This Week: Back on the road this week, Notre Dame College football travels to Frostburg State University in a battle of the two teams that finished 9-1 in Mountain East Conference play last season.

Records: Notre Dame holds a record of 4-1, overall. The Falcons are now alone at the top of the MEC with a 4-0 mark in conference play. They beat Charleston by a score of 49-24, last week, and have scored at least 48 points the last two games. Frostburg State enters the week at 3-2 (2-2 MEC) after losing to Concord and UNC Pembroke in back-to-back games. Both of the FSU losses were decided by one point.

Coaches Corner: Garrett Mack is in his first season as the head coach of the NDC football program. He had been on the staff for two seasons, prior to 2022. Eric Wagoner also enters his first season at helm of the Frostburg State program. He was on the FSU staff as the defensive coordinator the past two years.

Rankings: In the latest polls, Notre Dame sits at No. 16 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II top 25 and No. 22 in the D2Football.com top 25. Notre Dame has been ranked in a national poll every week since Sept. 24, 2018. This is the 38th consecutive week inside the AFCA and D2Football top 25.

Series History: These two teams have only met three times, with Notre Dame winning all three matchups. However, the past two matchups have only been separated by six points, or less. In the spring of 2021, the Falcons were able to intercept the ball in the endzone at the end of the game to secure a 25-19 win. Last season, Notre Dame won 23-21 in a game where both teams were ranked in the top 25.

Noting the Falcons: Last week, as the fans found their seats on Homecoming, Notre Dame was scoring a touchdown. Jay Sharp returned the kickoff 99 yards to tie the program record for longest return. Although Charleston scored 10 points in the first quarter, NDC would put 28 unanswered points on the scoreboard and led 42-10, early in the fourth quarter. During that run, the Falcons had two passing touchdowns and ran for two. Idris Lawrence ran the ball for a career-high 173 yards and two touchdowns. He was named MEC Offensive Player of the Week. Teddy Tiokeng was named MEC Defensive Player of the Week, after he recorded 11 tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks and forced a fumble. Nathan Moore has now recorded 10, or more, tackles in every game this season, after putting up 11 last week.

Earlier this season, Chris Brimm took over the NDC record for total career touchdowns with 107 (96 passing, 11 rushing) and most career offensive yards responsible for (10,665). As the starting quarterback since 2018, he has played in 50 games, winning 44 of them. In recent Division II history, Minnesota Duluth's Chase Vogler owns the most victories in a career with 46. At the Division I level, Kellen Moore had 50 at Boise State. Brimm is now the career leader at NDC in passing yards (10,248), passing touchdowns (96), pass efficiency (146.5), average yards per pass (8) and yards per completion (13.4). He is also second with 1,282 pass attempts, 763 completions and passing yards per game (205).

In terms of Mountain East Conference career rankings, Brimm is first in touchdown passes. He is second in total offensive yards, passing yards, completions and pass attempts and fifth in completion percentage (60).

The NDC defense leads NCAA Division II with three defensive touchdowns and ranks 10th in passes intercepted, with six. NDC is also 10th in total takeaways, with 13, 17th in turnover margin, at plus-1.2 per game, 19th in opponent passing efficiency, at 99.9, and 23rd in fumbles recovered, with five. Nathan Moore is tied for sixth in D2 with 55 total tackles and 10th in solo tackles per game (32). Idris Lawrence is now 20th in the country with 507 rushing yards and he ranks 24th with 101.4 rush yards per game.

This season, the NDC defense has 14 sacks, including five last week. The defense also has 25 quarterback hurries, as Teddy Tiokeng and Jack Kosko lead the way with five, each.

Noting the Bobcats: The defense was on full display for Frostburg State at the beginning of the season, as they held their first two opponents, American International and West Virginia State, to just seven points, each. American International was 3-of-12 on third downs and W.Va. State only visited the red zone once against the Bobcats. Things began to change when they allowed 353 yards of offense and 28 points to Charleston, in a 34-28 win. The defense still grabbed three interceptions, including one with 2:14 to go in the fourth quarter. On the other side, the FSU offense posted 521 yards of offense, with 295 pass yards and 226 rush yards against Charleston.

Concord jumped out to a 16-6 halftime lead and although the Bobcats scored a touchdown late in the game to pull within one, the extra point snap was fumbled and Frostburg lost, 23-22. CU had 490 yards of total offense and 12 more first downs than FSU. In Frostburg's 10-9 loss to UNC Pembroke, the Bobcats were held to just 11 first downs and 84 rushing yards.

This season, in Division II rankings, Wylan Harich is tied for second in the country with four interceptions. The FSU defense ranks 13th in D2 with 12 takeaways. On the other side of the ball, Jordan Marcucci is fourth in the country with seven receiving touchdowns.