2 SoCon Teams in ACTION this Saturday!!

[FUBeAR]

1:30 PM Citadel @ Army (CBSN) -31½ | 50½...roughly, 41-10 Black Knights score projection
3:00 PM Mercer @ Jacksonville State (ESPN+) -6½ | 59½...roughly, 33-27 Gamecocks score projection

Will be surprised if the bellhops can keep it this close. Army is FAST. Not sure CIT has the Team Speed on D to keep up & their O has been rather pedestrian, if that “pedestrian” is a 90 year old blind lady in a wheelchair crossing I-26. Maybe Army will throttle down against their kinda, sorta military brethren.

Also surprised that the Mercer @ JaxSt line is this close. After JaxSt showed they can get up by 14 over a P5 ACC Team last week and no one really knows what Mercer has - btw, QB Robert Riddle is being held out until Spring - FUBeAR would have thought this line would be between 28 - 35, favoring the Cocks, of course. Maybe the 90% chance of rain forecast is holding the line down, figuring it may slow down JSU’s stellar QB (transferred from Clemson, a few years ago)


Also...only 1other FCS game...
3:30 PM Central Arkansas @ Arkansas State (ESPN+) -13

If UCA doesn’t have an emotional letdown following their near upset of the bizuns in the FargoDome, they might have a chance at getting the 1st (and maybe, only) FBS scalp this Fall.

[The Jackal]

Good luck to Mercer. Cronic's a good coach. Interested to see what they look like.

[FUBeAR]

Good luck to Mercer. Cronic's a good coach. Interested to see what they look like.

Counting the interim HC @ APSU, Cronic’s debut Sat. is the 4th of the 15 new FCS HC’s.

First games of new FCS coaches - http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp? ... 6023023704

[Flagman]

Given the relative small number of games, especially among the FCS, it surprises me that ESPN is using the ESPN+ platform so much. To increase viewership, I would have thought more games would be on ESPN3. I'm not forking out good money to watch some of these games, but I would watch if they were free.

[The Jackal]

Good luck to Mercer. Cronic's a good coach. Interested to see what they look like.

Counting the interim HC @ APSU, Cronic’s debut Sat. is the 4th of the 15 new FCS HC’s.

First games of new FCS coaches - http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp? ... 6023023704

I expect to see a good bit of single wing and a lot of Tyray Devezin. Jacksonville State isn't an easy first draw of the year, though.

[FUBeAR]

Good luck to Mercer. Cronic's a good coach. Interested to see what they look like.

Counting the interim HC @ APSU, Cronic’s debut Sat. is the 4th of the 15 new FCS HC’s.

First games of new FCS coaches - http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp? ... 6023023704

I expect to see a good bit of single wing and a lot of Tyray Devezin. Jacksonville State isn't an easy first draw of the year, though.

True...I don’t think the Gamecocks will be too intimidated at the coin toss...

Mercer Football Captains Announced
#9 Michael Campbell CB 5' 11" 169 lbs Junior
#34 Tyray Devezin RB 5' 8" 233 lbs Senior
#18 Harrison Frost QB 6' 1" 195 lbs Redshirt Junior
#1 Deondre Johnson JOKER 5' 7" 175 lbs Redshirt Sophomore
#3 Lance Wise S 5' 8" 179 lbs Sophomore

Don’t think we’ll see any “Single Wing” (or Notre Dame Box or Flying Wedge) though. Expect a mash-up of Delaware Wang-T & Oregon, instead.

[FUBeAR]

1:30 PM Citadel @ Army (CBSN) -31½ | 50½...roughly, 41-10 Black Knights score projection
3:00 PM Mercer @ Jacksonville State (ESPN+) -6½ | 59½...roughly, 33-27 Gamecocks score projection

Will be surprised if the bellhops can keep it this close. Army is FAST. Not sure CIT has the Team Speed on D to keep up & their O has been rather pedestrian, if that “pedestrian” is a 90 year old blind lady in a wheelchair crossing I-26. Maybe Army will throttle down against their kinda, sorta military brethren.

Also surprised that the Mercer @ JaxSt line is this close. After JaxSt showed they can get up by 14 over a P5 ACC Team last week and no one really knows what Mercer has - btw, QB Robert Riddle is being held out until Spring - FUBeAR would have thought this line would be between 28 - 35, favoring the Cocks, of course. Maybe the 90% chance of rain forecast is holding the line down, figuring it may slow down JSU’s stellar QB (transferred from Clemson, a few years ago)


Also...only 1other FCS game...
3:30 PM Central Arkansas @ Arkansas State (ESPN+) -13

If UCA doesn’t have an emotional letdown following their near upset of the bizuns in the FargoDome, they might have a chance at getting the 1st (and maybe, only) FBS scalp this Fall.

Mercer Game Notes - https://mercerbears.com/documents/20...s.pdf?id=11190
JSU Game Notes - https://jsugamecocksports.com/document ... df?id=4678

Citadel Game Notes - https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites ... _Notes.pdf

[The Jackal]

1:30 PM Citadel @ Army (CBSN) -31½ | 50½...roughly, 41-10 Black Knights score projection
3:00 PM Mercer @ Jacksonville State (ESPN+) -6½ | 59½...roughly, 33-27 Gamecocks score projection

Will be surprised if the bellhops can keep it this close. Army is FAST. Not sure CIT has the Team Speed on D to keep up & their O has been rather pedestrian, if that “pedestrian” is a 90 year old blind lady in a wheelchair crossing I-26. Maybe Army will throttle down against their kinda, sorta military brethren.

Also surprised that the Mercer @ JaxSt line is this close. After JaxSt showed they can get up by 14 over a P5 ACC Team last week and no one really knows what Mercer has - btw, QB Robert Riddle is being held out until Spring - FUBeAR would have thought this line would be between 28 - 35, favoring the Cocks, of course. Maybe the 90% chance of rain forecast is holding the line down, figuring it may slow down JSU’s stellar QB (transferred from Clemson, a few years ago)


Also...only 1other FCS game...
3:30 PM Central Arkansas @ Arkansas State (ESPN+) -13

If UCA doesn’t have an emotional letdown following their near upset of the bizuns in the FargoDome, they might have a chance at getting the 1st (and maybe, only) FBS scalp this Fall.

Mercer Game Notes - https://mercerbears.com/documents/20...s.pdf?id=11190
JSU Game Notes - https://jsugamecocksports.com/document ... df?id=4678

Citadel Game Notes - https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites ... _Notes.pdf

Appears that Cronic is lining up a similar system to what he ran at Furman, but closer to the Lenoir Rhyne version.

Looks like two "joker" backs, one of which is a more traditional A back and another back that appears to be a slot receiver.

[FUBeAR]

1:30 PM Citadel @ Army (CBSN) -31½ | 50½...roughly, 41-10 Black Knights score projection
3:00 PM Mercer @ Jacksonville State (ESPN+) -6½ | 59½...roughly, 33-27 Gamecocks score projection

Will be surprised if the bellhops can keep it this close. Army is FAST. Not sure CIT has the Team Speed on D to keep up & their O has been rather pedestrian, if that “pedestrian” is a 90 year old blind lady in a wheelchair crossing I-26. Maybe Army will throttle down against their kinda, sorta military brethren.

Also surprised that the Mercer @ JaxSt line is this close. After JaxSt showed they can get up by 14 over a P5 ACC Team last week and no one really knows what Mercer has - btw, QB Robert Riddle is being held out until Spring - FUBeAR would have thought this line would be between 28 - 35, favoring the Cocks, of course. Maybe the 90% chance of rain forecast is holding the line down, figuring it may slow down JSU’s stellar QB (transferred from Clemson, a few years ago)


Also...only 1other FCS game...
3:30 PM Central Arkansas @ Arkansas State (ESPN+) -13

If UCA doesn’t have an emotional letdown following their near upset of the bizuns in the FargoDome, they might have a chance at getting the 1st (and maybe, only) FBS scalp this Fall.

Mercer Game Notes - https://mercerbears.com/documents/20...s.pdf?id=11190
JSU Game Notes - https://jsugamecocksports.com/document ... df?id=4678

Citadel Game Notes - https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites ... _Notes.pdf

Appears that Cronic is lining up a similar system to what he ran at Furman, but closer to the Lenoir Rhyne version.

Looks like two "joker" backs, one of which is a more traditional A back and another back that appears to be a slot receiver.

Maybe...not sure...

The “Jokers” they have also labeled as “Z” are not really slot receiver types.
Fred Davis, last year, was a RB and showed a lot of power before he was injured.
Ethan Dirrim, while playing QB, TE, and WR in HS reminded me a bit of CIT’s Brandon Rainey on his vids.

The “Jokers” they have labeled as “A” were both also RB’s (in a 1-Back set) last year, but more fit the body type of a (traditional) Z Receiver.
Deondre Johnson, was the ‘change of pace” back from Devezin and returned a Kickoff for a TD.
Brandon Marshall was injured in pre-season or VERY early, so we didn’t see much of him, but I think he’s very similar to Johnson, with, perhaps, a bit more power. He was offered by NDSU, so it will be interesting to see if he delivers bizun-level of talent for the Bears.

So...gonna be very interesting to see how they are deployed...along with Devezin & the 2 other young BIG Backs they have backing him up.

[The Jackal]

1:30 PM Citadel @ Army (CBSN) -31½ | 50½...roughly, 41-10 Black Knights score projection
3:00 PM Mercer @ Jacksonville State (ESPN+) -6½ | 59½...roughly, 33-27 Gamecocks score projection

Will be surprised if the bellhops can keep it this close. Army is FAST. Not sure CIT has the Team Speed on D to keep up & their O has been rather pedestrian, if that “pedestrian” is a 90 year old blind lady in a wheelchair crossing I-26. Maybe Army will throttle down against their kinda, sorta military brethren.

Also surprised that the Mercer @ JaxSt line is this close. After JaxSt showed they can get up by 14 over a P5 ACC Team last week and no one really knows what Mercer has - btw, QB Robert Riddle is being held out until Spring - FUBeAR would have thought this line would be between 28 - 35, favoring the Cocks, of course. Maybe the 90% chance of rain forecast is holding the line down, figuring it may slow down JSU’s stellar QB (transferred from Clemson, a few years ago)


Also...only 1other FCS game...
3:30 PM Central Arkansas @ Arkansas State (ESPN+) -13

If UCA doesn’t have an emotional letdown following their near upset of the bizuns in the FargoDome, they might have a chance at getting the 1st (and maybe, only) FBS scalp this Fall.

Mercer Game Notes - https://mercerbears.com/documents/20...s.pdf?id=11190
JSU Game Notes - https://jsugamecocksports.com/document ... df?id=4678

Citadel Game Notes - https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites ... _Notes.pdf

Appears that Cronic is lining up a similar system to what he ran at Furman, but closer to the Lenoir Rhyne version.

Looks like two "joker" backs, one of which is a more traditional A back and another back that appears to be a slot receiver.

Maybe...not sure...

The “Jokers” they have also labeled as “Z” are not really slot receiver types.
Fred Davis, last year, was a RB and showed a lot of power before he was injured.
Ethan Dirrim, while playing QB, TE, and WR in HS reminded me a bit of CIT’s Brandon Rainey on his vids.

The “Jokers” they have labeled as “A” were both also RB’s (in a 1-Back set) last year, but more fit the body type of a (traditional) Z Receiver.
Deondre Johnson, was the ‘change of pace” back from Devezin and returned a Kickoff for a TD.
Brandon Marshall was injured in pre-season or VERY early, so we didn’t see much of him, but I think he’s very similar to Johnson, with, perhaps, a bit more power. He was offered by NDSU, so it will be interesting to see if he delivers bizun-level of talent for the Bears.

So...gonna be very interesting to see how they are deployed...along with Devezin & the 2 other young BIG Backs they have backing him up.

I imagine the biggest hurdle early on will be at the QB position and along the offensive line. That was a unit that struggled a good bit last season.

Devezin will be a handful at the RB position. It matches well with his physical tools. I expect Mercer will lose some of his flexibility in the passing game, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them try to move him around some.

Just as comparison, in 2017 (Cronic's year at Furman), Furman completed only 7 passes to the RB for less than 4 yards per game. Devezin was a far more active part of Mercer's air game last season. Will be interesting to see if Cronic can find creative ways to get him the ball.

[The Jackal]

Meant to state this above, but watching LR's offense last season, there's one "joker" lined up in a more traditional "A" back alignment - right off the OT/TE hip.

There's another "joker" lined up a bit wider - he appears to be a few feet offset from the OT/TE. I assume that is the "Z." He's not in the slot, but he's not TE on the end of the line, either.

[FUBeAR]

Welp, FUBeAR has a favorite FCS / SoCon Team taking the field against an opponent for the 1st time in 2020 today...wish our Paladins were doing the same, but I understand & respect the decision not to be...so I’m hyped (actually, only semi-hyped, I guess) & thought I’d post Mercer’s JSU hype-vid here in the FCS Football section / Game-week thread.

[Furmanoid]

Bellhops lead 3-0.

[FUBeAR]

Cronic era opens with a BANG - 100 yd KOR for 6.

Bears now lead Cocks 14-3 after 1st

[FUBeAR]

Bears with a fumbled Punt snap & kickoff give Cocks 2 very short fields, along with 2 (questionable) DPI calls (the last one nullifying a pick in the end zone) to keep a Cocks drive alive, and go to half trailing 27-14

CIT DLman almost gets a pick6 and CIT scores TD, but fails on 2 point conversion...can’t get ball back and fall to Army 14-9. Army was favored by 31.5, so that’s an excellent finish to their Fall season and a good SoCon showing.

Need Bears to come back & pull the upset in Jax for people to start thinking...well, maybe SoCon doesn’t suck quite as bad as we thought they did.