This Week: Notre Dame College, the three seed in Super Region One, travels to meet Shepherd University, the second seed in the region, in Shepherdstown, W.Va. The Falcons are looking to advance to the regional finals for the third consecutive season.

NCAA D2 Playoffs: Only 16 teams remain in the playoffs. In Super Region One last week, there were no upsets. New Haven defeated Bentley, 38-13, and will play top seed Kutztown University this weekend. Notre Dame and Shepherd both advanced in their first round matchups. Possibly the most shocking upset of the first round happened in Super Region Two as the third seed, and No. 2 nationally ranked West Florida lost to Newberry, 33-30.

Records: Notre Dame brings a record of 11-1 into the Second Round of the Playoffs. The Falcons were able to build an early lead and then hold off a late run by Slippery Rock to win 33-25, last week in the first round. Shepherd did not have an easy task as they had a rematch of their 2017 first round playoff game against Findlay. SU lost in 2017, but last Saturday, they held on for a 38-31 win.
 
Coaches Corner: Mickey Mental is in his second season as head coach of the NDC football program. He has a 16-1 (13-1 MEC) record. Ernie McCook is in his fourth season at the helm of the Shepherd program. He has a record of 29-7.
 
Rankings: In the latest polls, Notre Dame is ranked No. 6 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II top 25 and No. 11 in the D2Football.com top 25. Notre Dame has been ranked in a national poll every week since Sept. 24, 2018. The Falcons have been inside the top-15 of the AFCA poll every week since Oct. 15, 2018. NDC has been ranked for 32 consecutive weeks. Notre Dame was given the third seed in Super Region One. Shepherd is No. 8 in the AFCA Poll and No. 9 in the D2Football.com poll. The Rams are the two seed in Super Region One.
 
Series History: Notre Dame and Shepherd are former Mountain East Conference rivals. From 2013, until Shepherd left the conference following the 2018 season, the Falcons went 2-4 against SU. The two teams have had some close battles in their history. While the Rams were able win by a large margin in three of the games, Notre Dame never backed down the challenge of playing Shepherd. In 2014, the Falcons upset the Rams, who were ranked No. 8, with a 35-34 victory. In the opening game of the 2017 campaign, the teams were locked in a shootout, especially in the second half. NDC outscored No. 7 Shepherd 21-13 in the fourth quarter, but the Rams held on to win 54-49. And in the home opener in 2018, the Falcons broke through and beat No. 16 Shepherd by a score of 35-33. That season, the Falcons won their first MEC Championship, halting the Rams' historic run.
 
Shepherd's Playoff History: Shepherd continues their solid run of playoff appearances, as they enter the playoffs for the sixth time in the past eight playoff eligible seasons. They lost to Northwest Missouri State in the 2015 NCAA D2 Championship game and lost in the NCAA Semifinals in 2016.
 
Notre Dame's Playoff History: In three playoff appearances, Notre Dame has a postseason record of 5-2. They have beaten four top 25 ranked teams in the playoffs and are 4-0 in playoff contests held at Mueller Field. The Falcons made an appearance in the NCAA Semifinals in 2018.

Noting the Falcons: The Falcons jumped out to an early 9-7 first quarter lead, but the second quarter was the difference in the game. Slippery Rock took the lead with a field goal, early in the quarter, but a Tyris Dickerson nine-yard TD run was sandwiched between two Chris Brimm passing touchdowns. Slippery Rock had only allowed 21 points in a quarter once during the season, prior to last week's game. Brimm totaled three passing touchdowns. Idris Lawrence ran for a career-high 164 yards and the Falcons totaled 278 rush yards, second most in their playoff history. After Notre Dame took a 33-10 lead early in the third quarter, Slippery Rock scored 15 straight points to close within eight, 33-25. But the NDC defense stepped up and finished the job. The Falcons intercepted Noah Grover three times and sacked him five times. The Falcons now have 20 interceptions, which is an NDC record and they need three to break the Mountain East Conference single-season record. Notre Dame was perfect in the red zone and they have gone 20-for-20 in the red zone in their last five games.

In NCAA Division II this season, the NDC defense leads Division II with a plus-1.75 turnover margin per game, 35 takeaways, gained and 20 interceptions. The Falcons rank second in blocked punts (5), second in defensive touchdowns (6), fifth in fumbles recovered (15), 7th in sacks per game (3.67), 8th in tackles for loss per game (8.6) and 9th in red zone defense, allowing teams to convert in the red zone, just 62.9-percent of the time. The defense is 13th in rushing yards allowed per game (88.2) and 20th in points allowed per game (16.7). The offense ranks 5th in the country by allowing 0.67 sacks per game, 6th in the red zone, converting 92.2-percent of the time, 7th in points per game (41.2) and 18th in first downs (259).

Noah Harris-Lyles ranks sixth in sacks per game (1.09) this season and eighth in tackles for loss per game (1.9). Guam Lee ranks fifth in D2 in fumbles recovered with three and 11th in tackles for loss per game (1.8). Jack Kosko has recovered three fumbles and ranks tied for fifth in that category. Antoine Holloway II is tied for seventh in Division II with six interceptions on the season. Chris Brimm ranks 11th in passing touchdowns (28), 12th in yards per pass attempt (8.8), 14th in passing efficiency (162) and 17th in passing yards (2,850). Devanaire Conliffe is 15th in receiving TDs (12) and 19th in receiving yards (989). Tanner Harding is 17th in points with 99.

Tanner Harding now has the MEC and NDC career record in field goals made (54), extra point kicks (257) and total points scored (419). He is 27th in Division II history in career points and is tied for 16th in field goals made. Guam Lee is first in program history in career total tackles (342), solo tackles (193), forced fumbles (7), fumbles recovered (8), fumble return yards (272) and fumbles returned for TD (4). He needs 12 assisted tackles to become the NDC career leader in that category, currently at 149, and three tackles for loss to take the lead in that category, currently at 53. Lee is also just two tackles for loss away from breaking the NDC single-season record and he needs four solo tackles to have the NDC single-season record. Chris Brimm holds the NDC record with 8,800 career passing yards and 86 passing touchdowns. Brimm needs two TD passes to take over the MEC career record. He is at 95 career touchdowns responsible for, and needs five to break the NDC record. Brimm is currently in first place in program career history in average yards per completion (13.3), completion percentage (59.9) and pass efficiency (148.3). Bryce Sheppert needs one interception (currently at 9) and one pick-six (2) to break the NDC records. Antoine Holloway II needs one more interception, currently at six, to break the NDC single-season record in interceptions. Noah Harris-Lyles needs just three tackles for loss to take over the NDC single-season record.

Guam Lee is now eighth among active Division II players in career total tackles (342), tied for eighth in forced fumbles with seven, fifth in solo tackles (193) and 12th in assisted tackles with 149. Chris Brimm is eighth among D2 players in career passing yards (8,800), ninth in total offensive yards (9,166), 15th in passing efficiency (148.33) and 20th in passing yards per game (200). Devanaire Conliffe has 42 touchdown receptions in his career, which is tied for third among active players at every NCAA level. He is also 15th among D2 players with 165 receptions in his career and 25th in receiving yards per game (59.5). Tanner Harding is tied for first among active D2 career leaders in field goal makes, with 54. He ranks third in career points among active career leaders in all levels of NCAA and is tied for 19th among all of the NCAA active players in career field goals made and second in all of NCAA in extra points made. Noah Harris-Lyles is tied for third among active D2 players in forced fumbles with eight, 6th in total sacks, with 27.5 and 13th among active leaders with 1.26 tackles for loss per game. Bryce Sheppert is tied for 24th among D2 players with nine interceptions in his career, along with sitting in 18th in punt return average (11.4 yards).

Noting the Rams: Shepherd and Findlay were tied three times in their matchup on Saturday. Findlay took a 28-24 lead with 13:36 remaining in the game, but SU scored two touchdowns throughout the fourth quarter to grab the lead. Quarterback Tyson Bagent went 22-for-34 for 288 yards. He had two touchdowns, but also threw two picks. Six receivers had at least 26 receiving yards. Ty Hebron ran for 124 yards, which is the second highest output he had all season. Ponce Deleon and Chrys Lane led the way with eight tackles.

Shepherd was picked to win the PSAC's East Division in the conference preseason poll. Shepherd's only conference loss of the regular season came against Kutztown, a 37-29 home loss, on Sept. 25. Kutztown went undefeated and won the PSAC East.

The Rams are first in Division II this season by scoring 48.4 points per game and totaling 537.3 yards per game. The offense has picked up 305 first downs, which is the best in D2, they are second in the country with 355.1 passing yards per game and third in third down conversion percentage at 56.6-percent.

In Division II ranks, quarterback Tyson Bagent is at the top in passing touchdowns (48), passing yards (4,202), passing yards per game (350.2), points responsible for (302) and total offense (356.6). He is second in points responsible per game (25.2), third in completion percentage (70.1), third in passing efficiency (181.5) and fourth in yards per pass attempt (9.53).

Among active career leaders in every level of the NCAA, Bagent ranks second with 340.6 passing yards per game in his career and fourth in total offensive yards per game with 344.1 yards.

Bagent's top receiving target is Ryan Beach. Beach has 74 receptions for 968 yards, 13 touchdowns and 80.7 yards per game. Six receivers have over 300 yards this season.

Chrys Lane leads the team with 79 tackles on the season (48 solo, 31 assisted). Kyle Smith has the team lead in tackles for loss (15.5) and sacks (9).