Mercer will be playing in its first road playoff game in program history on Saturday when the Bears travel to Brookings to take on No. 1 South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
You might be wondering how that is possible for a program that fielded its first football team in 1891. Mercer, which is located in Macon, Georgia, fielded football teams consistently starting in 1906. Football was then dropped in 1917 and 1918 because of World War I. It would return after the war, but after the 1941 season, with the beginning of World War II, Mercer dropped football and the program was not reinstated for another 72 years.
Mercers first football game after the hiatus was on Aug. 31, 2013, and the Bears defeated Reinhardt University 40-37. Mercer played that first season in the FCS in the Pioneer League but has been in the Southern Conference ever since.
Mercer had a successful campaign in 2013 as the Bears went 10-2, but they were ineligible for the FCS Playoffs due to their Division I transition. From 2014-20 Mercer went a combined 31-43. The Bears hired current head coach Drew Cronic in December 2019 and Cronic has led the Bears to unprecedented success.
In the past three seasons Mercer has gone 23-10, including a 9-3 record so far this season. Last season the Bears had seven wins over Division I opponents, which was the most in program history at the time, and this year they beat eight Division I teams.
The Bears picked up their first playoff win in program history on Saturday when they beat Gardner-Webb 17-7 in the first round. Cronic said after the win that it meant a lot to him to get the program a win in the playoffs, but he hopes this is only the beginning for Mercer.
Winning takes a whole university. Its a president that believes in it. Its an athletic director. Its professors. Its the support staff and the people in this building that believe in what were doing. That takes a whole university for a chance to be successful. Theyve made the investment in us and I believe were only going to get better, and thats what we want to do. We want to compete nationally. Weve come a long way and were going to keep getting better, Cronic said.
The Bears played four ranked teams during the season and went 1-3 in those four games. They fell to Ole Miss, who is ranked 12th in the FBS College Football Playoff Poll, 73-7. Mercer also lost to Furman, who is seeded seventh in the FCS Playoffs, 38-14, and to No. 20 Chattanooga, who will play Furman in the playoffs on Saturday, 22-10. The Bears lone win against a ranked team came five weeks ago against at the time No. 10 ranked Western Carolina, 45-38. WCU failed to make the playoffs.
The Bears have hung their hat on their defense throughout the season as they rank 29th nationally in total defense, giving up 326.1 yards per game. Theyre 15th nationally in rush defense (106.7), but are 74th in pass defense (219.4). Mercer is 78th in total offense, averaging 337.5 yards per game.
It will be quite the challenge for the Bears to pull off the upset on Saturday. SDSU has won 25-straight games, which is the fourth longest streak in FCS history. Pair that with the fact that this is the farthest north that Mercer has ever traveled and the forecast calling for a high of 38-degrees on Saturday, it could be a long day for Mercer.
But the Mercer athletic program has been a part of a colossal upset before. In the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament the No. 14 seeded Bears took down national power and No. 3 seeded Duke, 78-71. If youre a college sports fan thats probably the only reason you would know Mercer.
This would be an even bigger upset than that though. Since the FCS Playoffs moved to 24 teams the No. 1 seed has never lost in the second round. Cronic said despite the fact that no one will be expecting his team to win, he and his players are excited.
Im excited about the opportunity in front of us. Its an honor to go and play [South Dakota State]. That will be a great challenge, but were going to practice and prepare and do our best and see what happens. We want to embrace that opportunity and that challenge and not back down, Cronic said.
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