Mercer throttles Chattanooga 63-17, wins Southern Conference title

When the Mercer Bears began their final home game of the 2025 regular season Saturday afternoon, they did so with high spirits, a lively tailgate scene and — surprisingly — an interception on their first drive.

By the time the game ended, the interception might as well have never happened. There were T-shirts, a whole lot of points and a Southern Conference championship once the final horn sounded.

It was a vibrant, celebratory fall day at Five Star Stadium in Macon as Mercer defeated the Chattanooga Mocs 63-17 on Homecoming and clinched the SoCon title outright for the second straight year.

Mercer is the first Southern Conference team to win the conference title outright in back-to-back seasons since 2009, going undefeated in conference play and winning most of those games in dominant fashion.

The Bears’ performance against the Mocs in their final home game of the 2025 regular season was no exception. The freshman quarterback Atkinson feasted once again, racking up 326 passing yards and throwing four touchdown passes in the first half alone while breaking Mercer’s single-season records for completions, touchdown passes and passing yards.

Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs began his press conference with only one word: “Undisputed.”

“Our biggest thing all year was ‘leave no doubt.’ I don’t care how many points you score, what you do, just leave no doubt,” Jacobs said. “I get all the enjoyment in the world from watching these guys perform. I’m so proud of them, they deserve everything.”

After the ringing win, players donned T-shirts reading “Back 2 Back” and lit up cigars to celebrate the win. Jacobs, in fact, might have been the only person without one.

“Man, nobody gave me one,” Jacobs said on why he didn’t get a cigar, laughing. “I guess it’s lonely at the top.”

Atkinson didn’t guide Mercer to the win alone. Running back CJ Miller fueled multiple early drives. Receivers Malik Simmons and Adjatay Dabbs contributed with crucial catches. Mercer’s defense set the Bears up with great field position multiple times and completely stifled Chattanooga.

Andrew Zock led the way for the defense, breaking Mercer’s single-season sack record during the game. He finished with 3.5 tackles for loss on the night — and a smoke break at the end of it, much to his family’s chagrin.

“My mom didn’t want me to smoke the cigar at first,” Zock said with a smile. “But she talked to me a little and said, ‘Okay.’ She took a picture with me with it. So it was awesome.”

The final score, as disparate as it was, still did not truly demonstrate Mercer’s throttling of the Mocs. 

It was 56-3 after three quarters — the Bears held Chattanooga to just 51 total yards of offensive and -12 rushing yards in the first three periods — before the Mocs scored some garbage time points against Mercer’s backups.

“Our defense was just dominant. The offense has been incredible … the way these guys have gone about their business since our first game has been unbelievable,” Jacobs said.

That first game was a loss against Presbyterian College, a non-scholarship team out of the Patriot League.

“There were a lot of questions coming out of that game, but all we’ve done is answer them week to week,” Jacobs said. “You just have to win.”

The Bears had already secured a share of the Southern Conference title with a thrilling win against Western Carolina on the road Nov. 7. The Catamounts unexpectedly lost their game against East Tennessee State, giving the Bears the title outright — though that game went final during the second quarter of Mercer’s contest.

It’s Jacobs’ fifth conference championship as a head coach in the past seven years. His favorite part of these championship nights?

“It’s the kids. So much goes into this, our players, their families. It’s long hours, it’s time away, but it’s not hard to motivate these kids because they’re self-motivated,” Jacobs said. “I live for the moments where I can see them enjoy this. They can never take the championship away from them.”

The Mocs came into the showdown at 5-5 with a 4-2 SoCon record, starting the season slowly before reeling off a 4-1 stretch across their last five games. That run included wins over conference opponents The Citadel, VMI, Samford and ETSU and a close loss to Western Carolina.

It looked initially like that hot streak might continue when Atkinson threw a rare interception that Chattanooga returned into the red zone. Even with the help of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Mercer, though, the Mocs failed to find the end zone and settled for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.

That was the only momentum Chattanooga could find in the first quarter. The Bears answered with 21 straight points thanks to Atkinson’s passing, Miller’s work out of the backfield and a key fumble recovery by Zock. The Mocs managed only 9 total yards of offense in the opening quarter.

“Our quarterback showed again how much he’s wise beyond his years,” Jacobs said.

The Bears got two more touchdowns in the second quarter courtesy of Atkinson passes to Adjatay Dabbs and Malik Simmons, the latter netting his second scoring catch of the afternoon after he reeled in the first Mercer touchdown of the day. 

Mercer made only one more mistake for the remainder of the first half when Brayden Smith lost the football on a punt return to give Chattanooga its only good field position of the second quarter. The Mocs still failed to find paydirt thanks to another sack from Zock, however, and the 35-3 score held into halftime.

Not much changed in the second half, as the Bears kept their foot on the gas to take a 56-3 lead before the fourth quarter even arrived.

Chattanooga put together a handful of positive plays in the final period, but Mercer still came away with the 63-17 win.