This Week: Notre Dame College football will be on the road to face Frostburg State University for the second year in a row. NDC will battle the Bobcats on Sept. 30, with a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Records: Notre Dame is looking to bounce back after a second consecutive loss. Last week, the NDC Falcons fell to the FSU Falcons, 17-14. Just like the week before against Glenville State, the offense struggled in the first half, while the defense played well throughout. Fairmont State was held scoreless in the second half, but NDC's comeback fell short. That was Notre Dame's first home loss since 2019, ending a streak of 18 home wins. Frostburg State jumped out to a 24-0 lead at halftime with three rushing touchdowns as the Bobcats made easy work of West Liberty in week three (37-7). FSU, who had a bye last week, has gotten off to a 3-0 start for the third consecutive season.
Coaches Corner: Garrett Mack enters his second season at the helm of the NDC football program. He has a record of 11-5 (10-3 MEC). Eric Wagoner is also in his second season leading Frostburg State. He has a coaching record of 11-3 (9-3 MEC).
Rankings: Neither team is in the latest American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II top 25 poll.
Series History: NDC leads the all-time series 3-1. Frostburg State joined the Mountain East Conference in 2019 and Notre Dame won the first three matchups, before FSU won in double-overtime last year. Aside from the first game of the series, a 35-13 Notre Dame win in 2019, the last three games have been decided by six points, or less.
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame looks to put an end to its first two-game losing streak since 2015. Last week, Fairmont State pulled ahead 17-0 in the first half. NDC was held to 100 yards of offense in the first half, but started the comeback with a big second half. Quarterback
Deshawn Evans threw a passing touchdown to
Michael Solomon and another to
Devin Morgan to make the score 17-14, with 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. NDC had 250 yards of offense in the second half. Evans finished the game with 312 yards and two touchdowns.
Jay Sharp caught five passes for 51 yards and Solomon caught three passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. On the defensive side,
Isaiah Stephens had ten tackles, two sacks and five tackles for loss, which is tied for fifth most in program history.
NDC ranks in the top three in the Mountain East Conference in pass yards (1,045), total yards (1,679), touchdowns (17) and yards per game (419.8). These are two of the top defenses in the MEC so far as NDC's defense ranks third in rush yards (400), fourth in pass yards (695), third in total yards (1,095), tied for second in touchdowns allowed (7) and second in yards allowed per game (273.8). Notre Dame leads the conference with eight interceptions. NDC's
Dominic Buttazzoni is third in the MEC with an average of 39.9 yards per punt and kicker
Cameron Shirkey is fourth in the conference with 35 points scored. In the national rankings, The Falcons rank in the top 20 of Division II with three blocked punts (1st), a 15.7-percent third down conversion defense (2nd), eight interceptions (3rd), 10 defensive takeaways (10th), a 91.2-percent passing efficiency defense (11th) and 8.5 tackles for loss per game (16th).
Isaiah Stephens ranks fifth with 10 total tackles for loss.
Noting the Bobcats: Frostburg State had a bye week last week. The Bobcats played a couple very close games in the first two weeks of the season. In a non-conference game against New Haven to start the season, UNH had a 24-14 lead with 5:08 to go in the third quarter. FSU scored 10 unanswered points over the next quarter and a half to tie the game. In overtime, Dayne Koontz won it with a 23-yard field goal. In week two, Wheeling scored just one touchdown but three field goals put the Cardinals up, 16-14, over Frostburg State, with 8:19 remaining in the game. The Bobcats used a 73-yard drive to get down the field and scored the winning touchdown with just under six minutes remaining to win, 20-16. Two weeks ago, versus West Liberty, FSU held WLU to just three rushing yards. However, the Hilltoppers went off for 220 passing yards and had one more first down (22-21) than Frostburg. For FSU, Graham Walker threw for 155 yards and Owen Doyle ran the ball 12 times for 81 yards and two TDs against West Liberty. FSU ran for a total of five touchdowns in that game.
Frostburg's defense ranks first in the MEC in rush yards allowed (239), pass yards (531), total yards (770), touchdowns allowed (4) and yards per game (256.7). FSU's Graham Walker is sixth in average passing yards, at 184.3 per game. He is seventh in the MEC in total yards per game (198.3). Frostburg State ranks in the top 20 of D2 with a 77.2-percent passing efficiency defense (3rd), 50-percent red zone defense conversion (7th), seven interceptions (8th), 70 rush yards allowed per game (14th) and 251.7 yards allowed per game (15th).
