Box Score SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Notre Dame Falcons overcame an early 10-0 deficit at Mueller Field on Saturday afternoon, and rallied to beat West Virginia State, 41-10.
The victory for the Falcons (6-3, 6-2) was their sixth of the season, setting a new program record in the process, while the loss for the Yellow Jackets (2-7, 1-7 MEC) was their fourth in a row.
Notre Dame used a terrific defensive performance, a tremendous second half surge, and got scores from their defense and special teams units as well to come away with the lopsided victory.
Things did not start well for the Falcons, as they turned it over on their opening possession.
Ray Russ's pass was picked off by Daniel Ware at the NDC 32 yard line, and the Yellow Jackets turned that into three points moments later on Cory Broughton's 24-yard field goal to give WV State a 3-0 lead with 10:13 left in the first quarter.
Notre Dame turned it over on downs on their next possession, and the Yellow Jackets marched down the field, taking a 10-0 advantage after Matt Kinnick found Shannin Bennefield on a 30-yard touchdown pass at the 6:46 mark in the first quarter.
A pair of specials teams plays turned things around for the Falcons at the end of the first quarter. NDC punter
Anton Vrebac's punt pinned the Yellow Jackets inside their own five yard line, and on that drive, they were forced to punt out of their own end zone. Broughton's punt went over
Mitchell Shegos's head, driving Shegos back to the NDC 23 yard line, but Shegos responded with an incredible 77-yard punt return for a touchdown to put the Falcons on the board.
On their final drive of the first half, the Falcons engineered a 14-play, 85-yard scoring drive, which was kept alive on fourth down conversion where the Falcons used a fake punt to pick up a couple of yards for a first down on a rush from
Ray J. Brown. The drive ended with Russ finding Shegos on a five-yard touchdown pass with 3:35 left in the opening half to give NDC a 14-10 lead which they took into the locker room.
The two teams exchanged punts on the first four possessions of the second half, before the Falcons got on the board on
Kyle Kaplan's 25-yard field goal at the 5:48-mark. The Yellow Jackets then had a punt partially blocked, giving Notre Dame great field position. The Falcons responded, as they scored on the very next play, with Russ tossing a 43-yard touchdown pass to
C.J. Germany to give Notre Dame a 24-10 lead with 3:25 left in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Falcons, as they outscored the Yellow Jackets, 17-0. Kaplan hit his second field goal of the day, less than a minute into the fourth quarter, with a 37-yarder to give the Falcons a 27-10 lead.
The defense got in on the scoring party about 10 minutes later, as Sha'Haun Williams scooped up a fumble and ran it back 37-yards for a touchdown. On their final drive of the game, Notre Dame put the game away with a three-yard touchdown rush from
Kenneth Butler.
The Notre Dame defense was relentless all afternoon long, as they tallied six sacks, which tied a program record, and marked the second time that they've registered six sacks in a game this season.
Russ threw for over 300 yards, and a pair of scores. He's thrown multiple touchdown passes in every game this season, and has now thrown a touchdown pass in 20 consecutive games. He was 23-for-40 through the air with 316 yards passing and a pair of scores.
Shegos was a big factor in the passing attack as usual. The MEC's leading receiver hauled in nine passes for 127 yards, marking his sixth consecutive 100-plus yard receiving performance. Six Falcons caught multiple passes on day.
Notre Dame limited West Virginia State to just a 21.4-percent (3-for-14) conversion rate on third downs, and the Yellow Jackets threw for just 139 yards on the day as well.
Marlon Oden led the way for the Falcons defensively with 11 tackles.
The Falcons will play their final road game of the 2014 season next Saturday, Nov. 8, when they head to Athens, W.Va., to take on No. 15 Concord. Kickoff is scheduled for Noon.
