This Week: Notre Dame College football will face a tough road test when they battle the University of Charleston on Oct. 2. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.

Records: Notre Dame is 4-0 after defeating West Virginia State 38-14, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 28-7 in the second half. Charleston enters with a record of 2-1 after a 69-7 victory over Alderson Broaddus.

Coaches Corner: Mickey Mental is in his second season as head coach of the NDC football program. He was awarded MEC Coach of the Year after leading the Falcons to an undefeated 2020 season. He has a 9-0 (7-0 MEC) record. Pat Kirkland is in his ninth season at the helm of the Charleston program. He has a record of 64-42.

Rankings: In the latest polls, Notre Dame is ranked No. 6 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II top 25 and No. 6 in the D2Football.com top 25. This will be the 25th consecutive week that NDC is featured in a Division II National Poll.

Series History: NDC leads the all-time series 5-3 over the Golden Eagles since 2013. UC took the first three games in the matchup, before NDC started their five-game winning streak that they are currently on. Notre Dame defeated Charleston last season in the MEC Championship game. However, the last time the Falcons visited Charleston, it was a shootout. The teams combined for 1,078 yards of offense and 116 points, including 57 points in the second half alone.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame struggled to get the offense going in the first half last week, but received a spark from Tyris Dickerson's 64-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. The Falcons only led by three at the half, 10-7, after WV State scored with nine seconds to go in the second quarter. After a long pass play from Chris Brimm to Davis Patterson early in the third quarter, the Falcons were set up for a 14-yard touchdown pass to Devanaire Conliffe. Less than four minutes later, Dickerson ran in to put NDC ahead 24-7 with 8:31 to go in the third. Reece Perkins and Dickerson would both score a touchdown in the fourth.
 
Once again, two NDC football players earned MEC Player of the Week honors. Harris-Lyles was named MEC Defensive Player of the Week. He was the obvious choice after breaking the NDC record and MEC record with 4.5 sacks. He also tied the NDC record with 5.5 tackles for loss and ended the game with a forced fumble and 10 tackles. Dickerson earned MEC Offensive Player of the Week after running for a season-high 208 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 8.3 yards per attempt.
 
In NCAA Division II, the NDC defense now ranks first in takeaways (16), second in passes intercepted (9), third in turnover margin per game (+2.5), third in fumbles recovered (7) and fifth in defensive touchdowns (2) and eighth in sacks per game (4.25). The offense is third in passing efficiency (181.97), 11th in red zone offense (.938), 14th in passing yards per completion (16.21) and 15th in total offense per game (478.2) and points per game (40.5).
 
Chris Brimm is third in Division II with a passing efficiency of 187, fourth in yards per pass attempt (10.66), 10th in passing yards per completion (16.21), 14th in passing TDs (11), 16th in passing yards (1,151) and 18th in completion percentage (65.7). Noah Harris-Lyles is first in sacks per game (2.17) and third in tackles for loss per game (3.0). Guam Lee ranks third in fumble recoveries (2), eighth in sacks per game (1.38) and 11th in tackles for loss per game (2). Antoine Holloway II is still averaging one interception per game, which is tied for the best in D2. Devanaire Conliffe is 12th in with five receiving touchdowns. Tyris Dickerson now sits at 11th in the country with 478 rushing yards and ranks 14th with 119.5 rush yards per game.
 
Guam Lee and Bryce Sheppert both hauled in an interception last week to keep the NDC INT streak alive. NDC has at least one interception in every game this season and have picked off a pass in nine straight games. Sheppert is now tied for first in program history with nine career interceptions.
 
With his six unassisted tackles last week, Guam Lee is now the program leader in that category at 153 for his career. He is also second in total tackles and needs just 27 to break the record. He already holds the program records in forced fumbles, fumbles recovered, fumble return yards and fumbles returned for a touchdown.

Noting the Golden Eagles: UC jumped out to a 28-0 lead with 9:17 on the second quarter clock, following a pick-6 last week. The Golden Eagles went on to win 69-7. Charleston's Guy Myers and Javonte Howard each threw for at least 135 yards and a touchdown. Tyreik McAllister, Phillip Fleshman and Myers all ran for at least 60 yards. Colby Cooper and Damon Mouzon caught a touchdown and both totaled 92 receiving yards. Keon Freeman led the defense with seven tackles.
 
Charleston's defense is tough to move the ball against. The Golden Eagles rank fifth in NCAA Division II, and first in the MEC, in first downs allowed with 43. They also rank fifth in defensive touchdowns (2) and in rushing yards allowed per game (49.3). UC allows just 14.3 points per contest, ranking 12th, and 134.3 passing yards per game, which is 15th best in the country. In terms of total yards allowed per game, opponents are only totaling 183.7 yards, which ranks third-best in the nation. They rank 17th in Division II and first in the MEC by holding teams to a third down conversion percentage of 26.7-percent. Even on special teams, they are allowing 13.08 yards per return, ranking eighth in D2.
 
On offense, UC is converting in the redzone 92.9-percent of the time and they are averaging 40 points per game. Both of those stats rank 16th in Division II.
 
Tim McCutchen ranks ninth in D2 in field goals per game at 1.67 and 20th in scoring at 10 points per game. Guy Myers is 21st in completion percentage (65-percent) and Colby Cooper is 24th is averaging 22.7 yards per reception, which is 24th in the nation.