This Week: After receiving the No. 1 seed in Super Region 1, the Notre Dame College football team received a bye week in the first round of the NCAA Division II Football playoffs. On Saturday, November 24, the Falcons will host the No. 5 seed in the region: Hillsdale. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. 

Records: Notre Dame College is 11-0 (10-0 MEC) after completing a perfect regular season at Seton Hill with a 41-7 win. Hillsdale College is 10-2 after a 40-26 win at Kutztown in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs.

Coaches Corner: Mike Jacobs is in his third year as the head coach of the NDC football program. He has an overall record of 28-5 (27-4 MEC). Keith Otterbein is in his 17th season at Hillsdale after taking over the program in December of 2001. He boasts a record of 108-80.

Rankings: Notre Dame was ranked No. 11 in the November 12 AFCA Coaches' Poll. The team moved up two spots after being ranked No. 13 last week. NDC debuted at No. 23 on September 24 before moving up to 20, 17, 14, 14, and 13. The Falcons are also the top ranked team in the Super Region One for the third-straight week. Hillsdale was ranked No. 23 in the AFCA poll and No. 5 in the region.

Series History: Hillsdale defeated Notre Dame 63-14 in the Falcons' first season in the NCAA. The 2012 contest was a conference game when both teams were part of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Since then, both teams have moved on to different conference. The game was at home for NDC, but was played on Korb Field in Lyndhurst, Ohio.

Falcons Road to Playoffs: Notre Dame started its season off with a 35-33 upset against the reigning Mountain East Conference Champions, No. 16 Shepherd. The upset win jump started NDC's undefeated regular season on its way to becoming just the third team in MEC history to win the conference title. The Falcons won multiple shootouts in the first half of the season, with exciting wins against West Virginia State (33-31) and Fairmont State (24-21). After defeating FSU, who would later finish second in the conference, Notre Dame would go on a role defensively, holding opponents to an average 9.8 points per game in its final five games. The Falcons would also establish themselves as comeback artists, winning four games after trailing at halftime and three after trailing to start the fourth quarter. NDC was the top-ranked team in each of the regional rankings that came out throughout the end of the season before earning the top seed and first-round bye when the NCAA announced the field.

Chargers Road to the Playoffs: Hillsdale's regular season was bookended with two tough losses. After losing in Week 2 at Michigan Tech 31-30 in overtime, the Chargers went on an eight-game winning streak before falling a second time at No. 12 Indianapolis after getting outscored by 10 in the fourth quarter to lose 34-24. Both those late-game losses weren't enough to overshadow Hillsdale's strong season however. The G-MAC champions were fresh off a win over No. 15 Tiffin, that rewarded the Chargers with their conference title, before dropping their final game. That win against Tiffin moved Hillsdale up to No. 5 in the regional rankings after being No. 7 for the first two weeks. HC remained at No. 5 in the final bracket, matching up with No. 4 Kutztown in the first round.

Second Half Opening Drives: Notre Dame has won the pregame coin toss eight times this season and chosen to defer to the second half seven of those eight times. Overall, due to Concord electing to receive in the first half in Week 4, the Falcons have started off with the ball in the third quarter eight times. NDC has scored on six of those eight second-half opening drives. Of the eight times opponents have started the first half receiving a kick, the Notre Dame defense has held its ground to not allow any points on opening drives in the first quarter.

Conference honors: Notre Dame was awarded with four of the five yearly Mountain East Conference honors this season. Jaleel McLaughlin became the first player to win both MEC Offensive Player of the Year and MEC Offensive Freshman of the Year after breaking the conference record in both rushing yards (1,883) and rushing touchdowns (17). Fellow first-year player Jack Kosko was named MEC Defensive Freshman of the Year after recording 6.5 tackles for a loss, which included 5.5 sacks. Kosko recorded 4.5 of those sacks in the final three games of the regular season. Head coach Mike Jacobs was also recognized with MEC Coach of the Year honors. The third-year coach led NDC to a conference title after being picked to finish third in the preseason. Notre Dame totaled 16 All-MEC honors that includes seven First Team members, six Second Team honorees and three players on the Honorable Mention squad.

Hillsdale was also heavily recognized by its conference, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Quarterback Chance Stewart was named G-MAC Player of the Year after throwing for nearly 3,000 yards (2,961) and tossing 24 touchdowns in the regular season. Head Coach Keith Otterbein was named G-MAC Coach of the Year after a perfect 8-0 conference record. The Chargers won three more yearly honors with Wyatt Batdorff (82 tackles) winning G-MAC Defensive Player of the Year, Drew Callahan earning G-MAC Offensive Lineman of the Year and Zach VanValkenburg (13 TFLs, 8.5 sacks) collecting G-MAC Defensive Lineman of the Year distinction. Overall, 19 Chargers were named to an All-Conference Team (Nine First Team, four Second Team, six Honorable Mention).

Red Hot Red Zone Defense: Notre Dame finished the season as the top-ranked red-zone defense in the nation, stopping opponents on half of all attempts inside the 20-yard line. The Falcons stopped offenses 15 times on 30 attempts throughout the year. The defense stopped teams six times on missed field goals, four times with interceptions, three times forcing fumbles and twice on downs.

The All-Purpose Driven Life: Along with his 1,883 rush yards, true-freshman running back Jaleel McLaughlin recorded 68 receiving yards and 163 kickoff return yards to total 2,114 all-purpose yards in 2018. McLaughlin is the only player in Division II football to record over 2,000 all-purpose yards this season. He is also the only freshman in the top 30 players ranked in all-purpose yards gained.

Margin of Victory: Both teams have had ups and downs this season but on average, when these teams come out on top, they win by nearly 18 points. In Notre Dame's 11 wins this year, the margin of victory has been an average of 17.9 points. In Hillsdale's 10 wins, the average margin of victory has been 17.8 points. NDC has had five games this year decided in the single digits, but the Falcons have also won by more than 30 points four times. The Chargers have only had two games decided by less than 10 points, but have won four games within 10-20 points.

Squeaky Clean: Hillsdale is the second-least penalized team in all of NCAA Division II with just 37 flags drawn this season. This has resulted in the Chargers being the having the fourth fewest penalty yards per game (33.00) in the country. Comparatively, Notre Dame has been flagged 88 times this season for 807 yards (73.4 average). But both teams will be seeing new referees as officials from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference will be overseeing the contest on Saturday.

Third Time's the Charm: Hillsdale has converted on nearly half of its third-down attempts this season. Currently, the Chargers rate is 48.08 percent, having gained first downs on 75 of 156 attempts. Hillsdale has also had a high success rate on fourth downs, converting on nine of 18 attempts (50 percent). But their offensive success on third down is paired with defensive struggles. The Charger defense has allowed conversions on 43.33 percent of both third-down attempts (78-180) and fourth-down tries (13-30). While Notre Dame doesn't share the offensive output of its opponent on third downs (39.38 percent (63-160)) it does have a much tougher defense when it comes to stopping opponents on these crucial plays. NDC has allowed just a 30.49 percent success rate on opponents third down tries (50-164).

Playoff History: This is the first NCAA postseason game for the Notre Dame football program, but it will be the fifth for Hillsdale. The Chargers made their postseason debut in 2009 as a No.6 seed. That year they upset the No. 3 seeded Minnesota State 27-24 in overtime. The following week, Hillsdale lost to No. 2 Grand Valley State 44-27. In 2010, HC made the playoffs for the second-straight season, this time as a No. 5 seed. The Chargers lost to St. Cloud State 42-28 that year. Neither of these teams has made it to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Playoffs.

By the Numbers

2: All-MEC Teams in which Marvelle Ross made an appearance. Ross was named First Team All-MEC wide receiver and Second Team All-MEC return specialist. Ross caught 60 passes for 905 yards and nine touchdowns while also returning 22 punts for 367 yards and three touchdowns. Fairmont State's Lyrics Klugh was the only other player in the country to return three punts for TDs. Klugh earned First Team honors in the MEC as a returner.

4: Fumbles caused by defensive lineman Derrick Brumfield. There are only four players in Division II with more.

9: Sacks allowed by the Notre Dame offensive line so far this season. That mark is 12th best in the NCAA DII ranks.

16: Sacks recorded by the Notre Dame defense in their last three games. The Falcons have recorded 3.36 sacks per game on average this year, which ranked 10th in NCAA DII.