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Post by FUBeAR on Jun 27, 2018 12:26:37 GMT -5
Why this is going to be the year for the Mercer Bears to go to the football playoffs“...this is going to be the year. The Bears, who open their season Sept. 1 at Memphis and their conference season Sept. 15 at Samford, are going to break through and compete for a Southern Conference title. With that kind of season, Mercer will break through and earn a spot in the FCS playoffs.
Everything is in place for this program to make that kind of move. Lamb and his staff have recruited really well as the program has gotten on the same level with other FCS scholarship programs.
There is talent up and down the roster, and Lamb has a terrific staff around him to help those players improve. The offense starts with quarterback Kaelan Riley, who was the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year last year and is going to get even better as he gains more experience, and there are plenty of weapons around him. And the defense is dynamic with plenty of speed and hard-hitters as that unit continues to improve.”
BY DANIEL SHIRLEY
Telegraph correspondent
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Post by guest on Jun 27, 2018 17:41:16 GMT -5
You forgot the most important part of the article.
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Post by FUBeAR on Jun 27, 2018 22:20:48 GMT -5
The new OC thinks so... Pizzo bringing experience and passion to Mercer (Link to Article & Expanded Video) “Joe sees a bright future for this Mercer squad. One that could come with their first trip into the postseason. 'Winning a lot of times is just getting experience. I think we got those kind of kids now and they're working hard here this summer. I think it's close and I think we got a shot next year.”
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ursus
Spires Bear
Posts: 222
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Post by ursus on Jun 28, 2018 9:48:09 GMT -5
It's kinda crazy how close we've been to being top of the conference. We usually have 1 really bad game in conference each year. Without those, over the last 3 seasons, we've lost 10 conference games by an average of 4 points.
One more TD in FCS games and our record by year
2014: 9-2-1
2015: 8-1-2
2016: 8-3
2017: 7-3-1
and the ties could be wins. Those look like playoff records to me.
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Post by FUBeAR on Jun 28, 2018 10:05:36 GMT -5
It's kinda crazy how close we've been to being top of the conference. We usually have 1 really bad game in conference each year. Without those, over the last 3 seasons, we've lost 10 conference games by an average of 4 points. One more TD in FCS games and our record by year 2014: 9-2-1 2015: 8-1-2 2016: 8-3 2017: 7-3-1 and the ties could be wins. Those look like playoff records to me. Yep - To look at it just a little differently, just a couple of points better on each side of the ball & Mercer would have been in the Playoffs every year. A couple of points better is not a lot. For example, Citadel was 5 points worse on Offense & 6 points worse on Defense last year than they were in their SoCon Championship season in 2016. So, on a ppg basis, they were about 2.5 times further away from winning the SoCon/making the Playoffs just 1 year after reaching those goals than Mercer has been every season. It’s the little things that make a BIG difference!!! |
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Post by jackal on Jun 28, 2018 15:33:38 GMT -5
It's kinda crazy how close we've been to being top of the conference. We usually have 1 really bad game in conference each year. Without those, over the last 3 seasons, we've lost 10 conference games by an average of 4 points. One more TD in FCS games and our record by year 2014: 9-2-1 2015: 8-1-2 2016: 8-3 2017: 7-3-1 and the ties could be wins. Those look like playoff records to me. Yep - To look at it just a little differently, just a couple of points better on each side of the ball & Mercer would have been in the Playoffs every year. A couple of points better is not a lot. For example, Citadel was 5 points worse on Offense & 6 points worse on Defense last year than they were in their SoCon Championship season in 2016. So, on a ppg basis, they were about 2.5 times further away from winning the SoCon/making the Playoffs just 1 year after reaching those goals than Mercer has been every season. It’s the little things that make a BIG difference!!! As Coach Pizzo notes, though, there are a lot of teams in that boat. The little things is the difference in good teams and forgettable ones. For example, Furman went 3-8 in 2016 and was a whisker's length from winning a bunch of those games. They often failed to do little things that would make the difference in winning and losing. Wofford was on the ropes a bunch last year, but found ways to gut out wins. They may not be the most talented team in the country, but they were not going to beat themselves out there. In a tough conference with a bunch of good teams, the little things may be the difference between .500 and conference champ. |
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