2018 Mercer Bears football team
2018 Mercer Bears football | |
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Conference | Southern Conference |
2018 record | 5–6 (4–4 SoCon) |
Head coach |
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Offensive coordinator | Joe Pizzo (1st season) |
Defensive coordinator | Mike Kolakowski (6th season) |
Home stadium | Five Star Stadium (capacity: 10,200) |
2018 Southern Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 13 Wofford +^ | 6 | – | 2 | 9 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No. 22 East Tennessee State +^ | 6 | – | 2 | 8 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Furman + | 6 | – | 2 | 6 | – | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Samford | 5 | – | 3 | 6 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chattanooga | 4 | – | 4 | 6 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Citadel | 4 | – | 4 | 5 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mercer | 4 | – | 4 | 5 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Western Carolina | 1 | – | 7 | 3 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VMI | 0 | – | 8 | 1 | – | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2018 Mercer Bears football team represented Mercer University as a member the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by sixth-year head coach Bobby Lamb and played their home games at the Five Star Stadium in Macon, Georgia. Mercer finished the season 5–6 overall and 4–4 in SoCon play to place in a three-way tie for fifth.
Previous season[]
The Bears finished the 2017 season 5–6 overall and 4–4 in SoCon play to place fifth.
Preseason[]
Preseason media poll[]
The SoCon released their preseason media poll on July 25, 2018, with the Bears predicted to finish in fourth place.[1] The same day the coaches released their preseason poll with the Bears predicted to finish in sixth place.[2]
Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
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1 | Samford | 204 (20) |
2 | Furman | 174 (2) |
3 | Wofford | 163 (1) |
4 | Mercer | 133 |
5 | Western Carolina | 114 |
6 | Chattanooga | 88 |
7 | The Citadel | 83 |
8 | East Tennessee State | 53 |
9 | VMI | 23 |
Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
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1 | Samford | 63 (7) |
2 | Wofford | 53 (1) |
3 | Furman | 52 (1) |
4 | Western Carolina | 39 |
5 | Chattanooga | 34 |
6 | Mercer | 32 |
7 | The Citadel | 28 |
8 | East Tennessee State | 15 |
9 | VMI | 8 |
Preseason All-SoCon Teams[]
The Bears placed eight players on the preseason all-SoCon teams.
Offense 1st team Austin Sanders – OL Sam Walker – TE Marquise Irvin – WR 2nd team Tee Mitchell – RB |
Defense 1st team LeMarkus Bailey – LB 2nd team Isaiah Buehler – DL Eric Jackson – DB |
Specialists 2nd team Matt Shiel – P |
Schedule[]
Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
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September 1 | 7:00 p.m. | at Memphis* | ESPN3 | L 14–66 | 33,697 | |
September 8 | 6:00 p.m. | Jacksonville* | ESPN3 | W 45–3 | 10,200 | |
September 15 | 3:00 p.m. | at No. 9 Samford | ESPN+ | W 30–24 | 8,717 | |
September 22 | 4:00 p.m. | The Citadel |
| ESPN+ | L 31–38 | 11,772 |
September 29 | 1:30 p.m. | at VMI | ESPN3 | W 48–38 | 3,251 | |
October 13 | 1:00 p.m. | at Yale* | ESPN+ | L 28–35 | 2,861 | |
October 20 | 4:00 p.m. | Western Carolina |
| ESPN+ | W 59–46 | 8,230 |
October 27 | 1:30 p.m. | at No. 9 Wofford | ESPN3 | L 21–42 | 6,374 | |
November 3 | 3:00 p.m. | East Tennessee State![]() |
| ESPN+ | L 18–21 | 10,002 |
November 10 | 1:00 p.m. | at Chattanooga | ESPN+ | W 13–9 | 8,014 | |
November 17 | 3:00 p.m. | Furman |
| ESPN+ | L 30–35 | 8,811 |
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Game summaries[]
at Memphis[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
Tigers | 28 | 28 | 0 | 10 | 66 |
Jacksonville[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Dolphins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Bears | 7 | 24 | 14 | 0 | 45 |
at Samford[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Bears | 7 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 30 |
No. 9 Bulldogs | 7 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 24 |
The Citadel[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Bulldogs | 7 | 7 | 3 | 21 | 38 |
Bears | 7 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 31 |
at VMI[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 13 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 48 |
Keydets | 7 | 13 | 0 | 18 | 38 |
at Yale[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bears | 0 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
Bulldogs | 14 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 35 |
Western Carolina[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Catamounts | 7 | 20 | 6 | 13 | 46 |
Bears | 0 | 28 | 17 | 14 | 59 |
at Wofford[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Bears | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
No. 9 Terriers | 0 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 42 |
East Tennessee State[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Buccaneers | 0 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
Bears | 7 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 18 |
at Chattanooga[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Bears | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 13 |
Mocs | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 |
Furman[]
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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Paladins | 7 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 35 |
Bears | 7 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 30 |
References[]
- 2018 Southern Conference football season
- Mercer Bears football seasons
- 2018 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state)
- College football 2010s season stubs