2019 Mercer Bears football team
The 2019 Mercer Bears football team represents Mercer University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They are led by seventh-year head coach Bobby Lamb and play their home games at the Five Star Stadium. They are sixth year members of the Southern Conference (SoCon).
2019 Mercer Bears football | |
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Conference | Southern Conference |
2019 record | 4–8 (3–5 SoCon) |
Head coach | Bobby Lamb (7th season) |
Offensive coordinator | Bill Legg (1st season) |
Defensive coordinator | Mike Adams (1st season) |
Home stadium | Five Star Stadium (Capacity: 10,200) |
2019 Southern Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 16 Wofford $^ | 7 | – | 1 | 8 | – | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 21 Furman ^ | 6 | – | 2 | 8 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chattanooga | 5 | – | 3 | 6 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Citadel | 4 | – | 4 | 6 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Samford | 4 | – | 4 | 5 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VMI | 4 | – | 4 | 5 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mercer | 3 | – | 5 | 4 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Western Carolina | 2 | – | 6 | 3 | – | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
East Tennessee State | 1 | – | 7 | 3 | – | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Previous season
The Bears finished the 2018 season 5–6, 4–4 in SoCon play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place.
Preseason
Preseason media poll
The SoCon released their preseason media poll and coaches poll on July 22, 2019. The Bears were picked to finish in fourth place by the media and in fifth place by the coaches.[1][2]
Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
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1 | Wofford | 253 (21) |
2 | Furman | 229 (6) |
3 | East Tennessee State | 187 (2) |
4 | Mercer | 146 |
5 | Chattanooga | 134 |
6 | Samford | 125 |
7 | The Citadel | 111 |
8 | Western Carolina | 88 |
9 | VMI | 32 |
Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
---|---|---|
1 | Wofford | 63 (7) |
2 | Furman | 55 (1) |
3 | East Tennessee State | 44 (1) |
4 | Chattanooga | 40 |
5 | Mercer | 34 |
6 | Samford | 33 |
7 | The Citadel | 22 |
8 | Western Carolina | 21 |
9 | VMI | 12 |
Preseason All-SoCon Teams
The Bears placed seven different players on the preseason all-SoCon teams.[2]
Offense 1st team Tyray Devezin – RB Austin Sanders – OL 2nd team Chris Ellington – TE David Durden – WR |
Defense 2nd team Dorian Kithcart – DL Will Coneway – LB Malique Fleming – DB |
Specialists 1st team David Durden – RS |
Schedule
Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance | ||
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August 31 | 6:00 p.m. | at Western Carolina |
| Nexstar/ESPN+ | W 49–27 | 10,542 | ||
September 7[lower-alpha 1] | 2:00 p.m. | at Presbyterian* | ESPN+ | W 45–7 | 1,264 | |||
September 14 | 7:00 p.m. | Austin Peay* | ESPN+ | L 34–48 | 11,478 | |||
September 21 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 17 Furman | Nexstar/ESPN+ | L 10–45 | 7,667 | |||
September 28 | 7:00 p.m. | Campbell* |
| ESPN3 | L 27–34 | 11,272 | ||
October 5 | 4:00 p.m. | Chattanooga |
| ESPN+ | L 17–34 | 8,972 | ||
October 19 | 3:00 p.m. | VMI |
| ESPN+ | W 34–27 | 5,714 | ||
October 26 | 2:00 p.m. | at The Citadel | ESPN+ | L 24–35 | 11,439 | |||
November 2 | 7:00 p.m. | Samford |
| ESPN+ | W 36–33 3OT | 8,272 | ||
November 9 | 3:00 p.m. | No. 24 Wofford |
| ESPN+ | L 7–41 | 10,729 | ||
November 16 | 1:00 p.m. | at East Tennessee State | ESPN3 | L 33–38 | 7,121 | |||
November 23 | 3:30 p.m. | at North Carolina* | ACCRSN | L 7–56 | 50,500 | |||
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- On September 2, it was announced that Mercer had added an away game against Presbyterian; the date was originally a bye week for Mercer and was scheduled after Presbyterian's week 1 game against Stetson was cancelled.[3]
Game summaries
at Western Carolina
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 14 | 28 | 7 | 0 | 49 |
Catamounts | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 27 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
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3–2 | 2018 | W, 59–46 |
at Presbyterian
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 21 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 45 |
Blue Hose | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
9–5 | 1941 | W, 19–12 |
Austin Peay
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Governors | 7 | 6 | 14 | 21 | 48 |
Bears | 10 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 34 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
3–0 | 2016 | W, 41–34 |
at Furman
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
No. 17 Paladins | 14 | 14 | 17 | 0 | 45 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
6–9–2 | 2018 | L, 30–35 |
Campbell
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Fighting Camels | 6 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 34 |
Bears | 0 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 27 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
1–0 | 2013 | W, 38–31 |
Chattanooga
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mocs | 7 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 34 |
Bears | 14 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 17 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
9–19–1 | 2018 | W, 13–9 |
VMI
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Keydets | 3 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 27 |
Bears | 3 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 34 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
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4–1 | 2018 | W, 48–38 |
at The Citadel
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 0 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 24 |
Bulldogs | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 35 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
5–10–1 | 2018 | L, 31–38 |
Samford
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | 2OT | 3OT | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bulldogs | 7 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 33 |
Bears | 3 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 36 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
11–13–1 | 2018 | W, 30–24 |
Wofford
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Terriers | 3 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 41 |
Bears | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
6–5 | 2018 | L, 21–42 |
at East Tennessee State
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 7 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 33 |
Buccaneers | 10 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 38 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
2–2 | 2018 | L, 18–21 |
at North Carolina
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Tar Heels | 21 | 21 | 14 | 0 | 56 |
Overall record | Last meeting | Result |
---|---|---|
0–1 | 1925 | L, 0–3 |
Ranking movements
Week | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final | |||||||
STATS FCS | RV | ||||||||||||||||||||
Coaches |
References
- "SoCon Media Tab Wofford Preseason Favorite". July 22, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
- "Football Coaches Select Preseason Teams, Poll". July 22, 2019. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
- "Football Adds Home Game With Mercer". gobluehose.com. Presbyterian College Athletics. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
- "2019 Mercer Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
- "2019 Football Schedule". Mercer University Athletics. Retrieved August 19, 2019.