No. 7 Mercer prepares to host No. 10 Rhode Island in second round of FCS Playoffs

It was hard for Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs to pick just one favorite moment from the Bears’ 49-23 win over Furman two weeks ago.

An electric Dwayne McGee touchdown run sprang to mind. An impressive diving grab for a touchdown by redshirt freshman Adjatay Dabbs was another highlight.

It was not any one specific play that stuck with Jacobs, though. It was more the entire last part of the game — from about halfway through the third quarter to the final horn — that he enjoyed the most, the time when he became certain his Mercer team would win the Southern Conference championship for the first time ever.

Jacobs is used to firsts as a coach. He guided Notre Dame College in Ohio to plenty of firsts ranging from playoff berths to conference titles.

“Couldn’t be more proud to be a part of Mercer football,” Jacobs said Monday at Mercer’s press conference. “To be a part of Mercer’s first Southern Conference title since they’ve joined the league is something really special. I can’t say enough about the work that our team has put in, the buy-in for us and our staff since the day we got here.”

While the Bears had secured the spot atop the conference a few weeks prior via tiebreakers, they won the conference outright with the Furman victory. Mercer got Thanksgiving week off as a result, earning a bye week in the FCS Playoff bracket and a No. 7 seed.

“I know a bye week and a little bit of down time with our family was much-needed on our end,” Jacobs said.

The Bears got some other hardware, too. Dwayne McGee won Offensive Player of the Year and Brayden Manley won Defensive Player of the Year for the SoCon. Andrew Zoch was the conference’s
Freshman Player of the Year, while Jacobs earned SoCon Coach of the Year honors. A whopping 13 Mercer players made an appearance on the All-SoCon teams at season’s end.

“The only reason I’ve had this success anywhere I’ve been is because we have great players, first and foremost,” Jacobs said. “We’ve had the conversation with guys: the best teams often have the most individual accolades. When they’re committed to the team being successful, you see your individual stats tick up, you see the win column tick up, and ultimately these kids have a championship now. I’m really proud of these kids, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to be honored.”

Even with such a big-play, vaunted defense, the Bears offense has almost been more key. It looked shaky at times this year with Mercer having to make some comebacks to win games, but the Bears leveled out thanks to McGee’s rushing ability and, surprisingly, a freshman quarterback.

Whitt Newbauer stepped in for D.J. Smith when the JuCo transfer went down with injury midway through the year. Newbauer polished up his game in a big way, taking the reins for Mercer and adding a passing attack that was sorely needed for the Bears to finish out the season.

Jacobs said Newbauer will remain the starter in the playoffs.

Mercer had to wait for the opening round FCS playoff games to conclude to learn its opponent. They will face No. 10 Rhode Island at 2 p.m. Saturday in Five Star Stadium after the Rams defeated the Central Connecticut Blue Devils 21-17 last week to advance.

 “They do a lot of the things that we do, they play really good defense. Coach (Jim) Fleming has done a really good job, I think he’s been there for 11 seasons now. That’s where he’s made his hay, as a defensive coordinator,” Jacobs said of Rhode Island.

The Rams have a 1,000-yard receiver and a 1,000-yard rusher. Jacobs also noted the two quarterbacks they’ve played due to injury, with last week’s starter being a Clemson transfer.

“They have playmakers on the outside, and they’re physical at the line of scrimmage. We’re at the point where there’s 16 teams left, everybody’s kinda got the same recipe we do,” Jacobs said. “It goes back to, you’ve got to win the line of scrimmage, those are the absolute musts.”

Rhode Island (11-2) had only one loss against an FCS opponent, a close loss to Delaware, en route to the Coastal Athletic Association second-place finish. The Rams’ only other defeat came against Minnesota early in the year.

It seems the Bears are peaking at the right time on offense. Dabbs, who had the diving catch that got a great reaction from the Mercer sideline, exploded for his first career score and eventually had 181 yards receiving and two touchdowns in the Furman game.

“I was just happy to be out there making plays. I’ve been practicing my butt off since June, since spring. Just getting the chance to make plays, Whitt gave me the opportunity, coaches gave me the opportunity, I’m just grateful to be out there making plays,” Dabbs said Monday.

As for his diving catch, that was a bit of a surprise.

“We ran that play a couple times in practice, I didn’t get the ball, so I didn’t think it was gonna come to me,” Dabbs said. “When the safety switched and went too high, I knew I’d have to split. I saw the ball in the air and knew it would be in the end zone, I knew I would have to hang on to it and couldn’t let it go.”

On the other side of the spectrum is the Mercer defense, a unit that’s been stout all season and now features Mercer’s two all-time leading tacklers, linebackers Ken Standley and Isaac Dowling. The two are neck-and-neck on the school’s leaderboard.

“(Isaac) has been a great motivator,” Standley said. “He mentioned (the tackle record) to me, it might have been after the last game. ‘I think you caught me,’ because he had been leading me. It’s always been a friendly competition, we never let it get in the way of how we play. We always build each other up. If he had it, I’d be just as happy for him as he is for me.”

Standley has come on strong for the record leading up to Mercer’s playoff run, notching 31 tackles in three games to take the lead.

With a newly-potent offense and a rock solid defense, the Bears will try to advance past the second round of the FCS Playoffs for the first time ever against Rhode Island at 2 p.m. Saturday in Macon. Should they win, Mercer will go up against the winner of No. 2 North Dakota State against No. 15 Abilene
Christian.