Box Score
URBANA, Ohio -- A few early turnovers proved to be costly for the Notre Dame Falcons on Saturday, as they opened Mountain East Conference play, with a 39-19 loss on the road to Urbana.

The Falcons (1-1) had a tough time offensively in the first, half, and turned the ball over three times in the opening quarter, while the Blue Knights (1-1) capitalized and totaled 591 yards of offense on the afternoon. 

The Urbana offense ran 102 plays, and tallied 591 yards of total offense.  The Blue Knights went to work in the first quarter, scoring on their second drive of the contest.  D.J. Mendenhall found Alvin Busbee on an 11-yard touchdown pass at the 7:52-mark in the first quarter to give the Blue Knights the lead, and that same combination was used to give the Blue Knights a 13-0 lead, at the 3:19-mark in the first quarter on a 19-yard strike.

The Falcons got back within striking distance on their only points of the first half.  Mendenhall barely got off a low line drive punt that was retrieved by Michael Fields at the Urbana 40-yard line, and returned for Notre Dame's first special teams touchdown of the season, with 13:51 left in the first half.

Urbana would find the end zone two more times though, before the end of the half.  They capped a six play, 99-yard drive on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Mendenhall to Marc Johnson with 8:43 to play, and Busbee fell on Mendenhall's fumble in the end zone with less than three minutes left to give Urbana a 25-7 lead at the half. 

Turnovers were huge for the Falcons in the first half, as a pair of fumbles and an interception killed a trio of drives. 

Urbana forced a Pedro Powell fumble, which was recovered by the Blue Knights at their own 11 yard line to neutralize a drive with just over six minutes left in the first quarter. A special teams miscue forced a fumble on a punt a few minutes later to give the Blue Knights the ball at the NDC 28, which led to Busbee's second touchdown, and Ray Russ threw a pick at the Urbana 18 on NDC's final drive of the quarter. 

The second half began with the Blue Knights capitalizing on a kickoff return to midfield, and they scored eight plays later on tailback David Hill's first of two touchdown rushes in the second half. 

The NDC offense put its first points on the board with 1:09 to play in the third quarter, as NDC took advantage of great field position, and a number of big Urbana penalties on a drive that was capped by Powell's two-yard touchdown rush. 

NDC recovered an onside kick a few moments later, but were not able to continue the momentum, as the Blue Knights forced them to turn it over on downs. 

Hill found the end zone one last time for Urbana in the fourth quarter on a four-yard touchdown rush with 12:24 to play.  The Falcons got their final six points on an eight-yard touchdown strike from Russ to Powell with 11:26 remaining. 

The Notre Dame defense was on the field quite a bit, especially in the first half where Urbana ran 64 of its 102 offensive plays. Despite the offensive yardage allowed, the NDC defense held the Blue Knights to just a 20.0-percent (3-for-15) conversion rate on third downs. 

Russ completed 24-of-44 passes on the day for 224 yards, a pick and a touchdown.  Powell ran for 70 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown, while Jack Foy led the way in the receiving category for a second week in a row.  Foy caught 10 passes for 111 yards. 

Derrick Bavol had a big day for NDC defensively, leading the charge with 16 tackles, including a pair of sacks.  Grunder and Mo May also registered double-digit tackles, with 13 each.  May also had a sack and a pass breakup. 

The Falcons are in action again next Saturday, when they host West Virginia Wesleyan at Mueller Field.  Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.