This Week: Once again, Notre Dame College football is preparing for a postseason game in the middle of November. Since 2018, Notre Dame has played in eight NCAA postseason games, winning five of them. On Nov. 19, the Falcons will travel to visit Ashland University in a rematch of this season's home opener. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Records: Notre Dame enters the first round of the playoffs with an 9-2 record (9-1 MEC). They defeated Alderson Broaddus last week, 27-3 to clinch sole possession of the program's fifth consecutive Mountain East Conference trophy. Ashland finished the season with a record of 9-1 (7-1 GMAC) after beating Kentucky Wesleyan, 41-10, which gave the Eagles their first Great Midwest Athletic Conference title.

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. Lee Owens is in his 19th season as the head coach at Ashland. He has a record of 136-60.

Rankings: For the first time since Oct. 3, Notre Dame is in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II top 25, coming in at No. 24. Ashland moved up to No. 12 in the AFCA poll and the D2Football.com poll. According to NCAA Division II, Ashland is the four seed and Notre Dame is the five seed in Super Region One.

Series History: Notre Dame and Ashland have met three times and Saturday's game will be the third matchup between the teams in the past two years. The two teams first met way back in 2012, when both programs were in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). AU won that matchup, 65-0. To open the 2021 season, Notre Dame snuck past the Eagles with a 42-35 victory in overtime. On Sept. 1, 2022, Ashland started the season at home and defeated the Falcons 31-14.

Noting the Falcons: Last week, Notre Dame had to travel one last time in the regular season, with a chance to secure the outright conference title. Against a Alderson Broaddus, the rain fell throughout the contest and both teams had to fight through the conditions. AB's defense stepped up with three takeaways in the first half, however, the Battlers' offense could only muster three points. NDC would tie the game on a field goal by Cameron Shirkey with a couple seconds remaining before halftime. The Falcons quickly stole momentum when Jay Sharp returned the opening kickoff of the second half 56 yards. NDC's offense went 34 yards down the short field and Idris Lawrence ran in from 22 yards away to give the Falcons their first lead of the game. AB would punt again and then Notre Dame put together its longest drive of the contest, 73 yards in less than four minutes and Chris Brimm found Andre Allen Jr. with a 27-yard touchdown pass. Brimm would run in for a TD in the fourth quarter and Shirkey hit one more field goal to give NDC 27 points for the second consecutive week. The Falcons defense recorded three sacks and four interceptions. With the win, NDC remained one game ahead of Concord in the MEC standings and took the title.

Nathan Moore was named MEC Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the second Falcon to win the award. The First Team members included Moore, CJ Kiss, Nick Beans, Carson Heidecker, Jack Kosko, Teddy Tiokeng, Antoine Holloway II and Wendell McClain. Idris Lawrence, Jeremy Hamilton, Reece Perkins, Cael Bright, Tavon Hooks, Dominic Buttazzoni and Cameron Shirkey were named Second Team. Chris Brimm, Jay Sharp and Adam Riegler took Honorable Mention.

Chris Brimm took over the NDC record for total career touchdowns with 121 (107 passing, 14 rushing) and most career offensive yards responsible for (12,046). As the starting quarterback since 2018, he has played in 56 games, winning 49 of them and he is chasing Kellen Moore, who won 50 games at Boise State. Brimm is now the career leader at NDC in passing yards (11,504), passing touchdowns (107), pass efficiency (146.2), average yards per pass (8), yards per completion (13.3), pass attempts (1,445) and completions (863). He is second in passing yards per game (205.4).

In terms of Mountain East Conference career rankings, Brimm is first in touchdown passes, total offensive yards and passing yards. He is second in completions (needs 14) and pass attempts (needs 10) and fifth in completion percentage (60). In NCAA Division II history, he ranks tied for 20th in touchdown passes.

Nathan Moore is the all-time leader in tackles at NDC with 366, career solo tackles with 202 and assisted tackles with 164. He needs two tackles to take second place in MEC history in total tackles. He now has the NDC single season record with 65 solo and needs 15 stops to take the single season total tackles record.

The NDC defense is first in NCAA Division II with six defensive touchdowns and took over the top spot in interceptions with 19. NDC is also first in blocked punts, with five, 2nd in opponent passing efficiency, at 86.4, 7th in total takeaways, with 26, and 12th on defense, by allowing just 15.1 points per game. They are also ranked eighth by holding teams to a 26.5-percent conversion rate on third downs. Nathan Moore is eighth in D2 with 65 solo tackles and also ranks 10th with 110 total tackles. Antoine Holloway II is tied for 14th in Division II with 14 passes defended. Cameron Shirkey is tied for second with 17 field goals made and is 3rd in the country with a field goal percentage of 89.5-percent.

Noting the Eagles: The Eagles have been dominant, on their way to the program's first Great Midwest Athletic Conference title, a conference that Ashland joined prior to the 2021 season. The team posted nine wins for the first time since 2017, which is also the last time the Eagles made the playoffs. AU gained a lot of momentum from their season opening victory against NDC, winning 31-14 on Sept. 1. Through the first five weeks of the season, Ashland was beating teams by an average of 27.2 points per game, which included a 35-0 shutout of Walsh. However, since week six and a close 14-7 comeback victory over Ohio Dominican, Ashland has only beaten one opponent by more than eight points. Ashland's loss came on the road against Hillsdale College, 36-20, on Oct. 29.

The Ashland defense has been solid this season, ranking seventh in Division II by allowing just 14.4 points per game, ranks sixth by allowing just 134 total first downs and ranks eighth in yards allowed per game at 250.1. On the offensive side, Ashland takes care of the ball and have only lost four fumbles, which is 11th-best in the country, while the team is ninth in average time of possession per game (33:14). Running back Larry Martin has run for 1,018 yards, 101.8 per game, and has scored nine total touchdowns.