PUEBLO, Colo. – One of the top games in Division II football this coming weekend will take place in Allendale, Mich., as No. 25/20th ranked Colorado State University Pueblo and No. 7/4th ranked Grand Valley State University will face each other in Lubbers Stadium on the GVSU campus. Kickoff for Saturday's nationally ranked game is set for 5 p.m. MT.

The ThunderWolves come into Saturday's first road game of the 2023 season fresh off a 37-8 win at home last Saturday against Midwestern State in the CSU Pueblo head coaching debut of Philip Vigil. In the win over the Mustangs, the Pack offense gained 386 yards and scored 37 points, while its defense held MSU to 283 yards of offense and forced six turnovers – four fumbles and two interceptions. Those six turnovers led to 20 points for the Pack.

"I thought we played hard. There were some first game things that we've got to clean up and the penalties were something that we must address, because that is not what championship level teams do, hurt themselves with penalties," said Vigil when reviewing the Midwestern State game. "We also had way too many penalties on special teams. We must play penalty free on special teams."                  

For the game, the Pack was penalized 10 times for 131 yards against the Mustangs. MSU didn't fare much better as they drew 11 penalties for 83 yards.

The Pack offense finished with 286 yards and scored 27 of its 37 points in the first half of Saturday's opener, before scoring just 10 points and gaining just 100 yards on offense in the second half. 

"Offensively, I don't think we showed what we can do in the second half and that is something I was not pleased with. We have got to get on the same page offensively and have to be able to put together four quarters of football on the offensive end."

Vigil was impressed with the way his defense made plays and were all over the field in the season opener.

"I thought the defense played fantastic on Saturday. Coach (Caid) Faske and his staff did a really good job at putting those guys into great positions to go and make plays," said the Pack coach. "The one that we talked about after the game was that the defense did not have a sack. We got six turnovers on defense, but we didn't rush the passer very well. We got some hurries and hits on the quarterbacks, but we didn't get a sack.

"There's always areas where you can improve and we're going to have to step up and play better this weekend if we want to have a chance against a really good Grand Valley State team."

In the opener against Midwestern State, the Pack offense was led by the play graduate student transfer quarterback Chance Fuller (Arlington, Texas/Fort Hays State). Fuller, who was locked in a three-way battle for quarterback during fall camp, earned the starting nod in last Saturday's opener and didn't disappoint in his Pack debut as he finished the game 27-for-45 passing for 276 yards with three touchdown passes and one interception.

Coming into Saturday's game with the Lakers, Fuller is third among active Division II players in career passing yards (8,371 yards), fourth among active Division II players in career touchdowns (70), fourth among active Division II players in career completion percentage (.623) and sixth among active Division II players in both passing yards per game (239.2) and total offense (8,265 yards).

Fuller's big target in the passing game was redshirt sophomore receiver Zack Rakowsky (Loveland, Colo./Loveland), who caught five passes for 77 yards and a touchdown, including a long reception of 44 yards in the first quarter. The 44-yard pass reception was the longest offensive play of the game for the Pack.

In addition to Rakowsky, junior receiver Reggie Retzlaff (Corona, Calif./Riverside City College) caught four passes for 49 yards in his Pack debut, while redshirt junior receiver Andrew Cook (Tucson, Ariz./Ironwood Ridge) also caught four passes for 31 yard and redshirt senior receiver CK Poulos (North Port, Fla./North Port) caught four passes for 29 yards, including a four-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter to give the Pack a 34-0 lead.

'I thought Chance played really well. I also thought our offensive line did a good job at protecting him. They (MSU) rushed a lot of guys and Chance was able to stay upright most of the night," added Vigil.

Vigil says his offensive line will face an even stiffer challenge this weekend with the Lakers defensive unit.

"Grand Valley does not blitz much. They only pressure about 20 percent of the time, but they're able to create pressure with four guys. They're so good in their defensive line they don't have to bring a lot of pressure," said Vigil when asked about GVSU's defense. "We are going to have to protect the quarterback, period. This weekend is going to be about taking what the defense gives us and not trying to force things and to put our playmakers into positions to go make some plays."

One area that performed well in last weekend's opener was the kicking game as junior kicker Jacob Willig (Fort Collins, Colo./Rocky Mountain) was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals and made all four of his extra points for a total of 13 points. Willig comes into this week's action tied for the NCAA Division II lead in field goal percentage and is second nationally in field goals per game.

In addition to Willig, sophomore punter Andre Haddad (Littleton, Colo./University of New England) averaged 44.3 yards per punt and put four of his six punts inside the 20-yard line in his Pack debut, while true freshman kicker Evan Lyons (Superior, Colo./Monarch) averaged 60.5 yards on his eight kickoffs and had five touchbacks.

"I was really pleased with our specialists," said Vigil. "It was Andre's first game punting and he did a really good job. His first punt was a bomb. It was 60-yards with a 4.3 second hang time. Jacob (Willig) saw action really for the first time in his career and was 3-for-3 on field goals. Our snapper, Brayden (Starmer), did a great job getting the ball and putting it where it needed to be. Evan (Lyons) is a true freshman doing our kickoffs and had several touchbacks."

Vigil said that his team continues to focus on getting better every day and this weekend is another opportunity to get better as a team.

"Even though we took care of a really good opponent on Saturday, we still have much left in us, and we have to continue to get one percent better each and every day," said Vigil. "We've got to take every single game with the same approach no matter who we're playing. How we prepare for Grand Valley State this week needs to be the exact same as if we're preparing for anyone else. We know we've got a lot of improvement in us and I expect to see that improvement this week against a quality opponent."

After reviewing the game film from the season opener, Vigil was impressed with how his team played once the lights came on.

"You don't know how a team will play until you see them in live action against another opponent and I was excited to watch our guys play once the lights came on," stated Vigil. "They practice hard, they work hard, and they love each other and when they got into a game situation, it was an even higher level and that was exciting to see. These guys played for one another, flew around, made plays and that was awesome."

While protecting the quarterback on offense is one of the big goals for success on Saturday against Grand Valley State, Vigil said other keys are being able to run the ball and stay ahead of the chains on offense.

"Offensively, we need to be able to protect the quarterback and need to find ways to run the football against their (GVSU's) defensive front. They are very good up front. We need to find ways to involve our run game and keep us ahead of the chains," added Vigil. "When you look at our last game, when we stayed ahead of the chains and stayed on track, we would go on eight to 12 play drives and score, but when we got behind the chains, whether that be from a negative play or a penalty, we really struggled."

On defense, Vigil says the Pack will need to stop the Lakers running game to be successful on Saturday.

"Defensively, we've got to be able to find a way to stop the run. That is what they (GVSU) hang their hat on. They go into a game knowing that they are trying to run the football at all points, so we've got to stop the run. We must find a way to stop explosive plays and out physical them at their own place," added Vigil.

Saturday's game at Grand Valley marks the fifth all-time meeting between the two schools and just the third meeting in the regular season. The teams have met the last two years in the regular season and met each other in the NCAA Playoffs in 2012 and 2015. Grand Valley State leads the all-time series 4-0, including earning a 35-10 win last season at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl. Saturday's game will mark just the second time the two teams have played at Grand Valley as the Lakers picked up a 34-14 win during the 2021 season.

"It is going to Grand Valley's first home game of the season and I expect it (Lubbers Stadium) to be packed, loud and rocking. We've got have elite focus and we've got to be able to block out all the noise and distractions and focus on our job," the coach added.

Along with being the fifth all-time meeting against Grand Valley State, Saturday's game will also mark the 39th game for the Pack against a nationally ranked opponent as the Pack has posted a 21-17 record against ranked teams since 2008. Among those 38 games against ranked teams, 21 of them have come in the regular season with the Pack holding a 13-8 record in regular season games against nationally ranked foes. The Pack have lost three straight games to nationally ranked teams, including last season's 35-10 loss to Grand Valley State, who was ranked No. 5 at the time of the game.

After the trip to Grand Valley State, the Pack will return home to the ThunderBowl to open Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play on Saturday, Sept. 16 against Western Colorado. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to be played in Gunnison, Colo., but ongoing renovations to Western's home stadium have been delayed and forced the league to move this year's game to Pueblo.

ABOUT GRAND VALLEY STATE
The Lakers, who are ranked fourth and seventh in this week's latest D2Football.com and AFCA Division II Coaches' Poll, comes into Saturday's match-up with the Pack sporting an 0-1 record after opening its 2023 season with a 31-28 setback in Golden, Colo., against No. 2 ranked Colorado School of Mines, who are the defending NCAA Division II National Runners-up.

In the opener against the Orediggers, the Lakers trailed 28-7 heading into the fourth quarter, but scored three touchdowns in the final quarter, including tying the game at 28 following a 20-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Cade Peterson with 36 seconds left. Mines, though, responded by driving 51 yards in seven plays and capping the victory with a 41-yard field goal by Hunter Pearson with two seconds left in the contest.

Grand Valley State, who are coached by first-year head coach Scott Wooster, outgained the Orediggers, 443 to 430, including rushing 37 times for 135 yards and passing for 308 yards as Peterson was 17-for-34 for 294 yards and had two touchdown passes and one interception. Peterson also added 64 yards rushing on 14 carries and scored a touchdown. Peterson outgained Mines quarterback John Matocha, who is the reigning Harlon Hill Trophy winner, 358 to 324 yards in the game.

Peterson's big target in the passing game against Mines was junior receiver Cody Tierney, who caught seven passes for 146 yards and scored on a 31-yard pass early in the fourth quarter to cut Mines' lead to 28-14.

"They are a very big, athletic, and physical group all the way around. Offensively, they're very big up front and they've got some good receivers that can run. Their quarterback is very physical and very big. They like to use their quarterback as a runner," Vigil said when asked about Grand Valley State. "Defensively, you look at that first game against Mines, three of Mines' four touchdowns were scored on broken plays that Matocha made. They were in position to make a play and then Matocha does what he does, makes a play, and they score a touchdown."

GVSU's defense held Mines to just 103 yards rushing on 28 carries. Last season, the Lakers defense limited the Pack to just 75 yards rushing.

"Grand Valley is very good at controlling the box and with a limited number of people and two-gapping things it makes it difficult from a run game standpoint," said Vigil.

The Lakers defense recorded three sacks and four tackles for loss in its opener against Mines as senior defensive end Christian McCarroll led the way with nine total tackles and added three tackles for a loss and two sacks. McCarroll was named a Preseason All-American and was the 2022 GLIAC Defensive Lineman of the Year.

In the Preseason Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Coaches' Poll, the Lakers were tabbed to finish second behind two-time defending NCAA Division II National Champion, Ferris State.

Grand Valley State is one of the premier football programs in NCAA Division II as the Lakers have captured three National Championships (2002, 2005 and 2006) and finished as National Runner-ups twice (2001, 2009). The Lakers have won 10 or more games in a season 18 times in the 51-plus year history of the program, including 16 times since 2001. In addition, the Lakers are the winningest FBS, FCS and NCAA Division II program in the country boosting a record of 431-150-3 (.741) in 51-plus seasons of playing football.

PACK FOOTBALL NOTES

• The second Philip Vigil Show of the 2023 football season is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7 at the Thunder Zone, which is located across the street from the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl.
• In the Preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll, the Pack were tabbed to finish second as they received 71 points to sit nine points in front of third place Western Colorado, who earned 62 points and a first-place vote and 10 points behind first place Mines, who earned 81 points and nine first place votes.
• The Pack are the winningest football program in the state of Colorado in terms of winning percentage as the Pack has won 65 percent of its all-time games since beginning its four-year school tenure in 1963. The Pack have posted a 250-133-4 record in football since 1963. Colorado is the second winningest team in the state as they Buffs have won 57.1 percent of its games all-time as they have posted a 720-536-36 record.
• Saturday's game at Grand Valley State will mark the 37th road opener in the program's history since 1963, including being 8-6 in road openers since the program's reboot in 2008. The Pack is 21-15 overall in road openers since 1963.
• A win Saturday at Grand Valley State would make Vigil the first CSU Pueblo coach to win their first two games since John Wristen in 2008.
• The first Pack Club Luncheon of the 2023 football season will be held on Friday, Sept. 15 from 12-1 p.m. in the ThunderBowl Pack House.
• All Pack football games will be broadcast once again this season on Fox Sports Pueblo (1350 AM) with Jim Brooks and Joe Cervi on the call. Saturday's broadcast will begin with a pregame show starting at 4:30 p.m. MT.