Photo courtesy Montana State Athletics

A 34-0 blowout win can do a lot for a team’s confidence. But that confidence can only take you so far when you’re facing the No. 3 ranked team in the FCS.

“It was a pretty big transition,” junior running back Jake Cimolino said. “We knew [the Bobcats] were going to be better, and knew we had to play our very best.”

The Mavericks (1-1) traveled to Bozeman to play Montana State for the fourth time in as many games between the two teams, who last met in 1992 in a 43-0 shutout win for the Bobcats. Montana held a 2-1 series advantage before Saturday with the only loss being a 41-7 Maverick win in 1988.

Keeping with history, offensive production was once again the issue for the underdog Mavs, who netted only 41 yards through the air and a 13 percent conversion rate on third downs.

“We have to be able to throw the ball more efficiently on first and second downs,” Cimolino said. “It’ll lead to shorter third down conversions that will allow us to have more options open to help sustain drives.”

Redshirt-freshman quarterback Kyle Duran struggled to find a rhythm against the Bobcat defense after winning the starting spot in the blowout win over Menlo College last week. He threw for 41 yards and an interception before Jason Haferman replaced him late in the game.

“Kyle went down with an injury, and [coach] Martin said to start warming up,” Haferman said. “I was prepared to move the ball down the field and score our first points of the day, but [the Bobcats’ defense] was solid at every position. They were very sound in what they did and had a great pass rush.”

The running game, however, wasn’t much of an issue for CMU, led by Cimolino, who gained a game-high 92 of the Mavs’ 127 yards on the ground. Cimolino, with 2,651 in his career, is now 284 yards shy of third all-time for rushing in a career at CMU.

The Mavericks start RMAC conference play on Saturday in Chadron, Neb., against Chadron State College (1-1). The Eagles (ranked No. 18 before the weekend) lost 34-31 Thursday after allowing 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to West Texas A&M in the NCAA Division II Game of the Week.

jdredmon@mavs.coloradomesa.edu