Macon, GA- The No. 7 Mercer Bears (11-2) defeated No. 10 Rhode Island (11-3) in the FCS Playoff to move on to face No. 2 North Dakota State in Fargo, ND next week. The two battled each other combining for 18 punts on the day. Most of the game seemed to take place on the URI side of the gridiron. Repeatedly, the Rams started close to their goal line, and then gave the Bears good field position on many occasions. However, they generally held. Both defenses displayed their strengths in this playoff game. The Bears held the Rams to only 46 yards on 29 carries. The Rams held Bear QB Whitt Neubauer to 57 yards passing. He completed 10 of 20 attempts, but a late four-yard TD pass made a difference.
Defensive Domination
URI seemed to take a first quarter lead on a long punt return, but the play was called back. Rightfully so, because the return man made an invalid fair catch signal. Immediately following that, Mercer took the early lead on S Myles Redding’s interception return of 25 yards. His pick was his seventh of the season. With 2:29 remaining in the first half, URI QB Hunter Helms finally moved his team mostly through the air (22 of 33 for 266 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT). As time expired, Ty Groff kicked a 17-yard FG to trail the Bears at halftime, 7-3.
A break from Playoff Punting
On the sixth punt of the second half, Shawn Harris sparked the Rams with a 23-yard return. They set up on the URI 44. On the very next play, Helms connected with WR Marquis Buchanan for a 56-yard TD and a 10-7 URI lead. On Mercer’s next series, pass interference gave them a first down at the URI 43. RB Dwayne McGee (21 carries 114 yards) raced 33 yards to the 10. Early in the fourth, Neubauer connected with Adjayta Dabbs in the end zone for a four-yard TD to take back the lead, 14-10.
Later in the period, McGee ran 40 yards to put the Bears at the URI 25. The drive resulted in Reice Griffith’s 24-yard FG. With 6:05 to play, the Rams started from their 26. They drove to the Mercer 32 for a fourth down and two. Helms’ pass went incomplete to Buchanan. The Bears took over with 2:56 left leading 17-10. URI used time-outs to try to get the ball back. However, a 10-yard run by McGee, a 15-yard personal foul by the Rams and another third down conversion by RB CJ Miller negated the Ram time-outs. With 1:49 left, the Bears went into victory formation. They sealed their 17-10 win to get ready for the next round against No. 2 North Dakota State.
Beyond the FCS Playoff
Now that the Football Bowl Subdivision College Football Playoff has been announced, we at Collegefootballfan.com have a somewhat clear vision for our championship playoff and Bowl plans for the balance of the 2024 season. Having now attended 709 games with this FCS playoff match under our belts, we should finish 2024 with up to 712 or 713 games attended when this season comes to an end.
Our Playoff plans falling into place
We’ll be at Beaver Stadium in State College for the SMU Mustangs at Penn State on December 21. How could we resist? Just very surprised and satisfied that we won’t be attending an 8 pm kickoff in cold, dark Central Pennsylvania in December. The noon kick-off will be a traditional Penn State White Out against the Ponies.
Down on the Boulevard in Dallas, the Pony Club will be fired up for that one. Happy for those guys down there. I met them in 2006 still lamenting the impact of the Death Penalty administered 20 years previously. They’ve done better in recent years. They have to be happy though getting into the first CFP 12-team format in its initial season. However, we’ll be rooting for Penn State HC James Franklin to avoid any bonehead decisions like going for two (again) well before it’s absolutely necessary. We thought he learned his lesson in 2023 game against Michigan. Guess not! He did it again against Oregon last Saturday.
Already have the Capital One Orange Bowl slated on January 9.
The bracket indicates if PSU defeats SMU, it is on that side of the bracket with Boise State and with Georgia vs. winner of Notre Dame vs. Indiana. As usual, we committed to a ticket long before we knew who was playing. It paid off for us attending previous Orange Bowls to get to this on. In addition, we’re going to sit back and wait to see if Texas will play Arizona State in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day. If it’s Clemson, the Mercedes Dome could be tough ticket. On short notice, it may be tougher for many Long Horn and Sun Devil fans to come east, but we’ll see.
Bowl Game, just one, for now
With opt-outs and transfer portals and all that, you never know if real teams are going to show up. Otherwise, these award-winning bowl bids just morph into post-season exhibition games for next season. A few hours away from us in Birmingham on December 27, we figure the Birmingham Bowl between Vanderbilt (6-6) and Georgia Tech (7-5) could be an interesting contest. We’ve penciled that in. Coaches aren’t leaving. QBs staying?
As usual, because of even closer proximity, we considered the Music City Bowl. However, once we found out the game included Iowa, we determined that their brand of football isn’t worth a ticket again. We’ve seen them in numerous bowl games, and they generally lose. Last time they played in the Musci City, they won 21-0 over Kentucky. Two of their scores came on INT returns. Led 21-0 at half. Kentucky offense opted out. Boring, miserable game. Last year’s Maryland vs Auburn wasn’t much better. Music City Bowl seems to get the dregs of both Big Ten and SEC conferences now. Too bad. Have to wait for the new domed stadium to host the CFP final in downtown Nashville eventually.
SEC! SEC! SEC! Over-rated! Over-rated! Over-rated!
Tired of hearing how dominant they are? We are. Consider this: Beyond Georgia and South Carolina defeating Clemson in the regular season, who else did the SEC defeat? They talk about their “tough” non-conference schedules? However, they rarely win their “tough games” outside the conference. Look at these 2024 results of the SEC vs. Others: USC 27 LSU 20 in Vegas; Notre Dame at Texas A&M, 23-13; Miami at Florida, 41-17; 3-9 Oklahoma State vs. Arkansas, 39-31; California at Auburn, 21-14; Arizona State vs. Mississippi State, 30-23; Toledo at Mississippi State, 41-17; 3-9 Georgia State vs. Vanderbilt, 36-32; Louisville at Kentucky, 41-14. SEC? SEC? We’re told they have tough games every week within the conference. These SEC losers don’t prove competitive against any decent and lesser teams even outside the SEC.
More proof and absolute fear of the triple option offense
Bama did dominate 5-7 Wisconsin and Texas beat 6-6 Michigan this year, but so did four and five Big Ten teams respectively, as well. The SEC proved nothing here either. Did you know that the only reason Notre Dame played Army this season was because last year Tennessee cancelled their scheduled home game against Army this season? USMA finished 2024 at 11-1 losing only to the Irish. Want to know why Tennessee cancelled? The SEC does not fare well against triple option style offenses. They can’t risk such a loss against a supposedly “inferior program.” I witnessed two such games.
SEC vs. Triple option
In 2011, South Carolina went 11-2, but they only defeated Paul Johnson’s eventual 5-7 Navy at home, 24-21. I also attended the 2014 Orange Bowl where Johnson’s Georgia Tech team defeated Mississippi State with QB Dak Prescott with the triple option, 49-34. In 2018, 12-2 Oklahoma just got by 11-2 Army under Paul Johnson protégé, Jeff Monken, 28-21. Monken still leads Army today. Josh Heupel probably received warnings from his SEC cronies that the Vols would do much better against UTEP (3-9) at the end of their season. Even Paul Finebaum feigned disappointment about dropping the Army game from a Patriotic perspective, but in reality, the Tennessee alum probably perceived this potential threat, too. He’d never say that, of course.
Go Navy!
I still have to say heading into this Saturday, “Go Navy! Beat Army!” Disappointed to miss this one after the previous 12 consecutive meetings attended. Wished the Cadets had played Tennessee instead of ND this year. Navy may have had chance to knock off a 12-0 Army team, maybe even a legit CFP contender. We’ll celebrate a big win any way over the Cadets! Hopefully, USNA will reconsider the ticket allocations they adopted this year back to what they were. So much for my Blue and Gold Membership! Still, Go Navy! Full speed ahead!
Think Merry Christmas!
Edited by Steve Koreivo – Member of Football Writers Association of America and Author of Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly. Get yours online from Amazon.com today and please submit a review for us. Thanks!