GUNNISON, Colo. --- The Mountaineers travel to Rapid City, S.D. for their final regular season road game, as they play South Dakota Mines at 12 p.m. Saturday in O'Harra Stadium. The Mountaineers will be going for their seventh win of the season after defeating Black Hills State last weekend at home.
 
Western Colorado football comes in ranked No. 24 for the second week in a row in the 2021 American Football Coaches Association – Division II Coaches' Poll. This is the second week in program history (last week was the first) that the Mountaineers have ever been ranked in the top 25 (since the DII poll was created in 2000), with their 6-1 start and coming off a 44-28 victory over Black Hills State.
 
THE MOUNTAINEERS HEADING INTO THE WEEK | 2021 SEASON STATS
Western Colorado has won their last two games as they defeated N.M. Highlands 45-38 and Black Hills State 44-28. The team will have to win on the road if they want a chance at remaining in the top 25.
 
On the season defensively, the Mountaineers are allowing 17.14 points per game - third in the RMAC (just behind of Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa). They are also third in the RMAC in total defense - allowing 316 yards per game. Individually, Lane Farris leads the defense with 38 tackles, 12 tackles for a loss for a total of 36 yards with five sacks for 25 yards, along with two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Robert Garlock also has 38 tackles to go along with an interception and blocked kick. Linebacker Wyatt Buhr, is third on the team in tackles with 37. Will Lydle leads the team with eight sacks for 38 total years.
 
Offensively, Western Colorado rank third in the RMAC in scoring, averaging 34.4 points per game. Josh Cummings leads the RMAC in rushing with 910 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns, tied for fifth in the nation. Deyvon Butler has rushed for 332 yards and three touchdowns as well for the Mountaineers.
 
Connor Desch has completed 56.15 percent of his passes for 1411 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Cole Riters has 19 catches for 275 yards, while Deyvon Butler has 11 catches for 210 yards, averaging 19.09 yards per catch.
 
SOUTH DAKOTA MINES HEADING INTO THIS WEEK | 2021 STATISTICS
The Hardrockers are coming off a tough 44-24 loss on the road to #3 Colorado School of Mines as they prepare to host the #24 Mountaineers.
 
Black Hills State's run game is spread out as they have four players with over 250 yards led by quarterback Jayden Johannsen with 516 rushing yards along with seven rushing touchdowns.
 
In the air, Jeremiah Bridges is the Hardrockers leading receiver with 408 yards, 31 receptions and five touchdowns. Many of those coming from Johannsen who has a 61.34 percent completion rate.  
 
Defensively, they have forced five fumbles and have had six interceptions this season. Kyante Christian leads the team with 49 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 8 tackles for a loss.
 
2021 WESTERN COLORADO NOTES
RED ZONE WARRIORS
It's no secret that the Western Colorado defense has been stellar to start the season, and a big part is they aren't breaking when teams reach the red zone (inside Western's 20-yard line). The Mountaineers have only allowed teams to get to the red zone 15 times through seven games.
 
The offense has done its job when it gets to the red zone as well, scoring 27 of 32 times and scoring a touchdown 20 out of 32 times.
 
'CUMMINGS NAMED THE RMAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (SEPT. 13)
Western Colorado's Josh Cummings big day on the ground led to him in a win over Western New Mexico led him to being named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. The redshirt sophomore rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries - averaging 8.9 yards per carry. This includes a 47-yard touchdown run by Cummings in the first quarter to get the scoring going for the Mountaineers in the 49-14 win over the Mustangs in Silver City.
 
SEASON OPENERS
Western Colorado after its 2021-opening win is 33-63 all-time in season openers. Before this season, the last season-opening win for the Mountaineers came in 2014 against Wayland Baptist, 38-21, on the road. Of their 32 previous season opening wins, the Mountaineers have finished those seasons with a winning record 19 times (59.4 percent) and won the conference title 12 times (37.5 percent).
 
BAINS REACHES GAME NO. 100 FOR WESTERN AGAINST STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
Western coach Jas Bains enters his 11th season as head coach of the Mountaineers and last season's lone contest against SFA marked his 100th game as head coach. He's just the third coach in Western history to reach the 100-game mark - joining Bill Noxon (133 from 1971-84) and Carl Iverson (127 from 1988-2000).
 
MOUNTAINEER ALUM EKELER CONTINUES TO SHINE IN NFL
Western Colorado alum Austin Ekeler started his fifth NFL season with the Los Angeles Chargers and continues to make a mark.
 
Ekeler, an undrafted free agent signee out of Western in 2017 who signed a four-year, $24.5 million extension prior to the 2020 season, this season has rushed for 356 yards and four touchdowns while catching 27 passes for another 242 yards this season.
 
The 26-year-old who came to Western out of Eaton High School in Colorado owns the Mountaineers' single-game (344), single-season (1,676 - also owns the No. 2 and No. 4 spots) and career (5,857) rushing yard records as well as the single-game (5), single-season (19) and career (55) rushing touchdown records. He also owns the single-season (126) and career (378) scoring records at Western.