senior cornerback Nick Gilbreath.

PRESEASON NATIONAL RANKINGS
CSM received a preseason national ranking from three different publications. The Orediggers are ranked 14th in Lindy’s College Football Preview, 16th by Street and Smith’s and 16th by d2football.com. Don Hansen’s National Football Gazette, the American Football Coaches Association and dopke.com have not yet released their preseason polls.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
The following CSM players received Preseason All-American honors ...

Justin Gallas Senior WR 6-1 185 Westminster, Colo.
Street and Smith’s First Team
Lindy’s Second Team
CollegeSportsReport.com Fourth Team
Don Hansen’s National Football Gazette

Travis Yenne Senior OL 6-4 290 Murietta, Calif.
Lindy’s Second Team
Don Hansen’s National Football Gazette

Jared Heath Senior LB 6-0 220 Highlnds Ranch, Colo.
Don Hansen’s National Football Gazette

THE DRIVE FOR FIVE
With four straight winning seasons in the books, CSM will be going after its fifth straight winning season, a feat that has never been accomplished in program history.

RULE OF TWO
The number two has been pretty kind to CSM recently. In 21 of the last 25 games, including all 13 last season, CSM had at least one player find the end zone two times. The Orediggers are 18-7 during that span.

IT WAS ALL REGULAR
CSM had won 13 straight regular season games dating to the 2003 season before Saturday’s loss to Washburn. The last time it lost a regular season game before that was Nov. 1, 2003, at Mesa State (48-18).

HOME SWEET HOME
Prior to Saturday’s loss to Washburn, the Orediggers had won nine straight games at home, six last season and three in 2003. From 2001 to present, CSM is 17-6 at Brooks Field.

TOPPING THE CENTURY MARK
CSM has had at least one wide receiver top the 100-yard plateau in 18 of the last 19 games. The only time it did not happen was the 2004 regular season finale against Adams State when Jonny Chan led the team with 83 yards.

THIS JUST IN
Senior wide receiver Justin Gallas returns as one of the top players in all of Division II. The All-American is closing in on several CSM career records as he needs just 10 catches, 792 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns to break CSM career records in those categories. In Saturday’s opener, he caught 12 balls for 148 yards and a score. It was the ninth time he went over 100 yards in his career and the third straight game overall.

MEHL ON THE MOVE
Junior Garrett Mehl has been named the starting quarterback for this week’s game at Northern Colorado. He entered Saturday’s game to start the second quarter and wound up going 29-of-45 for 281 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 16 times for 37 yards.

GO FLO
Junior running back Bryan Florendo is now CSM’s No. 1 running back after Craig Van Horn held down the position for the last three years. Florendo, who earned All-RMAC honors as a tight end last season, opened the 2005 season with 10 rushes for 34 yards and also caught 10 passes for 86 yards.

“H” IS FOR HUCK
Redshirt freshman Corey Huck has been promoted to No. 1 on the depth chart at H-back for this week’s game. Huck played well in his first career collegiate game on Saturday as he caught three passes for 21 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown.

EXPERIENCE UP FRONT
The Oredigger offensive line is one of the most experienced groups under Head Coach Bob Stitt. The line features four returning starters from last year’s group which allowed just 15 sacks in 13 games and none through the first three games. The four returnees include junior left tackle Zach Ballard, senior All-American right guard Travis Yenne, junior two-time All-RMAC honoree Nick Belden and sophomore right guard Stephen Immel.

ON THE DEFENSIVE
The CSM defense returns nine starters from last season, along with senior cornerback Grant Newton who was a two year starter before missing last season with an injury. In all, eight of the projected 11 starters on defense have earned All-RMAC honors, while three players have earned All-American accolades in Newton, senior cornerback Nick Gilbreath and senior linebacker Jared Heath at some point in their careers.

TURNING IT OVER
Last season, the CSM defense forced 32 turnovers in 13 games and had three or more turnovers six times. CSM forced a season-high six turnovers in its 52-33 win over Midwestern State in the first round of the NCAA II Playoffs.

PICK OFFS
In each of the last four seasons, a CSM defensive back has recorded at least five interceptions. Three of the players who accomplished the feat return this year. Junior free safety Tim Miller posted six last season, while senior cornerback Nick Gilbreath tallied five in 2003 and senior cornerback Grant Newton notched eight in 2002.

IT’S MILLER TIME
Junior free safety Tim Miller enjoyed a breakout season last year en route to First Team All-RMAC honors after leading the team with six interceptions, five of which cam in the first four games. He also finished with 72 tackles, three forced fumbles and three pass breakups.

TURN UP THE “HEAT”HER
Senior linebacker Jared Heath began the season just as expected as he earned RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honors following his 11 tackle performance in Saturday’s loss to Washburn. In addition, he posted three tackles for loss, two sacks and recovered a fumble. During his tenure in Golden, Heath has amassed 297 tackles and 39 tackles for loss. Last year, he recorded 117 tackles and as a sophomore, Heath was in on a then school-record 114 stops.

OH DANNY BOY
Junior linebacker Danny Sprague will once again be counted on to control the middle of the field. Sprague has been a regular for the CSM defense since making his first career start two seasons ago in a 37-7 win over Fort Lewis. In that game, Sprague posted eight tackles and two sacks en route to RMAC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Last year, he totaled 103 tackles, including 17 in a 40-39 win over Chadron State, one short of tying the school-record.

AUSTIN WAGNER; LINEBACKER WHO TACKLES
Junior linebacker Austin Wagner made quite a name for himself in the final games of the 2004 regular season. In the second to last regular season game against Mesa State, he posted 13 tackles and then came back to lead the squad with 12 tackles, including two for losses, in a 31-21 win at Adams State in the regular season finale that helped CSM clinch its first RMAC title since 1958.

CAN’T PICK ON NICK
Senior cornerback Nick Gilbreath is back for his third year as a starting cornerback. The All-RMAC, All-Region and All-American selection picked off his 10th career pass in Saturday’s loss to Washburn. He is five short of tying the school-record of 15 set by Tolu Lasaki from 1998-2001.

READY, WILLING AND ABEL
Sophomore placekicker Aaron Abel is back as the placekicker and got off to a good start on Saturday when he connected on both of his extra point attempts and also booted a career long 38-yard field goal right before the end of the first half.

WELCOME BACK
CSM will welcome back a pair of seniors after the duo missed last season due to injuries. Returning are senior cornerback Grant Newton and senior wide receiver Andrew Schmid. Newton, an All-American honoree is 2002 after leading the RMAC with eight interceptions, has notched 164 career tackles and nine interceptions. Schmid has hauled in 64 passes for 849 yards and nine touchdowns in his career. As a sophomore, Schmid tied for the team lead with seven touchdown catches.

“MAR” IN THE BACKFIELD
Sophomore defensive end Marin Richardson had a solid game on Saturday, his first since moving to the end from his tackle position. Richardson finished with four tackles, but two were for losses. Last season, he earned RMAC Defensive Freshman of the Year honors.