Box Score
SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Notre Dame Falcons used a fast and furious start to Saturday's game at Mueller Field to score a big Mountain East Conference upset, as they defeated the University of Charleston Golden Eagles, 44-17 in the 2016 season opener. 

The victory for the Falcons (1-0, 1-0 MEC) marked their sixth straight victory in a home opener, and was the first in the career of new Head Coach Mike Jacobs. The loss for the Golden Eagles (0-1, 0-1 MEC) was their first in four games against the Falcons. 

Notre Dame scored on their first two possessions of the contest, and while Charleston was able to strike back with a pair of quick scores to trim the deficit to four (14-10) at the end of the first quarter, the Falcons outscored UC, 17-0 in the second quarter, and never looked back. 

On Notre Dame's opening drive, the Falcons went 77 yards on six plays, and DJ Greene capped it with an 18-yard touchdown rush to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead with 13:22 left in the quarter. 

Charleston was forced to punt on their first possession of the game, and the Falcons stared their second drive at their own 36 yard line. It took them less than two minutes to march down the field on five plays, as Malik Grove threw his first of three touchdown passes to Emmanuel Smith, a 29-yard scoring strike to give NDC a 14-0 lead at the 9:16-mark in the first quarter. 

The Golden Eagles scored their first points of the game on a 23-yard field goal from Brett Benes with a little over two minutes left in the first quarter, and on the ensuing kickoff, the Golden Eagles forced a Notre Dame fumble, and recovered it at the NDC 26 yard line. 

Three plays after the fumble, on a third-and-10 situation at the NDC 13 yard line, the Golden Eagles capitalized on that turnover, as Mason Olszewski found Joey Augustin on a 13-yard touchdown pass to bring the Golden Eagles within four (14-10) with 1:29 left in the opening quarter. 

After both sides exchanged punts on the next two possessions, Notre Dame would strike again. Grove orchestrated a quick, five-play, 65-yard drive that took just over a minute to complete, as he hooked up with Smith once again on a 16-yard touchdown pass to the corner of the end zone to give NDC a 21-10 advantage with 12:17 left in the first half. 

The offenses were kept quiet for the next 10 minutes of the game, until things really got interesting. The Falcons went 85 yards on eight plays, and Grove used his feet to find the end zone for the third time on the day, scrambling into the end zone on an 18-yard touchdown rush, putting the Falcons ahead, 28-10 with just under two minutes left in the half. 

On Charleston's next possession, they lined up to punt on a fourth-and-eight situation. The Golden Eagles called a fake punt, with their fullback Nick Passodelis getting the snap. Passodelis took the ball inside NDC territory for 26 yards to the Notre Dame 37 yard line, where he fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by Aykee Henderson, who then returned it to the Charleston 29. Notre Dame was able to capitalize on that, as Kyle Kaplan hit his first of three field goals on the day, a 33-yarder as time expired at the end of the first half. 

Notre Dame's defense suffocated the UC offense in the second half, as the Golden Eagles turned the ball over on downs on their first two offensive possessions of the quarter, and their third possession ended in an interception by Tyrel Hill.   

After Hill's interception, Notre Dame put together an 11-play, 51-yard scoring drive, which ended with Kaplan's second field goal of the day, a 32-yarder to give the Falcons a 34-10 lead with 6:28 left in the third quarter. 

The Falcons scored their final touchdown of the day, just over three minutes into the fourth quarter. Notre Dame took five minutes and 12 seconds off the clock, as they put a 12-play, 83-yard drive together, and the combination of Grove and Smith worked up one final trip to pay dirt, on a 27-yard touchdown strike to give the Falcons a 41-10 lead. 

Kaplan nailed his final field goal of the day, a 28-yarder with 8:45 left on the contest, and the Golden Eagles scored a touchdown with 3:19 remaining on a two-yard pass from Anthony Fontana to Chris Briggs. 

Grove had a huge day for the Falcons, completing 22-of-32 passes for 259 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Grove also ran for 92 yards on the day and had a rushing touchdown. Smith was Grove's go-to receiver, hauling in 11 passes for a game high, 126 yards and a trio of touchdowns. Greene ran for 87 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown as well, while BJ Baldwin hauled in three passes for 77 yards. 

The Falcons are back in action on Saturday, Sept. 10, when they hit the road for the first time this season, in another MEC battle against Virginia-Wise. Kickoff in Wise, Va., is scheduled for Noon.