Mercer shatters records, pummels VMI 62-0

As it turns out, Mike Jacobs may have actually been a little unprepared for something.

Nowhere on the long list coaches often keep is the item “when do they start putting in players whose uniforms may not have been washed all season.”

Dozens upon dozens of Bears got to play Saturday on a day when the Mercer offense and quarterback Braden Atkinson more than had it going in a thunderous 62-0 smackdown of VMI at Five Star Stadium.

“It takes a lot to get yourself mentally and physically prepared to go out and play at the level that our kids are playing,” Jacobs said. “It’s just a testament to them and their willingness to do it right.”

Mercer crossed 50 points for the first time since last year’s 63-10 win over Presbyterian. It was the Bears’ biggest Southern Conference win since joining the conference.

And the defense recorded its second shutout of the season and third — two over VMI — under Jacobs.

It was the biggest margin since whopping NAIA school Point 69-0 to open the 2021 season, and the biggest over an NCAA team in modern Mercer history.

Jacobs and his staff will have to break out a magnifying glass to find much to complain about.

Good start? Check. Protect the quarterback? Check. No turnovers? Check. The Bears also got off the field on VMI third downs, kept the chains moving on their own third downs and limited big plays.

Freshman Braden Atkinson, in his sixth start, etched his name in the Mercer and Southern Conference record books with a monster day that lasted three quarters.

Atkinson had a quality game’s worth of stats in the first quarter alone as Mercer as the No. 17 Bears improved to 6-1 overall and 5-0 in conference play, while the Cadets dropped to 1-6 and 0-4.

It was a combination of a dream and video-game start for the 6-foot-1, 215-pound passer from Rolesville, North Carolina, who was 11 of 13 passing for 266 yards and three scores — in the first 15 minutes.

“I didn’t get touched a lot,” said Atkinson, who once passed for 513 yards in a high school game, a mark he somehow exceeded Saturday with his 538 passing yards. “The O-line, they put in the work and you see it out there. I’m seeing my reads, and stuff like that, and then just playing with a chip on my shoulder.

“Top down, our roster is talented.”

Tattnall grad Brayden Smith got off to a career day early, connecting with Atkinson for a 75-yard touchdown on Mercer’s first play.

“We knew they had — not trash talking — they had a weakness in their DB core, so we knew we wanted to take a shot,” Smith said. “It all worked out great.

“Wide open. It was supposed to be a post, and I was supposed to run really more across the field, but I was so wide open.”

Smith had his first 100-yard receiving day of his career, with nine targets and nine catches for 155 yards and two scores.

Atkinson’s first quarter stats left him projected for a mind-blowing day of 44 for 52 for 1,064 yards over four quarters, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen, especially considering the lead was 31-0 after one.

In fact, the Bears fell into a veritable rut in the second quarter, with consecutive incompletions and an actual punt.

Not that VMI was able to take much advantage. The Cadets initial first down came by penalty. The second one came four possessions later on a 38-yard pass, and VMI finished with seven.

Smith caught a 32-yard score and CJ Miller took a short pass and turned it into a 59-yard touchdown, before the midway point of the first quarter. Reice Griffith hit a 25-yard field goal and Miller took off for a 75-yard run, and it was 31-0 with 1:39 left in the first quarter.

Naturally, as the athletics level of boredom began setting in, the Bears cooled off and actually punted a few times before Atkinson dumped it to Adjatay Dabbs in the right flat, and he exploded straight ahead all but untouched for an 86-yard score with 4:22 left in the half.

That broke a downright drought of 13 minutes and 24 seconds of game time, after 31 points in 13 minutes.

Atkinson entered the game with 1,515 yards passing. By halftime, the possibility of crossing the 2,000-yard barrier before his day was done became a possibility.

His 418 yards at halftime put him at 1,933, and he played the first two possessions of the second half, cruising past the 500-yard mark on another perfect deep route to Adonis McDaniel for a 51- yard score in the final minute of the third quarter.

His 35^th pass attempt and 29^th completion ended his day with 538 yards and five touchdowns, a completion rate of 82.9%. And it put him at 2,053 for the season, after not playing in the first game and with four regular-season games left.

“I just can’t say enough about what he’s doing right now for us,” Jacobs said. “I’ve been around some really, really good players at all levels, and I just can’t say enough about what he’s doing right now for us.

“His play has led us to this run, the way that he’s processing decisions and how fast he’s making decisions and the accuracy which he’s throwing the football right now.”

Griffith added a 50-yard field goal to end the first half, Mercer up 41-0.

For all of the eye-popping offense — like the record 824 yards of total offense — Mercer’s defense was just out there having fun, playing loose and hard.

“It’s nothing new for us,” Mercer linebacker Isaac Prince said. “I’m excited to know that we’re playing that way, and we’re going to keep playing it and get better at it.”

VMI’s bright spot came with mixed emotions. Punter Ben Shrewsbury made people stop and watch with some serious hang time and distance, including often under some pressure, averaging 49.6 on 13 tries. As active as Smith was at receiver, the day was quieter returning punts.

“That’s crazy,” Smith said. “Hanging ‘em up there. I don’t think I’ve ever had a punter that punted like that consistently that far (in a game).

The run game picked up steam in the second half, like when Miller carried a half-dozen defenders for a 14-yard gain on Mercer’s first possession, which ended with a Griffth field goal being blocked.

Maybe the hardest the Mercer sideline celebrated all day — and it had so many opportunities to celebrate — came a few hours after the game was decided when Carlos Benjamin, as deep on the depth chart as the depth chart goes, took off for a 58-yard touchdown run at the 3:52 mark of the fourth quarter.

So happy were the Bears that they spilled onto the field and got a flag.

Prince undoubtedly spoke for most of his teammates about his favorite part of the day.

“ ‘Green Pants’ scoring,” Prince said of the 5-foot-8 freshman from Pritchard, Alabama. “It was his birthday yesterday. I knew we were going to get a flag on the play, but I was waiting for (the official) to throw the flag so I can run out there and give him a high five.”