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Post by FUBeAR on Mar 5, 2015 15:01:15 GMT -5
I'll agree that Mercer should, by now, be able to out-athlete a Stetson team that made great strides last season in their 2nd year of the program. The Hatters improved from 2-10 to 5-7 with 3 wins in the PFL. The Hatters beat Campbell, who is almost as athletic as most SoCon teams and who led the Big South's Charleston Southern at halftime (CSU, BTW, beat The Citadel and lost to Vandy by only 1 point) APSU, despite their gosh-awful record the past 3 years is not 'terrible' either. They have a lot of young talent on their team and I know there were Pro Scouts at the game at Mercer last year looking at a couple of their DLmen. They seemed to find some confidence in the 2nd half of their game with Mercer last year by winning that half 15-14 and then winning the following week against an OVC team, Murray State. (Murray State, BTW, beat Southeast Missouri...who beat SE Louisiana (a 9-4 FCS playoff qualifying team) and Tennessee State, an FCS 1st round playoff game winner the prior year). All 11 regular season games will be challenging and all games will be played against legitimate NCAA Division 1 Teams. ...I'm sure the Mercer Coaches are quite pleased to have 2 weeks to prepare for Woffy and that they will have played a common opponent, Tennessee Tech, before that game...and that the Little Dogs play Gardner-Webb (who they lost to in 2014) the week before and at The Citadel the following week in what has become a heated rivalry of pride between SoCon T/O teams. The ankle-biters just might completely forget to prepare for that 'Bear Sandwich' between those 2 important games for their program. Ooooh - I just looked at the schedule - FU and Woffy both home on 9/26 (Mercer's off-week) vs. VMI and G-W respectively...FU's game is scheduled for 3 PM & Woffy played at night in the 2014 Season on that weekend in 2014. I just might take in a SoCon DoubleHeader Road Trip to the Upstate and 'scout' 3 future Mercer SoCon opponents. This schedule just keeps getting better!!! I don't think any of those teams are absolute pushovers. Division 1 teams are Division 1 teams. They will all have athletes. I think that will be a challenge for Mercer this season. Obviously, they will be another year older and another year stronger. They do not have, as in their first two seasons, a lot of weak spots in the schedule or long home stands. They went from 8 home games, to 7, and now 6. That ups the difficulty. Does seem that if Furman rebounds (as I expect they will) those last four games could be character building. Road games to two notoriously unfriendly SoCon venues along with playing the two presumptive SoCon front runners at home. Character Schmaracter...Bears just gonna MAUL 'EM all and let us Message Board Maestro's sort out the 'why's and wherefore's' |
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Post by MUfan on Apr 14, 2015 15:08:34 GMT -5
How good, or bad, is Tennessee Tech ?
Should that be a easy win? Or will the Bears have to fight and claw for a shot at a victory?
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Post by jackal on Apr 14, 2015 15:34:17 GMT -5
How good, or bad, is Tennessee Tech ? Should that be a easy win? Or will the Bears have to fight and claw for a shot at a victory? Usually around a .500 team in the Ohio Valley Conference. Will break into the top 25 occasionally with a playoff appearance now and again. Not a national powerhouse, but certainly not a pushover. |
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Post by bear38 on May 7, 2015 15:44:51 GMT -5
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Post by WCUgrad on Jun 26, 2015 14:54:15 GMT -5
WCU is playing at UT and at Texas A&M. Ouch. WCU has made a bit of a habit of playing multiple FBS programs per year. Frankly, with their schedule it helps the bottom line but hurts their playoff chances. If you assume two FBS losses (not guaranteed, but likely) and a non-D1 game (Mars Hill), WCU will have to win 7 of their 8 games against FCS competition (if you assume they are not the autobid). No small task. On the other end, I'm sure they will bring in close to $1mm in revenue from those two games. So, that doesn't necessarily hurt. Sorry for chiming in as a guest, but Western has HAD to play several of these games in recent years. Under the previous "leadership" (including the former President, Athletic Director, and Football Coach) WCU is fighting out from under years of mediocrity and mistakes. I am not against at least 1 "big" school game a year, but playing 2 against the SEC is not my idea of fun. In the past 4 or 5 years we have played somebody from the SEC just about every year, and played 3 money games in 2013 (MTSU, Virginia Tech, and Auburn). And until last year, those seasons included playing App State and Georgia Southern - those were "ouch" seasons. The good news for us is that we have new leadership, now have cashed some checks, had a good season last year, and now hopefully are poised to return to a more realistic schedule after 2015/2016. Like somebody else on here posted, with App and GSU gone somebody has to step up and be the leaders of the conference. And to me it looks like Chatty will remain in the driver's seat this coming Fall for football but it should be wide open for being in the top 2 or 3 spots going forward. |
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Post by chez23 on Jun 27, 2015 9:44:03 GMT -5
if you want to build a program and dominate the SOCON then you have to play 1-2 P5/G5 FBS schools every year. Recruits look at schedule and by playing a strong OOC schedule then it shows recruits your relevant. MU scheudle OOC in 2015 has no relevancy at all and if they lose OOC games to team that are not P5/G5 then those losses are even worse then losing big to a P5/G5. Better for the program to lose P5/G5 games then FCS games. Hopefully MU can get some P5/G5 on their schedule. Plus payout helps to..
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Post by FUBeAR on Jun 27, 2015 10:53:40 GMT -5
if you want to build a program and dominate the SOCON then you have to play 1-2 P5/G5 FBS schools every year. Recruits look at schedule and by playing a strong OOC schedule then it shows recruits your relevant. MU scheudle OOC in 2015 has no relevancy at all and if they lose OOC games to team that are not P5/G5 then those losses are even worse then losing big to a P5/G5. Better for the program to lose P5/G5 games then FCS games. Hopefully MU can get some P5/G5 on their schedule. Plus payout helps to.. 2015 schedule (SoCon + all OOC FCS) is perfect; as was the 2014 schedule (SoCon + 1 OOC FCS); as was the 2013 schedule (Pioneer + 0 OOC FCS); as was the 2012 'schedule' (Practice year). GT in 2016 & Auburn in 2017 are also perfect. Can't fully evaluate the schedule for those years as the the other 2 OOC games for those years have not been determined / released. Yes, only 2 other OOC games those years as are 11 game seasons & with ETSU coming 'online,' there will be 8 SoCon games/year. Love that you are an excited new Mercer fan, but I know the 'architects' of this Mercer Football 'building' (some for over 30 years) quite well. They have a vision, a plan, and they know EXACTLY what they are doing - where they want to go & how they are going to get there. They are highly experienced pros in their field. I imagine they'd struggle as car salesmen or nuclear physicists, but they know College Football, with a concentration in FCS Football, and a specialization in SoCon Football. [NOTE: You may want to review my Young Bull/Old Bull story earlier in this thread (or in another - not sure). Some BAD-AZZ Old Bulls are walking Mercer Football down the hill] I'm also heavily involved with High School Football in GA (a rather talent-rich state) and I can assure you that Mercer Football is very relevant & 'top-of-mind' for Football Recruits in this state. GO BEARS! MAUL 'EM!! |
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Post by bear38 on Jul 2, 2015 11:36:35 GMT -5
if you want to build a program and dominate the SOCON then you have to play 1-2 P5/G5 FBS schools every year. Recruits look at schedule and by playing a strong OOC schedule then it shows recruits your relevant. MU scheudle OOC in 2015 has no relevancy at all and if they lose OOC games to team that are not P5/G5 then those losses are even worse then losing big to a P5/G5. Better for the program to lose P5/G5 games then FCS games. Hopefully MU can get some P5/G5 on their schedule. Plus payout helps to.. 2015 schedule (SoCon + all OOC FCS) is perfect; as was the 2014 schedule (SoCon + 1 OOC FCS); as was the 2013 schedule (Pioneer + 0 OOC FCS); as was the 2012 'schedule' (Practice year). GT in 2016 & Auburn in 2017 are also perfect. Can't fully evaluate the schedule for those years as the the other 2 OOC games for those years have not been determined / released. Yes, only 2 other OOC games those years as are 11 game seasons & with ETSU coming 'online,' there will be 8 SoCon games/year. Love that you are an excited new Mercer fan, but I know the 'architects' of this Mercer Football 'building' (some for over 30 years) quite well. They have a vision, a plan, and they know EXACTLY what they are doing - where they want to go & how they are going to get there. They are highly experienced pros in their field. I imagine they'd struggle as car salesmen or nuclear physicists, but they know College Football, with a concentration in FCS Football, and a specialization in SoCon Football. [NOTE: You may want to review my Young Bull/Old Bull story earlier in this thread (or in another - not sure). Some BAD-AZZ Old Bulls are walking Mercer Football down the hill] I'm also heavily involved with High School Football in GA (a rather talent-rich state) and I can assure you that Mercer Football is very relevant & 'top-of-mind' for Football Recruits in this state. GO BEARS! MAUL 'EM!! What is UGA's history of scheduling in-state FCS teams and how likely is a Mercer-UGA game somewhere down the road? |
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Post by jackal on Jul 2, 2015 14:49:40 GMT -5
2015 schedule (SoCon + all OOC FCS) is perfect; as was the 2014 schedule (SoCon + 1 OOC FCS); as was the 2013 schedule (Pioneer + 0 OOC FCS); as was the 2012 'schedule' (Practice year). GT in 2016 & Auburn in 2017 are also perfect. Can't fully evaluate the schedule for those years as the the other 2 OOC games for those years have not been determined / released. Yes, only 2 other OOC games those years as are 11 game seasons & with ETSU coming 'online,' there will be 8 SoCon games/year. Love that you are an excited new Mercer fan, but I know the 'architects' of this Mercer Football 'building' (some for over 30 years) quite well. They have a vision, a plan, and they know EXACTLY what they are doing - where they want to go & how they are going to get there. They are highly experienced pros in their field. I imagine they'd struggle as car salesmen or nuclear physicists, but they know College Football, with a concentration in FCS Football, and a specialization in SoCon Football. [NOTE: You may want to review my Young Bull/Old Bull story earlier in this thread (or in another - not sure). Some BAD-AZZ Old Bulls are walking Mercer Football down the hill] I'm also heavily involved with High School Football in GA (a rather talent-rich state) and I can assure you that Mercer Football is very relevant & 'top-of-mind' for Football Recruits in this state. GO BEARS! MAUL 'EM!! What is UGA's history of scheduling in-state FCS teams and how likely is a Mercer-UGA game somewhere down the road? Well, "in-state" FCS teams until really recently (like, last two or three years) included a grand total of two teams: Georgia Southern and Savannah State. According to some information I found, UGA has played Georgia Southern 5 times (all while FCS). I do not believe they have ever played Savannah State. I have no idea what UGA will start doing now that there are more FCS/low level FBS team in state that would love a crack at them. I imagine you will continue to see Ga. Southern on the schedule periodically because they provide a good training partner against Georgia Tech's offense. |
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Post by FUBeAR on Jul 2, 2015 15:13:35 GMT -5
What is UGA's history of scheduling in-state FCS teams and how likely is a Mercer-UGA game somewhere down the road? Well, "in-state" FCS teams until really recently (like, last two or three years) included a grand total of two teams: Georgia Southern and Savannah State. According to some information I found, UGA has played Georgia Southern 5 times (all while FCS). I do not believe they have ever played Savannah State. I have no idea what UGA will start doing now that there are more FCS/low level FBS team in state that would love a crack at them. I imagine you will continue to see Ga. Southern on the schedule periodically because they provide a good training partner against Georgia Tech's offense. My UNOFFICIAL understanding is that the Mercer @ UGa game for 2017 was all-but-signed before the announcement about Mercer @ Auburn came out. Perhaps the Dawgs were also in discussions with Notre Dame at the time and were able to work out their deal with the Irish before they inked with the Bears. I would imagine the Bears (like UGa) were also in discussions with Auburn and became more motivated to come to terms with Auburn once they knew UGa in 2017 wasn't going to happen. Not sure if I'll be around to see it (particularly if the 2015 Bears have another season of close SoCon losses!), but I would bet that Mercer will play Between the Hedges (in the stadium named for a Mercer Alum - Class of '90...1890) by 2020 and as early as 2018. |
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