FCS Playoffs - Mercer @ SDSU, Saturday, 12/2 2PM ET

Totally forgot about the Eddie Murphy clip, that’s a good one.


Anyone looking for info on the Jackrabbits feel free to follow the Jackrabbit Illustrated crew, Matt Zimmer and Tanner Castora on “X”. SDSU fan forum also will have some good discussions. I’ll post more info when the SDSU thread gets started. I hope there is a fair amount of Bear fans that will travel, $10 ticket so there’s no excuse. At 40° even the weather will be great for early December…lol, maybe not for you guys.

* I’ll edit this to add the weather gods must be helping the Bears prepare for next Saturday…looks like the next few days the Macon area is going through a cold snap. Very similar to the heat wave we will have next Saturday.

As a Mercer Football Fan, FUBeAR loves this draw for Mercer.

Loved Mercer, in Round 1, playing at home and facing the Champion Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs of the 10 Team Big South OVC Football Alliance (BSOVCFA). This exceptionally well-Coached Gardner-Webb Team had been Conference Champions 2 years in a row. These Bulldogs had experience playing winning Playoff Football on the road and they have extremely talented Players - NFL draft prospects, Senior Bowl Watchlist, Buck Buchanan Award Finalist, etc.

Conference-wise, in 2023, the BSOVCFA enjoyed an overall winning record against Missouri Valley Football (MVFC) Conference Teams. The Top Tier of BSOVCFA Teams were undefeated (3-0) vs. their MVFC opponents.

Love that Mercer will travel, in Round 2, to face the Defending FCS Champion, undefeated, 12 consecutive Playoff-years, consensus #1 Ranked, #1 Seeded SDSU Jackrabbits in Round 2. There’s no denying the success and quality of the SDSU Football Team and Football Program. It is a privilege for Mercer’s Team to have the opportunity to visit Dykhouse Stadium and face-off against such as esteemed FCS opponent.

Almost all of the leaders and primary contributors on this Mercer Team have visited Bryant-Denny Stadium, Jordan-Hare Stadium, and Vaught Hemingway Stadium to face-off against Alabama, Auburn, and Ole Miss, respectively, in the past 3 years, playing head-to-head against many of the most talented college Football Players & Teams on the planet, in front of as many as 95,396 hostile football-crazed SEC fans, which is almost 5 times as many attendees as SDSU’s largest 2023 crowd of 19,431.

SDSU may (or may not) be an immeasurably better Football Team than Mercer, but FUBeAR is certain these Bears, from their SEC experiences, will certainly not be intimidated by any of the Jackrabbit Players, the Team as a whole, or the Stadium environment. Now, if the weather turns to the teens (or below) with freezing precipitation and howling bare-skin freezing winds, that’s a different story. Mercer’s Players have never experienced anything like trying to play Football in that kind of climate. (And no one should have to…just in case our NCAA overlords are reading along.)

If the weather forecast holds, there will be no reason this Mercer Football Team will not be at their best. They will deliver their best and they will find out first-hand if their best is good enough OR how high they have to raise the bar in subsequent seasons to compete with & defeat the best ... in their stadium, after they've had a week off and/or, possibly, a 'light-weight' tune-up scrimmage (think Drake @ NDSU)...because that's what it's gonna take to advance in the Playoffs until the NCAA changes something about the structure or selection process associated with these FCS Playoffs.

It’s a beautiful draw for Mercer. FUBeAR LOVES IT!

Little bit of trivia knowledge for Bear fans. Your score and video board at Five Star Stadium, developed and manufactured right in Brookings where Daktronics is headquartered.

Regarding the Jacks, they lost a handful of players last year but return 10 offensive starters and 8 defensive starters. Ultimately the Jackrabbits are pretty good at everything, no real weaknesses. Balanced offense and a stout D. It essentially starts and ends for both sides in the trenches.

Flight into Minneapolis, rent a car, it’s only about4 hours to Brookings. Fly into Sioux Falls and rent a car drive up, it’s just under an hour. Either aren’t bad options. Everything is wide open up here so figure travel is around a mile a minute.

Get to the game and tailgate and you’ll likely find some of the friendliest fans out there. You’ll get fed and taken care of with drink.

The interstate is 80 mph.  Unless you are pounding Busch Light roadies and swerving all over the road, you better be covering more than a mile a minute.  Haha!  Go Jacks!

One more thought on travel if you have not booked your flights yet. Omaha is not a bad option usually in terms of ticket prices. About the same amount of time to get to Brookings 3 1/2 hours, unless you stay in Sioux Falls - then 2 1/2 hours to Sioux Falls and about an hour to Brookings depending on where you stay in Sioux Falls.

Looking forward to welcoming Mercer fans. Always exciting to host new teams. Should be a great game.