This Week: After two weeks at home, Notre Dame College football travels to Glenville State College for a 1:30 p.m. start on Oct. 23.

Records: Notre Dame comes into this matchup with a 6-1 (5-1 MEC) record after defeating West Virginia Wesleyan 52-14. Glenville State snapped a four-game losing streak with a 35-21 victory over Alderson Broaddus University, and they come into the week at 2-4.

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 11-1 (9-1 MEC) record. Mike Kellar enters his third season as the head coach at Glenville State. He holds a record of 9-12 (8-12 MEC).

Rankings: In the latest polls, Notre Dame is ranked No. 9 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II top 25 and No. 12 in the D2Football.com top 25. This will be the 28th consecutive week that NDC is featured in a Division II National Poll.

Series History: NDC holds an all-time record of 3-4 against the Pioneers since 2013. Glenville State is the only team currently in the Mountain East Conference to have a winning record against the Falcons. GSC won the first three matchups, by eight points or less. NDC took the next three contests, but Glenville State earned an overtime win in 2019.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame looked solid in their win against West Virginia Wesleyan, scoring over 50 points for the second time this season. The defense allowed negative-22 yards rushing, which is the fewest yards allowed in the program's Division II era and is the fifth lowest total in a game in MEC history. The last time NDC allowed negative rushing yards was 2018, when the Falcons stopped WV Wesleyan for negative-5 yards on Oct. 20 and held Hillsdale to negative-2 yards in a NCAA Playoff game on Nov. 24. Nik Cotton also intercepted a pass late in the game. Chris Brimm threw for 231 yards and three touchdowns. Tyris Dickerson ran for 128 yards and a touchdown. Three players had at least 55 rushing yards and the Falcons totaled their second-highest number of rush yards in a game (240). Guam Lee led the team with 10 tackles and seven players had one sack.

Tanner Harding went 7-for-7 on extra points, a season-high, and made a field goal. He became the all-time leader in the Mountain East Conference in career points (375). He already holds the MEC and NDC career record in extra-point kicks (231) and field goals made (48). Harding is just two field goals behind Chase Albaugh (Lenoir-Rhyne) for the active career leader in the category in Division II.

Guam Lee also tied the Falcons' career total tackles mark (312). He already has the program record with 169 solo tackles, seven forced fumbles, seven fumbles recovered, 231 fumble return yards and three fumble return TDs. He needs 18 assisted tackles to take the program lead in that category.

In NCAA Division II, the NDC defense now ranks third in sacks per game (4.29), fourth in takeaways (20), sixth in interceptions (11), eighth in defensive touchdowns (3), 10th in tackles for loss per game (8.7), 10th in fumbles recovered (9) and 12th in turnover margin (1.29). The offense ranks 18th in points per game (37.9), 23rd in yards per game at 444.9 and 28th in rushing yards per game (202.3).

Noah Harris-Lyles ranks in the top-five in three categories. He is fourth in the country with 1.42 sacks per game and is fifth in both forced fumbles per game (0.5) and tackles for loss per game (2.2). Guam Lee ranks second in D2 in forced fumbles per game (0.57), sixth in total fumbles recovered with two, 14th in sacks per game (1) and 19th in tackles for loss per game (1.7). Antoine Holloway II is fifth in Division II with 0.7 interceptions per game. Xavier Perkins is also tied for sixth in fumbles recovered, at two. Tyris Dickerson sits at 23rd in the country with 667 rushing yards and is 29th in rushing yards per game (95.3). Chris Brimm ranks 16th in the country with 8.67 yards per pass attempt, 23rd in passing efficiency (153.8), 26th in passing yards per completion (14.2) and 30th in total passing yards (1,674). Bryce Sheppert is averaging 24.9 yards per kick return, which is 29th best in D2 and 9.9 yards per punt return, which is 30th best. He is one of only three players with a kick and punt return touchdown this season joining Elijah Harper (Adams St.) and Jake Balliu (Winona St.).

Noting the Pioneers: GSC and Alderson Broaddus played in the Battle for the Barrel. AB took an early 7-0 lead, after recovering a fumble and taking advantage of the short field. But Glenville State put the next 35 points on the scoreboard. Alfred Menjor rushed for 191 yards and three touchdowns. Zay Huff also rushed for a TD and totaled 66 rushing yards as the Pioneers had 307 yards on the ground. In the third quarter, Brandon Penn forced a fumble and Seth Arnold returned it 58 yards to the house.

Glenville State has shown discipline throughout this season. In NCAA Division II, they rank fourth in fewest penalties (24) and fewest penalty yards (215). The Pioneers are also fifth in fewest penalty yards per game (35.83) and sixth in fewest penalties per game (4).

Their defense has put up some impressive numbers. They have allowed over 27 points in only one game this season and are averaging 22.3 points allowed per contest. Nationally, they rank 12th with 8.7 tackles for loss. Glenville State also is allowing teams to score in the redzone 63-percent of the time, which is 14th best in the country and they rank 24th by allowing teams to convert third downs 29.5-percent of the time. They also allow under 100 rushing yards per game (93), which ranks 16th. Brandon Penn is second in D2 with 0.8 interceptions per game and is tied with NDC's Antoine Holloway II with five total picks.