This Week: Notre Dame College football is back on the road, visiting West Liberty University on Sept. 18. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. The Falcons will be playing at West Family Stadium in West Liberty on a Saturday afternoon for the first time since 2013.

Records: Notre Dame is 2-0 after defeating Wheeling University 31-15. The Falcons were able to open up a 24-0 lead early in the third quarter and hold off the Cardinals. West Liberty is 1-1, after opening Mountain East Conference play with a 24-0 shutout of 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 7-0 record. Roger Waialae has a record of 85-87 in his 17th season at the helm of West Liberty.

Rankings: In the latest polls, Notre Dame is ranked No. 8 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Divsion II top 25 poll and No. 7 in the D2Football.com top 25. This will be the 23rd consecutive week that NDC is featured in a Division II National Poll.

Series History: NDC leads West Liberty 8-0 in the all-time series since the MEC was formed in 2013. Notre Dame has scored at least 24 points in every matchup and average 43 points per game against Hilltoppers.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame pushed their record to 2-0 last week as the defense stepped up with six takeaways. A bad snap by Wheeling on their first drive of the game resulted in six points as Antoine Holloway II grabbed the ball and took it to the house. Holloway would grab his first interception of the game on Wheeling's next drive. His second interception came near the endzone to stop Wheeling's drive right before halftime. Holloway was named Defensive Player of the Week by the Mountain East Conference, D2Football.com and The College Football Network. Jalen Boyd scored his first touchdown of the season with a five-yard run in the second quarter. Reece Perkins and CJ Kiss both caught touchdown passes from Chris Brimm in the second half. Brimm threw for 219 yards and two TDs. Tyris Dickerson ran for 102 yards.

The Falcons' defense sits first in NCAA Division II in average turnover margin per game (+4), tied for first in turnovers gained (9), tied for first in fumbles recovered (5), second in defensive touchdowns (2), sixth in interceptions (4) and on offense, NDC is tied for first in red zone efficiency (1.000 - 7-for-7) and 27th in 3rd down conversion percentage (.483).

Since the Falcons first played on Thursday night as a member of the Mountain East Conference in 2014, NDC has gone 6-1 in games that were played on Saturday, the week after a Thursday night contest. In those wins, the point differential is an average of 21 points.

The last time NDC faced West Liberty, to open the spring 2021 season, Notre Dame scored a program record 70 points. They scored 10 touchdowns, which was also a program record. And the Falcons' six rushing touchdowns was second most by the Falcons in program history.

Noting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty scored seven in the first quarter and 14 in the second quarter to take a 21-0 lead at halftime. Backup quarterback Jamie Diven found Wisdom Jenkins for a 38- yard touchdown on the first snap of the game, following a 58-yard opening kickoff return by Isaiah Robinson. In the second quarter, Diven threw a touchdown pass to Robinson and ran in from 1-yard out for the third TD. He ended the game with 167 passing yards. Tyler Moler rushed for 105 yards on 15 carries. David Gilcreast had three tackles for a loss and two sacks.

West Liberty finished the 2021 spring season with a 2-2 record. They defeated Alderson Broaddus by 32 points (38-6) and Glenville State by 23 (37-14). However, they lost to NDC by 63 (70-7) and to Wheeling by 23 (42-19).

WLU is looking for their first winning streak since Oct. 12-Oct. 19, 2019.