Mercer’s undefeated season ends with stunning 55-35 loss at Samford despite second-half comeback attempt

In a game where nothing seemed to go right for Mercer, the Bears fell to Samford 55-35 despite a valiant comeback attempt after a disastrous sequence allowed the Bulldogs to go up 28-0 in the first quarter of Saturday afternoon’s game in Birmingham.

After a perfect 6-0 start in a season full of fortuitous, often gutsy games, Mercer finally encountered a challenge it couldn’t surmount. Between turnovers, bad plays and Samford getting great field position, the Bears went down by four touchdowns before the first quarter was even half-over.

“This loss is on me. We talk about it all the time, we have to match the opponent’s energy. We came out flat,” Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs told 100.9 The Creek after the game. “All the things that have led to our success, taking care of the ball, the run game… at some point in the game, we let each and every one of those things happen at some point.”

The Bulldogs kept the pressure on in the first half, pouring it on and taking advantage of a suddenly weak Mercer secondary to go up 42-7 at halftime.

The Bears changed the game in the second half, though, clawing back and riding some interceptions of their own from the defense to make it a two-score game at one point.

But Mercer could not complete the improbable comeback. The Bears committed more turnovers late, including a scoop-and-score by Samford that took the wind out of the sails for Mercer in the fourth quarter.

“There’s no perfect play, there’s no 30-point play. Every play you claw your way (back),” Jacobs said of his message to the team at halftime. “Now, we showed remarkable resiliency, we had that daggum thing down to two scores. And we’re driving down, we’re in the red zone, and again, we shoot ourselves in the foot a bit with a turnover.”

Linebacker Noah Martin, a player Jacobs named as a focal point of Samford’s defense and a major threat, put the exclamation point on the Bulldogs’ win with a pick-six with about six minutes left to put the contest firmly to bed.

“I give our team a lot of credit for how they came back and how they responded at half time,” Jacobs said. “I got after them a little bit, but there’s no reason to scream and yell, you have to be pragmatic. The things that affected us were execution and technical, and that’s really what matters. So we’ll go to work, we’ll be hypercritical of ourselves. It starts with me, it starts with the staff, and we’ll make sure we’re ready to go.”

The loss was a shocking one for the Bears, who were not only undefeated but dominant on defense so far this season. Mercer came into the contest leading the nation in several defensive metrics among FCS teams, but the Bulldogs paid no attention to the reputation that preceded the Bears.

The offensive explosion bucked one trend but lined up with others, as recent matchups between Mercer and Samford have been relatively high-scoring. The Bears had won three of the last five, but had just one victory on the road against the Bulldogs — a 2018 win in Birmingham — since starting the football program back up in 2013.

D.J. Smith simply could not settle in at quarterback and eventually went down with an injury on a fumble in the fourth quarter.

The game was not without silver linings. Backup passer Whit Newbauer got some reps in the second half and made impressive passing plays, including a touchdown toss to Brayden Smith. 

“We think Whit’s got arguably the best arm strength on the team,” Jacobs said. “I thought he did a really good job pulling the ball down and making plays with his feet trying to get us back into it. He made some great throws as well… I thought he did a great job coming in for us.”

Kelin Parsons had his best day as a Bear, notching more than 100 receiving yards and making some memorable grabs.

Isaac Dowling also became Mercer’s all-time leading tackler, etching his name in the Bears’ record books despite the loss.

No amount of small victories could make up for Mercer’s worst rushing performance of the season by far, however. The Bears could not move the ball on the ground and, with a key part of its offense running dry, came up short in the second half.

Mercer’s next game is at home Oct. 26, another key conference game against Western Carolina at 3:30 p.m.