This Week: Notre Dame College football returns to Mueller Field for another edition of the Falcon Bowl as they welcome Fairmont State University to town. The game is scheduled to begin at noon on Oct. 30.

Records: Notre Dame enters the week with a 7-1 (6-1 MEC) record after defeating Glenville State, on the road, 34-14. With a win this weekend, the NDC Falcons will reach eight wins for the fifth consecutive full season (not counting the 2021 spring campaign). Fairmont State has a record of 3-5 (3-4 MEC). They are looking to snap a two-game losing streak.

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 12-1 (10-1 MEC) record. Jason Woodman is in his ninth season as head coach at Fairmont State. He holds an overall record of 47-35 with an MEC mark of 44-32.

Rankings: In the latest polls, Notre Dame is ranked No. 9 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II top 25 and No. 13 in the D2Football.com top 25. This will be the 29th consecutive week that NDC is featured in a Division II National Poll. The regional rankings were released for the first time since 2019, with Notre Dame at No. 5 in Super Region One. The top seven teams in each region earn a bid to the NCAA D2 Playoffs.

Series History: Notre Dame and Fairmont State have had some close battles during the series history. NDC leads 4-3 since the two teams first met in 2010. After Fairmont's big win in the first meeting, the largest margin has been 12 points, which came in 2019 with NDC's 61-49 win. Notre Dame's average margin of victory has been 6.8 points.

Noting the NDC Falcons: Notre Dame was able to jump out to a 17-0 lead on Glenville State, early in the second quarter after using all three facets of the game. With 8:37 to go in the first quarter, a 37-yard pass from Chris Brimm to Reece Perkins put NDC on the board. Tanner Harding knocked through a 27-yard field goal and less than a minute later, Nate Moore intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. Devanaire Conliffe caught a 29-yard touchdown pass and the Falcons went into halftime leading 24-7. For the fifth time this season, NDC had a halftime lead larger than two touchdowns. They would add on with a field goal and a short touchdown run by Brimm in the third quarter, before Glenville State added one more touchdown in the fourth. Brimm went 18-30 in the game with 257 passing yards. That was the most completions he had had since week 3 and the highest amount of passing yards since week 4. Dylan Spaeth and Moore both had an interception. Harding was named MEC Special Teams Player of the Week as he made two field goals and all four extra-point kicks. Glenville State came into the game averaging 35.83 penalty yards per game and four penalties per game, ranking in the top 6 in the country in both categories. But, last weekend, they had nine penalties for 105 yards.

Guam Lee is first in program history in total tackles (318), solo tackles (174), forced fumbles (7), fumbles recovered (7), fumble return yards (231) and fumbles returned for TD (3). He needs 17 assisted tackles to become the NDC leader in that category. Bryce Sheppert needs one interception (currently at 9) and one pick-six (2) to break those NDC records. Chris Brimm is 711 yards away from becoming the all-time passing yards leader at NDC (currently at 7,881).

Bryce Sheppert is one of four Division II players to return a kick and a punt for a touchdown this season. He joins Elijah Harper (Adams St.), Spencer Redd (Lindenwood) and Jake Balliu (Winona St.).

In NCAA Division II, the NDC defense now ranks fourth in takeaways with 22, fourth in defensive touchdowns (4), sixth in interceptions (13), eighth in sacks per game (3.75), 15th in fumbles recovered (9), 16th in tackles for loss per game (8.2) and 17th in turnover margin per game (+1). The offense ranks 13th in the country by allowing just one sack per game, 19th in points per game (37.4), 23rd in red zone offense, converting 88.2-percent of the time, 25th in yards per game at 441 and 28th in rushing yards per game (196.6).

Noah Harris-Lyles ranks in the top 10 in three categories. He is fourth in the country with 1.21 sacks per game, sixth in forced fumbles per game (0.43) and ninth in tackles for loss per game (1.9). Guam Lee ranks third in D2 in forced fumbles per game (0.5), seventh in total fumbles recovered with two, 14th in tackles for loss per game (1.8) and 25th in sacks per game (0.88). Antoine Holloway II is 10th in Division II with 0.6 interceptions per game. Xavier Perkins is also tied for seventh in fumbles recovered, at two. Chris Brimm ranks 18th in the country with 8.66 yards per pass attempt, 26th in both passing efficiency (153.8) and total passing yards (1,931), 28th in passing yards per completion (14.2) and 30th in total passing TDs (16). Tyris Dickerson sits at 29th in the country with 711 rushing yards.

Noting the FSU Falcons: Fairmont State took an early lead on the road last week against Frostburg State. Less than a minute into the contest, Anthony Guercio threw to Jeremiah Taylor for 73 yards and a TD. However, between the 5:53-mark in the first quarter and the 14:46-mark in the third, Frostburg scored 28 straight points. Javon Hayes would catch a touchdown pass for the FSU Falcons, but then Frostburg added three more touchdowns. Gavin Lavat was named MEC Offensive Player of the Week after rushing for 190 yards and five touchdowns.

Fairmont State did not play in the spring 2021 MEC campaign. They are looking to avoid their first losing season since 2014, when they went 3-7.

Guercio made his first collegiate start last week under center, appearing in his second game. FSU has used four quarterbacks this season, with Connor Neal seeing action in six games, Michael Floria in four contests, Isaac Allegretto appearing in two games and Guercio with two games played. Despite that, Fairmont State still ranks eighth in NCAA Division II in passing yards per completion (16.14) and 21st in team passing efficiency (154.6). A reliable target this season has been Joshawn Lewis, who is 20th in D2 with 19.8 yards per reception.

The quarterbacks have been sacked 32 times, which is tied for the highest in the conference.

The offense is averaging over 240 passing yards, which is fourth best in the Mountain East Conference, but fewer than 100 rushing yards (93.8), which is fourth lowest in the conference.

The FSU defense has allowed 391.3 yards per game but have intercepted 10 passes on the season.