A golden retriever and pigtails tell the story of the Colorado School of Mines’ football program and its trek for a national title.

On the exterior, the Orediggers’ funny headshots with whimsical hairdos and their team mascot, Ella, are bright and upbeat. It hides a deeper hunger, drive and desire to defeat opponents that has lasted through three head coaches in three years.

The foundation of helping, as Ella the therapy dog does; or as upperclassmen do with their underclass “buddy,” is something senior quarterback John Matocha has seen ever since he made his first start as a freshman in 2019.

Being a “helluva engineer” is hard enough. Being a No.1-ranked football program on top of it is a weight no Oredigger can carry alone — so, they don’t, and the mix of drive and aid has created a program on the verge of its first national title, just a year after its first appearance in the title game.

“We call it ‘coming down off the hill’ because classes are uphill, and it’s actually a break for them to play football,” coach Pete Sterbick said. “We don’t have morning meetings, and we don’t practice for three hours. We don’t try to overdo it. We try to make sure they’re clear-minded.”

After serving as the team’s offensive coordinator last year, and winning the nation’s award for top coordinator, Sterbick replaced Brandon Moore who was offered an opportunity to coach at the University of San Diego.

Practices are fast paced and efficient. Team drills, individual drills, and maybe a two-minute drill and some skill refinement could all be part of the daily schedule, but two hours is more than enough time for Sterbick and his group which features several sixth and seventh-year players.

That group is impacting the next wave of freshmen through the team’s buddy program. Each freshman, outside of unique circumstances like Matocha starting in his first year, is redshirted at Mines.

A year of practice squad, film study and getting acclimated to the school’s academic schedule is needed. Weightlifting and nutrition plans help their bodies during the year off. The Orediggers do it to set a foundation for the freshmen, but also as a way to build a bond throughout the team.

Then-redshirt senior Ben Bottlinger was Matocha’s North Star for navigating the tough road as a first-year starter. The latter, pigtails and a dyed mustache in his team headshot and all, is doing the same for the freshmen now.

“We want to do something that’s never been done around here, and I think we’ve been answering the hype well,” Matocha said. “What makes Mines special is the team we have and the culture we’ve built. We’re not afraid to laugh at ourselves, and that goes for correcting mistakes too.”

If the day has been daunting, the players have a familiar snout waiting for them before practice.

Ella sits outside the equipment room — and her owner, Scott Groner who coaches the punters and kickers, but is also the team’s equipment director — each day before practice. Players come out of the locker room, and she warmly greets them and offers a chance to be petted.

The group, and Ella, have become so accustomed to the ritual that when practice time was altered for the team’s break, her day was thrown into a blender.

She is a trained therapy dog and may soon become the team’s tee retriever after kickoffs — the art of bringing the tee back to the sideline instead of getting distracted midway is a work in progress.

Each of the maneuvers to help players is playing off ahead of the team’s showdown with No. 9-ranked Western Colorado.

The Orediggers are scoring a shade over 45 points on average and upended two, top-five teams in the 8-0 season’s first two weeks. Matocha is on pace to hold several Division-II passing records when he exits.

A national title is still the goal, but Sterbick switched the focus this season and it has paid off.

The team is taking the weeks as bite-size goals, rather than just one overarching goal of becoming champions. Mines started last season with back-to-back losses before finishing the year as runners-up with a 13-3 mark. The first goal was to start fast; check.

Subsequent goals have been made each week, and the Orediggers have yet to slip up. This week’s is to win, of course, but also to set the wheels in motion for postseason success.

A win over Western Colorado puts Mines in the driver’s seat for the RMAC title. It also gives the chance to control their seeding — win out and the Orediggers will earn the top seed, and a first-round bye in Super Region 4.

If Western Colorado looks at the Mines roster ahead of time, it will be met with headshots that have made the program a social media darling. The pigtails, wild haircuts and Harry Potter imitations are just masking what is beneath, and Mines likes it that way.

“It’s a bunch of goofy nerds who know how to get stuff done,” Matocha said. “Being an engineering school, you get the nerd atmosphere. But we’re pretty damn good football players too.”