This Week: Notre Dame College football visits UNC Pembroke for the first time, on Nov. 6. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. The Braves joined the Mountain East Conference prior to the 2020 season.

Records: Notre Dame enters the week with an 8-1 (7-1 MEC) mark after a 45-0 victory over Fairmont State in the Falcon Bowl. UNC Pembroke enters the week with a 6-3 (6-2 MEC) record after they scored 13 fourth quarter points to get past West Liberty, 27-17.

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 13-1 (11-1 MEC) record. Shane Richardson has now been the head coach at UNC Pembroke for eight years. He holds a record of 34-42.

Rankings: In the latest polls, Notre Dame is ranked No. 8 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II top 25 and No. 14 in the D2Football.com top 25. This will be the 30th consecutive week that NDC is featured in a Division II National Poll. In the second regional rankings of 2021, Notre Dame remains 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 UNC Pembroke have never played. This will be NDC's first road trip outside of West Virginia since 2019. The trip to North Carolina will be the program's farthest trek south since the 2018 NCAA Semifinal game against Valdosta State, in Valdosta, Ga. Pembroke is not the southernmost team that the Falcons have played in the regular season. The program visited both Ave Maria University (Ave Maria, Fla.) and North Greenville University (Tigerville, S.C.) in 2011.

Mountain East Conference Standings: Notre Dame is currently in a tie with Frostburg State for first place in the conference, with a record of 7-1. Charleston and Pembroke are close behind at 6-2. The MEC does not break ties to determine the conference champion. If multiple teams are tied atop the standings, those teams would share the title.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame won their fourth consecutive matchup with Fairmont State, by scoring 45 points and shutting out an opponent for the first time this season. Notre Dame scored at least one touchdown in each quarter. The offense totaled 437 yards and went 4-for-4 in the red zone, while the defense held Fairmont State to 142 yards and had four takeaways. On Fairmont's first six drives, they punted five times and fumbled, once. NDC's Devanaire Conliffe and Davis Patterson caught touchdowns in the first quarter and Idris Lawrence ran the ball into the endzone near the end of the second. Conliffe, who ended the game with 151 receiving yards, caught two more touchdown passes in the third quarter. Zaven Boland caught Chris Brimm's fifth TD pass of the day. Brimm was given MEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for 305 yards and, for the second time this season, totaled five passing touchdowns. Brimm went 23-for-29 and completed 13 consecutive passes at one point, as did UNC Pembroke's Josh Jones, with whom he split the Offensive POW award.

Tanner Harding now has the MEC and NDC record in field goals made (51), extra point kicks (241) and total points scored (394). Guam Lee is first in program history in total tackles (327), solo tackles (180), forced fumbles (7), fumbles recovered (7), fumble return yards (231) and fumbles returned for TD (3). He needs 14 assisted tackles to become the NDC leader in that category. Chris Brimm has 79 career pass TDs and needs three for the program lead. He is at 87 career touchdowns responsible for, and needs 13 to break the program record. Brimm is 406 yards away from becoming the all-time passing yards leader at NDC (currently at 8,186). Bryce Sheppert needs one interception (currently at 9) and one pick-six (2) to break the NDC records.

In NCAA Division II, the NDC defense now ranks second in takeaways with 26, fourth in fumbles recovered with 13, fifth in defensive touchdowns (4), seventh in sacks per game (3.78), seventh in turnover margin per game (+1.33), ninth in interceptions with 13, 10th in tackles for loss per game (8.4), 19th in red zone defense, limiting teams to 66.7% and 23rd in points allowed (17.9). The offense ranks 13th in the country by allowing just 0.89 sacks per game, 16th in points per game (38.2), 17th in red zone offense, converting 89.5% of the time, 25th in yards per game at 440.6.

Noah Harris-Lyles ranks in the top 10 in three categories. He is second in the country with 0.5 forced fumbles per game, fifth with 1.19 sacks per game, 10th with 1.9 tackles for loss per game. Guam Lee ranks sixth in D2 in forced fumbles per game (0.44), seventh in tackles for loss per game (2) and 12th in sacks per game (1) and total fumbles recovered with two. Antoine Holloway II is 12th in Division II with 0.6 interceptions per game and has five on the season. Chris Brimm ranks 13th in passing efficiency (162) and yards per pass attempt (8.87). He is 17th in pass TDs (21), 24th in passing yards (2,236) and 25th in completion percentage (63.1%). Bryce Sheppert has a kick return and a punt return touchdown. He is one of four players in D2 to have both this season.

Noting the Braves: The Braves traveled up to West Liberty last week and came from behind for their fourth consecutive victory. Quarterback Josh Jones threw for 389 yards (26-for-34) and two touchdowns, leading to an MEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week award. Jones threw his first touchdown of the day, a 57-yard strike, to Devin Jones, who is listed as a defensive back. Between the second quarter and third quarter, West Liberty outscored UNC Pembroke 17-7, aided by three Braves' fumbles. A 93-yard scoring drive, from the end of the third quarter into the fourth, was capped by a rushing touchdown by Joseph Early and gave Pembroke a 21-17 lead. Early had a career-high 108 rushing yards. They would add two field goals and win 27-17.

The Braves had a rocky start to their 2021 campaign. Their first scheduled game against Winston-Salem State was canceled and their week two matchup with West Virginia Wesleyan was called a forfeit, and a win for UNC Pembroke, due to COVID-19 protocols. The same weekend that the W.Va. Wesleyan contest was called off, the Braves found an opponent and traveled to Findlay. The result of that game was a 34-28 overtime loss for the Braves. However, this team has won four consecutive games, the program's longest win streak since 2016.

Pembroke is in the top half of the Mountain East Conference with 26 points per game, however, they are near the bottom of the conference on defense, allowing 26.1 points per contest. Josh Jones averages 268.9 pass yards per game, second most in the MEC. While Devin Jones averages 15.9 yards per punt return, which leads the MEC.

The Braves' leading tackler is Dante Bowlding, who has 45. He is also the team leader with three interceptions. Nine players have at least one interception and UNC Pembroke is tied with the Falcons for the lead in the conference, at 13.

The Braves have allowed 38 sacks this season, which is the most in the MEC.