DII CONFERENCE · 2026 SEASON

Rocky Mountain

#32 overall#7 in DIIRR50 -3.3Upper strength -1.510 teamsTop 25 teams 0

VERDICT BEGINS · 2026

The Mines Standard

The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference plays football at altitude — Colorado School of Mines in Golden at 5,700 feet, Adams State in Alamosa at 7,544 feet, Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction at 4,583 feet. Visiting teams lose conditioning in the second half in ways that don't show up in any statistic. Colorado School of Mines has won nine RMAC titles and made the DII national championship game twice, building a STEM-university football program that routinely outplays programs with better facilities and larger scholarships.

Division II10 teamsRace: Super RegionLeader: CSU Pueblo

Rocky Mountain · 2026 Season

Three Things to Watch

The ProgramColorado School of Mines: Engineering Champions

Colorado School of Mines is a STEM university with a 3.9 average GPA for incoming freshmen and a football program that has won nine RMAC titles and made two DII national championship games. Their Orediggers — nicknamed for the university's mining engineering roots — recruit players who can get into Mines academically while competing at a DII Super Region level. It is one of the strangest and most compelling programs in college football at any level.

The ChallengerColorado Mesa: Grand Junction's Rising Program

Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction has been building toward RMAC contention for five years. Their program draws from the Western Slope of Colorado and the Utah corridor — a recruiting territory that has underperformed its athletic talent for decades. Coach John Wristen has built a program culture that matches the Mines' development model and has produced back-to-back 9-win seasons. They are the most likely challenger to Mines' conference supremacy entering 2026.

Wild Card

The Altitude Advantage Nobody Fully Accounts For

Games in the RMAC at 4,000-7,500 feet elevation are genuinely different from games at sea level. Visiting teams — particularly those flying in from the South and East — lose aerobic capacity in the second half in ways that show up as late-game scoring margins. The RMAC's altitude advantage is real, documented, and consistently underweighted by Super Region selection committees who haven't traveled to Alamosa, Colorado in November.

Conference Standings · Rocky Mountain · 2026

Standings

#	Team	Conf	Overall	Pwr
1	CSU Pueblo	2–0	4–0	-0.7
2	Western Colorado	2–0	4–0	-0.8
3	Black Hills State	1–1	3–1	-2.0
4	South Dakota Mines	1–1	3–1	-2.5
5	New Mexico Highlands	1–1	3–1	-4.8
6	Fort Lewis	1–1	2–1	-4.8
7	Colorado Mesa	1–1	2–2	-3.0
8	Colorado School of Mines	1–1	1–2	-1.4
9	Chadron State	0–2	1–3	-3.1
10	Adams State	0–2	0–4	-9.6

Conference record determines Super Region seeding. Power = neutral-field pts vs. all-level average.

Projected Standings · Rocky Mountain · 2026

Win Projection

Odds of winning at least N conference games from current power ratings — full slate played out, not locked to results. AVG = expected wins; W–L = most-likely record.

#	Team	W–L	PWR	AVG	≥9	≥8	≥7	≥6	≥5	≥4	≥3	≥2	≥1
Favorites
1	CSU Pueblo	5–4	+2.6	5.2	1	5	18	42	68	87	96	99	✓
2	Western Colorado	5–4	+2.5	5.1	1	5	17	40	67	87	96	99	✓
Challengers
3	Colorado School of Mines	5–4	+1.8	4.9		3	13	34	60	82	95	99	✓
4	Black Hills State	5–4	+1.3	4.7		3	11	30	56	80	94	99	✓
5	South Dakota Mines	5–4	+0.7	4.6		2	10	28	53	77	92	98	✓
The Field
6	Colorado Mesa	5–4	+0.3	4.6		2	10	28	53	77	92	98	✓
7	Chadron State	5–4	+0.2	4.6		2	10	27	52	77	92	98	✓
8	Fort Lewis	4–5	-1.5	4.1		1	5	17	39	65	86	97	✓
Rebuilding
9	New Mexico Highlands	4–5	-1.5	4.1		1	5	17	39	65	86	97	✓
10	Adams State	3–6	-6.3	3.1			1	5	17	39	66	88	98

Conference Power · Division II

Where We Stand

#	Conference	Avg Power	vs Focal	Top Team
1	GLIAC	-2.8	—	Ferris State
2	South Atlantic	-2.8	—	Carson Newman
3	Mid America	-3.0	3–1	Central Oklahoma
4	Northern Sun	-3.2	1–2	Minnesota State
5	Rocky MountainYou are here	-3.3	—	CSU Pueblo
6	SIAC	-3.3	—	Edward Waters
7	Great Midwest Athletic	-3.5	—	Findlay
8	Lone Star	-3.6	5–3	Western Oregon
9	Great Lakes	-3.6	1–1	Indianapolis
10	Great American	-3.8	—	Harding
11	Pennsylvania State Athletic	-3.9	—	Kutztown
12	CIAA	-4.0	—	Virginia State
13	Northeast 10	-4.0	—	Franklin Pierce
14	Carolinas	-4.3	—	UNC Pembroke
15	Mountain East	-4.5	—	Charleston (WV)

Round-robin power = strength of schedule-adjusted conference average, points vs. all-level average team. Record = Rocky Mountain's record vs. that conference across all games this season.

Conference Snapshot

RR50-3.3

Upper Strength-1.5

Median Power-3.0

Resume Pulse46.9

Avg ATS--

Wins vs Market+0.00

Top-to-Middle Gap2.1

Combined Record23-15

League Drivers

Power leader CSU Pueblo #282 overall | -0.7 pts vs avg Resume leader CSU Pueblo #282 overall | 89 / 100 resume

Rocky Mountain Team Board

The league stack, sorted by predictive strength. Power is shown as neutral-field points versus the all-level average team, while resume is shown on a 0-100 season score.

Rank	Team	Record	Power	Resume	ATS	Wins vs Market	Recent Form
#282	CSU Pueblo	4-0	-0.7	89	--	+0.00	4-0 over the last 4 (W1 W1 W2 W3)
#284	Western Colorado	4-0	-0.8	80	--	+0.00	4-0 over the last 4 (W1 W1 W2 W3)
#288	Colorado School of Mines	1-2	-1.4	25	--	+0.00	1-2-1 over the last 4 (L1 T1 L2 W3)
#303	Black Hills State	3-1	-2.0	55	--	+0.00	2-1 over the last 3 (W1 W2 L3)
#318	South Dakota Mines	3-1	-2.5	70	--	+0.00	3-1 over the last 4 (W1 W1 L2 W3)
#329	Colorado Mesa	2-2	-3.0	37	--	+0.00	2-2 over the last 4 (L1 W1 W2 L3)
#332	Chadron State	1-3	-3.1	7	--	+0.00	1-3 over the last 4 (L1 W1 L2 L3)
#387	Fort Lewis	2-1	-4.8	41	--	+0.00	1-1-1 over the last 3 (T1 W2 L3)
#388	New Mexico Highlands	3-1	-4.8	62	--	+0.00	3-1 over the last 4 (W1 W1 L2 W3)
#433	Adams State	0-4	-9.6	2	--	+0.00	0-4 over the last 4 (L1 L1 L2 L3)