With outright SoCon title on the line, Mercer battles Furman to close regular season Saturday

“This is the most important game in Mercer football history.”

That assertion, or some iteration of it, was repeated early and often by many Monday afternoon during Mercer’s press conference at the Homer and Ruth Drake Field House, which sits behind the south end zone of the football field on which the Bears have grown from a fledgling program to a bonafide FCS powerhouse.

Ever since Mercer revived its football program in 2013 and started in the Pioneer League, it’s been a slow but steady journey to the Southern Conference and subsequent relevance. Now, seemingly all at once and under a new coach in Mike Jacobs, the Bears have put it all together.

Mercer will face Furman this Saturday at home with a chance to win the SoCon outright for the first time in school history. The Bears won a different conference title back in the program’s pre-WWII days, but this year’s finish is certainly the most successful of the modern era.

While it’s probably up for debate if this is truly the most important game since the team was brought back 11 years ago — the Bears technically already won the conference and secured an FCS playoff bye, it’s just a matter of whether another team will tie their record — the Furman showdown certainly feels like the most crucial game.

The Paladins should be a tough opponent, even with a 3-7 record. They upset a ranked ETSU team on the road last week.

“They rolled their roster. They were senior-laden, and they were a darn-good team last year winning the conference outright and their playoff run. But a lot of those guys graduated, they have a handful of transfers, there’s been a bunch of attrition,” Jacobs said of Furman. “They’ve got a young football team right now. You’re seeing those young guys who were playing their first college start Week 1… they’ve grown. They’re playing better football.”

Mercer’s result last week was not as kind, a 52-7 thrashing at the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide in a classic example of an FBS vs. FBS throwaway game.

“You leave there, we’re reasonably healthy coming out of the game. The parameters for me are that our effort, our strain, our competitiveness are there for 60 minutes. We wrap up Alabama and move into a huge week, arguably the biggest week this program’s had on campus,” Jacobs said. “Once we put that thing to bed with Alabama, all of our focus, all of our work is on putting the best product on the field Saturday for Furman.”

Still, playing in Tuscaloosa at Bryant-Denny Stadium against Jalen Milroe and some of the sport’s most talented athletes has its benefits. Jacobs acknowledged how plenty of players grow up dreaming to play for SEC schools.

One of those players was quarterback Whitt Newbauer, a reserve who has stepped into a big leadership role with original starting quarterback D.J. Smith sidelined with leg injuries for the past several games.

Newbauer grew up a Crimson Tide fan. The ESPN broadcast of Saturday’s game showed photos of a young Whitt attending games at the very same stadium he was playing on as a true freshman.

Despite the lopsided final score, Newbauer showed some poise in the pocket and made a few good throws against Alabama. Mercer’s lone touchdown was actually a highlight-reel play, a deep pass heaved up by Newbauer under pressure that was reeled in with one hand by receiver Kendall Harris.

“I threw it up, I got hit, fell on the ground. I didn’t know if (Harris) caught it or not. I saw (an Alabama defensive back) going to the sideline, I didn’t know if he picked it and the crowd was going crazy,” Newbauer said Monday. “An offensive lineman came up to me and said he caught it. I go to the sideline and see the replay, I mean, that was an amazing grab.”

It was Harris’ first career college touchdown and the highlight of the game for Mercer, which otherwise struggled to contain the explosive Tide offense. Alabama finished with more than 500 yards of offense and played four different quarterbacks in the game. Two of those backups threw for touchdowns late.

Still, Jacobs acknowledged the value in scheduling such a game, even if having it so late in the season can have some disadvantages.

“That’s a chance for guys to go out and prove themselves in front of scouts when they play against one of the best teams in the country like that,” the head coach said. “I was really proud of our kids and how we played… and we made it out of the game healthy. Now we focus on Furman.”

The Bears will to try to carry some of their earlier momentum into the crucial rivalry game, though almost every conference game since midseason has felt like a playoff game for the team.

“We’ve kind of had that mindset since we lost the Samford game. Hopefully I think folks would feel that there’s been an edge in this building in the sense that there’s an urgency in what we’re doing,” Jacobs said. “We understand the stakes. We understand how important this moment is for the school. I’m not gonna shy away from placing a lot of emphasis on this game and playing well.”

The Paladins have struggled against Southern Conference opponents this year, going 2-4 and getting blown out by Chattanooga and Western Carolina in back-to-back weeks.

Mercer faces Furman at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Five Star Stadium in Macon.