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Post by FUBeAR on Mar 11, 2016 17:12:08 GMT -5
Just noticed that VMI, Chattanooga, Austin Peay, and Samford have all scheduled Mercer as their Homecoming opponent. GT is obviously too early in the year for them to do that and I don't think FBS schools usually do Homecoming vs. FCS. Wofford's Homecoming is the week before vs. The Citadel. I do wish the Terriers had made it a 'complete sweep' of SoCon Teams scheduling Mercer for Homecoming. Has the 'theory' that you must win Homecoming to inspire your Alumni Fanbase changed or do these schools think Mercer is still PFL-ish? I would have thought ETSU (if they are going to do a SoCon game for Homecoming) would have been most schools' choice for Homecoming opponent in 2016, but they are @vmi, @wofford, @the Citadel...and only Mercer selected the Bucs as their Homecoming opponent. If I was a BearPlayer, this would wee-wee me off quite a bit and I would remember that 4 of my opponents, apparently, view their game with my squad as a 'guaranteed win' in 2016....while I was lifting/running/preparing during the off-season. But maybe I'm just too old-school to understand. Any thoughts on this BearFans or other SoCon Fans....or GovFans, even?  |
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Post by jackal on Mar 11, 2016 20:43:26 GMT -5
With an 11 game schedule and 8 SoCon teams, odds are that all homecoming games are going to fall on a conference weekend. It has to be someone.
I imagine there are a lot of factors other than playing a winnable game. Sometimes there are city-wide events going on during the fall that the universities work around. In 2004, Furman played #2 Georgia Southern for homecoming who at the time was one of the most terrifying teams in the country. Just speaking from Furman's perspective, there rarely seems to be any rhyme or reason to who the homecoming game is. Maybe the conference mandates that the opponent has to rotate so everyone does not play the same teams every year.
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Post by FUBeAR on Mar 11, 2016 22:45:32 GMT -5
With an 11 game schedule and 8 SoCon teams, odds are that all homecoming games are going to fall on a conference weekend. It has to be someone. I imagine there are a lot of factors other than playing a winnable game. Sometimes there are city-wide events going on during the fall that the universities work around. In 2004, Furman played #2 Georgia Southern for homecoming who at the time was one of the most terrifying teams in the country. Just speaking from Furman's perspective, there rarely seems to be any rhyme or reason to who the homecoming game is. Maybe the conference mandates that the opponent has to rotate so everyone does not play the same teams every year. Nah Ur trying to make me go look up the historical stats. Not gonna do it. Mercer is 3 SoCon opponents' Homecoming game this year. ETSU is 1's & ElCid is at least 1's. So that's 5. How many SoCon Teams are other SoCon Teams' Homecoming guests even 2x this year? To 'earn' that 'honor' 3x & another one from an OOC means something. It is not an unexplainable anomaly that Mercer will play 5 Homecoming games this year. Something's up with that & if I was a Mercer player I would be dang sure nobody dialed my team up for Homecoming in 2017!! |
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Post by jackal on Mar 12, 2016 7:13:00 GMT -5
If you would rather I indulge what you are trying to drive at, then I'll cite that Mercer finished bottom three in the conference in consecutive seasons (of course, Furman is in the same boat). If you are looking for a winnable conference game, why not choose the team that is 3-11 in SoCon play?
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Post by FUBeAR on Mar 12, 2016 17:50:32 GMT -5
If you would rather I indulge what you are trying to drive at, then I'll cite that Mercer finished bottom three in the conference in consecutive seasons (of course, Furman is in the same boat). If you are looking for a winnable conference game, why not choose the team that is 3-11 in SoCon play? OK - The 4 Teams that have selected Mercer as their Homecoming opponent have a combined record of 4-4 vs. the Bears in the past 2 years, with only 1 of those 4 wins being by more than a single score. Your explanation is well-reasoned, but for some reason, when I think about their scheduling decisions, this image keeps popping into my head...  |
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Post by wcugrad95 on Mar 14, 2016 14:52:40 GMT -5
To me, it has seemed that scheduling has become far too difficult to try and get the "right" opponent and is simply the "right" weekend these days. At Western, the last few years we have had UTC for homecoming (we have them again this coming season) - so obviously the theory of picking a team hasn't held true for us. Western typically makes homecoming the 4th or 5th home game of the season (depending on how many home games we have) because most of the other weekends are already set for something else like Family Weekend or Senior Day or whatever. So at least at Western, it appears to be much more Homecoming is already set for a particular weekend and then the SoCon puts out a schedule and if it is a conference game then so be it. I have not seen scheduling an "easy" game for homecoming being realistic in quite some time for most schools, and FWIW there really doesn't seem to be any easy SoCon games other than probably ETSU while they try to get things going. I think Mercer just has a very odd year because you play so many road games in October.
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Post by MUfan on Jun 18, 2016 10:29:55 GMT -5
Is it September yet?
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Post by MUfan on Aug 21, 2016 13:19:26 GMT -5
I have yet to see one of those fancy schedule posters for this year online.
What's up with that?
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Post by FUBeAR on Aug 21, 2016 14:41:18 GMT -5
I have yet to see one of those fancy schedule posters for this year online. What's up with that? Best I can do for you, MUfan...  ...but, how 'bout I throw in a link to the 2016 Mercer Football Media Guide and we call it even... Mercer Football 2016 Media Guide |
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