This Week: The Notre Dame College football team travels to Kutztown University for an NCAA Football Playoffs Second Round contest. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. NDC will not be broadcasting on ESPN Cleveland this week, but live video with audio will be provided by Kutztown here. 

Records: Notre Dame is 11-1 (9-1 MEC) after a 31-24 home victory over West Chester in the First Round of the NCAA Playoffs. Kutztown is also 11-1, and carries a 7-0 PSAC record. KU defeated Tiffin 33-31 with late-game heroics in the First Round.

Coaches Corner: Mike Jacobs is in his fourth year as the head coach of the NDC football program. He has an overall record of 41-7 (36-5 MEC). Jacobs was named MEC Coach of the Year in both 2018 and 2019. Jim Clements is in his sixth season at the helm of the Kutztown team. Clements is 48-19 at KU and 114-43 overall (spent eight seasons at DIII Delaware Valley).

Rankings: Notre Dame was ranked No. 13 in the AFCA Coaches' Poll released November 18. This was the Falcons 20th-straight week in the top 25. Kutztown was ranked No. 17 in the poll. NDC earned a No. 3 seed in the Super Region 1 playoff positioning while KU earned the No. 2 seed.

Series History: This is the first time the programs have matched up.

Playoff History: Last season, Notre Dame earned an NCAA Playoff berth for the first time in program history. The Falcons earned the No. 1 seed in 2018, giving them a first-round bye. NDC went on to defeat Hillsdale (19-14) and Slippery Rock (21-17) to win the region before falling at Valdosta State (30-24) in the NCAA Semifinals. This year NDC earned the No. 3 seed and won its First Round game against West Chester. Head Coach Mike Jacobs is now 3-1 in the postseason, including 3-0 at home and 2-0 against teams in the PSAC. Kutztown earned its fourth DII Playoff berth this season. With back-to-back appearances in the postseason, KU is now 2-3 in NCAA Playoff games. Kutztown is 1-1 against MEC teams in the tournament.

Noting the Falcons: The Notre Dame defense held tough against West Chester in the Golden Rams final drive of the game, stopping WCU at the one-yard line twice before time expired. That final stand marked the third fourth-down conversion attempt by West Chester that the NDC defense halted. Coming up big on fourth down may be key again this week against Kutztown. The Golden Bears have turned the ball over on downs seven times in the red zone this season. Due to field goal kicking woes (KU has also missed two field goals in the red zone, and only made two field goals throughout 2019), Kutztown has been forced to go for it on fourth down inside opponents' 20-yard line. KU has only been able to score 50 times on 63 trips to the red zone, and is one of just five teams left in the playoffs (out of 16) with a red zone scoring percentage below 80.0. Notre Dame boasts the 16th-ranked red zone offense, scoring on 88.6 percent of its attempts inside the 20 (39 of 44). Only four other teams still in the hunt for the DII National Championship have a better red zone average. What has been a weakness of Kutztown has been a strength for the Falcons. Notre Dame's kicker Tanner Harding has been one of the best in the country this season with 14 field goals so far this season. NDC has made nine field goals in their red zone trips, missing just one field goal attempt. Of his 12 attempts inside 40 yards, Harding has made 11.

Noting the Golden Bears: Kutztown and Tiffin traded leads three times in the final four minutes of their NCAA First Round game last week before KU scored the game-winner with 42 seconds to go. The teams went back and forth throughout the game with Kutztown leading for a total of 31:54 while Tiffin led for 16:18. The Golden Bears' 10-point lead, gained before halftime, was the biggest lead by either team in the contest. The close score gave Kutztown's offense the green light for the entire 60 minutes and they delivered. With the majority of their yards coming from quarterback Colin DiGalbo, the Golden Bears led all playoff teams wtih 537 yards in the First Round. DiGalbo led all passers as well with 462 yards through the air. The redshirt-senior also added 26 rushing yards. DiGalbo has been solid on his feet in 2019 with 548 yards and 10 touchdowns on 121 carries. He's also been potent through the air with 2,927 yards and 29 touchdowns passing. If DiGalbo gains 73 yards passing this week, he will be just the fourth quarterback to gain 3,000 passing and 500 rushing yards in 2019.

Jacobs vs Kutztown: Notre Dame head coach Mike Jacobs spent six seasons as a defensive lineman coach at Cal (Pa.) and during that time faced the Kutztown Golden Bears twice. In 2010, the No. 10 Vulcans won on the road against No. 11 Kutztown in a close 48-45 battle. The 2013 match up was not as close as Cal (Pa.) won 45-10. Jacobs is 2-0 against Kutztown, but has never coached against KU head coach Jim Clements who started at KU in 2014.

Ground Game: Kutztown has allowed 240 first downs this season, which ranks 135th in Division II, but KU has only allowed 82 first downs from rush attempts. Notre Dame has gained 132 first downs through its run game, and sophomore running back Jaleel McLaughlin has 86 on his own. The Golden Bears have allowed just 3.3 yards per carry to opponents this season while NDC has gained an average of 5.7 yards per carry, with McLaughlin 6.9 per attempt. While Kutztown's 55th-ranked rushing offense does not jump off the page as much as NDC's 17th-ranked rush attack does, the Golden Bears rank in the top 25 in rushing touchdowns with 33. But NDC's ninth-ranked rushing defense has only allowed 11 touchdowns so far this season, a rate of less than one per game.

Air Mailed: Kutztown's passing game ranks 21st in NCAA Division II and may have a good game against Notre Dame's 143rd-ranked pass defense. But Notre Dame is 4-0 against teams that have averaged 250 yards or more in the passing game. KU averages 271.9 yards through the air, which is 18 less than Charleston and 24 less than West Virginia State, two teams NDC was able to take care of in the regular season. Charleston did have a big game against Notre Dame with 464 yards passing, but Notre Dame was able to hold WVSU's 12th-ranked passing game to just 201 yards.

Milestones: Last week, several Notre Dame players eclipsed career marks. Sophomore running back Jaleel McLaughlin became just the second Division II player to rush for back-to-back 2,000-yard seasons. McLaughlin is the first at any level in the NCAA to do it in his first two years. Senior wide receiver Marvelle Ross surpassed 5,000 career all-purpose yards. And senior running back Ladennyawn Greene gained his 3,000th career rushing yard.


By the Numbers

102: Tackles recorded by linebacker Nathan Moore in 2019. Moore is just the third player to tally 100 tackles in one season in NDC's history. He is the first to do so under head coach Mike Jacobs.

180: Points scored by running back Jaleel McLaughlin. With 28 rushing touchdowns and two receiving TDs, McLaughlin became the 19th player in DII history to score 180 points in a season. If he scores a touchdown this weekend, he will jump into the top 15 in single-season scoring.

40.3: Points scored on average by Notre Dame this season. Kutztown will have played three of the top 15 scoring offenses after its game against NDC. KU is 1-1 in games against offenses that have averaged 40+ points this season with a loss to Slippery Rock and a victory against Tiffin.