(Photo: NCAA)

This years D2 National Championship game has the best team from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference against the top squad in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

The ThunderWolves from Pueblo are playing in their first D2 football championship, after starting their program up in 2008. The program has quickly risen to the upper tier of D2 squads after winning 4 RMAC titles in that short time frame.



CSUP has a very impressive win over Sam Houston State (47-13) who's playing the semifinal round of the FCS playoffs this weekend up in Fargo. On the flip-side, they also stubbed their toe a few weeks after that game against Fort Lewis (23-22), who was a 3-8 football team. With that, the question remains, how good are the ThunderWolves if they can beat a top 4 FCS school by a lopsided margin but then also lose to a bad football team in the same season.

On the other sideline are the Mavericks from Mankato and their perfect season. Todd Hoffner returned to the program and too what was already a top level D2 football squad and takes them that final step to a national title game.

Along the way the Mavericks and their fans go through the tragic story of Isaac Kolstad, their former linebacker, who barely survived a brutal assault just before the start of the season.



After some initial hiccups between the players and Hoffner's return, the Coach took more of a CEO role and allowed his coaches to run their own sides of the ball while the team played a very focused and family type of football that's led them through their third straight unbeaten campaign in the Northern Sun.


Playoff Stats (3 Games)

CSU-Pueblo MSU-Mankato
Offense
Points Per Game 31 38
Yards Per Game 312 457
Passing 200 250
Rushing 112 207
Completion % 56 61
Defense
Points Per Game 16 17
Yards Per Game 337 327
Passing 253 222
Rushing 84 105
Completion % 57 55

When taking a quick glance at the playoff stats a few things jump out. CSUP has been out-gained after 3 games in the postseason. Concord from West Virginia was in the same boat last week heading into the game with Mankato.

Another thing that stands out is that the T-Wolves are thought of as a running team first, yet are only averaging 112 yards per game on the ground through 3 playoff games.

The Mavericks look far more complete and dangerous on offense, per the numbers. The Mavs are averaging over 200 yards in the air and on the ground in the postseason. That's really impressive. This isn't against bad football programs either. Mankato had 400 yards against the elite Pitt State defense and another 475 yards against Duluth, this Mavs offense is really forging ahead in the playoffs.



Both defenses have really top shelf numbers. They look like near mirror images of each other on paper, but considering that CSUP was one of the top defenses in the country against the pass heading into the postseason, it seems a tad odd that they are allowing 253 yards per game through the air during this 3 game stretch.


CSUP Offense against the MSU Defense

The T-Wolves are going to look to pound the rock with their star running back Cameron McDondle (#30), as he's gone for 1900 yards rushing this season and has 2 games in the playoffs where he went over the 100 yard mark. Mankato has not allowed running backs to have much success against them this season, including holding Concord's AA running back Cal Jones to 70 yards last weekend. McDondle should have a better chance at success on the ground given his team is more physical at the point of attack than Concord.



Quarterback Chris Bonner (#12) stands tall at 6-7 and is purely a pocket passer who takes snaps under center. Last year Bonner put up about 280 yards a game in the air, but in 2014 his numbers have dipped a bit and he's down to 235 ypg. He's been efficient throughout the season but struggled against a very athletic West Georgia defense that limited him to 10 of 25 passing.



Kieren Duncan (#1) is seemingly the most dangerous target for Bonner, a player who has great quickness and is dangerous with the ball in his hands. If Bonner can get time to throw CSUP should be able to have some success through the air against the Mavs.

The Mankato defense will look to take their front 4 and try and get pressure with just those players, but will also bring more bodies as needed. Defensive End Josh Gordon (#95) has 17.5 sacks this season and leads a front that produced netted 41 total. The backhalf for the Mavs has been getting interceptions weekly in the postseason and has really stepped up it's game. Defensive Coordinator Jake Dickert deserves a lot of credit for improving a Maverick defense that's gotten exploited in the passing game during their playoff runs of the last 2 seasons.


MSU Offense against the CSUP Defense

The Mavs are going to look to pound the ball as well, but will do so from a zone-read scheme where counter-runs and "who's got the ball" occurs frequently. Unlike the T-Wolves, the team in purple will run their quarterback fairly often. Ricky Lloyd (#8) has a big arm but he's a sneaky runner at times. He had over 100 yards on the ground against Pitt State, so you can't sleep on him when he tucks the ball to run.



Running Back Connor Thomas (#5) went for over 1300 yards this season in a carry-share. Thomas runs very hard and will dumptruck defenders if they don't make a solid effort to bring him down. During the playoffs he's been getting a heavier workload as well with his back-mate Andy Pfeiffer dinged up.

The CSUP defense has been really great against the run so far in the playoffs. They will need to continue playing great against the run since Mankato's offensive line is 300 lbs across and can find their targets better than any in D2 this season.

The Mavs passing game has gotten a shot in the arm since Lloyd took over quarterbacking duties full time (had been in a time-share nearly all season). Lloyd likes to take shots across the middle to his tight end, but his favorite target is the deep ball to Dorian Buford (#15). Their combination has been very effective during the postseason and Buford has 15 scores and just went over 1000 yards for the season. Lloyd has been completing his passes at an average of 16 yards per connection, which means he's throwing the ball downfield and not just short stuff.

The ThunderWolves defense ranks among the tops in the country in pass efficiency and has the most interceptions in D2 this season with 29. Along with that CSUP had a whopping 53 sacks. The leader of this defense is Defensive End Darious Allen (#3) who had 14 sacks, 22 tackles for loss, and is now the 2-time winner of the Gene Upshaw Lineman of the Year Award.



Cornerback Stephan Dickens (#4) is a smaller defensive back at 5-9, but he's got 7 picks and 10 pass breakups. Watching Allen matched up against Offensive Tackle and Upshaw finalist Chris Reed (#74) should be a feature battle, but if Dickens get's put on Buford on the deep routes things could get very interesting. The ThunderWolves really need to get to the quarterback on Saturday to change what Mankato wants to do offensively.

Prediction

Vegas has Mankato as a 16.5 point favorite over CSUP. My first inclination is to think that's a high number. CSUP might not be from a league as strong as the Northern Sun, but they've played some very good teams and haven't allowed any of them to explode offensively. The defenses will likely cancel each other out to a degree.

Both defenses will likely be strong enough to make this game look less than spectacular at times. The underdog in this game is a little better at getting turnovers, but the Mavs look a little more sound overall defensively.

The biggest difference between the squads is the offenses. The Mavs offense is just far better at consistently moving the chains and marching down the field against good competition. I'm seeing the ThunderWolves struggling to sustain drives against the Mavs defense but I feel the Mankato offense will get some big plays in the passing game and they will have enough success in the running game to win the day.

For CSUP to take Mankato to the limit they will need to have some success on the ground. I just don't see their passing game working real well as their quarterback isn't very mobile and runs the risk of being a sitting duck for a very good Mankato pass rush.

During the 2014 playoffs the Mavs have looked like a dominant team for the better part of the dance, while CSUP has spent much of the postseason trying to keep their head above water. This makes it harder to figure out exactly who CSUP is, but I think that I know who Mankato is.



It's really been a storied year for Mankato and this team has been through a lot emotionally. If the Mavs finish this climb it would be an understatement to call it a story of redemption for Coach Todd Hoffner. It would be one of the most amazing stories that I can recall in college sports.

On Saturday I'm expecting the game to start off slow and to be low scoring for the first half. Just before half I expect to see the Mavs slowly start taking over the game and winning the battle physically..en route to their first ever D2 National Title in football. After having top level teams the last few seasons and coming up short, it's time for the Mavericks to take home the hardware.

MSU-Mankato 27-16


(Pictures courtesy of CSUP Athletics and the Mankato Free Press)