Bears coming to Greenville off a bye week.
Mercer - Sep. 23
Early notes. They have probably the best nasty receiver duo in SoCon. Which plays to our weakness! 🥲
Also they are missing two DBs for the first half of our game - which was already a weakness in their DB / Safety area - due to targeting or something from last game. That’s big. Interesting that’s only fir the first half. So do we deviate from our usual run first in first half or attack a place they are not super and now missing two players?
Positives for us. Hope Johanning is back and OL gets a push. We got a better OL push in second half of KSU game after starting poorly. (12 yards on first 11 rushes or something
). Whew. That was a brutal start for both offenses. Things got better as KSU game wore on. Anyway UNA ran 36 times for 156 yards vs Mercer for 4.3 ypc. Sounds slightly easier to move on ground v Mercer than KSU
Also they are missing two DBs for the first half of our game - which was already a weakness in their DB / Safety area - due to targeting or something from last game. That’s big. Interesting that’s only fir the first half. So do we deviate from our usual run first in first half or attack a place they are not super and now missing two players?
Positives for us. Hope Johanning is back and OL gets a push. We got a better OL push in second half of KSU game after starting poorly. (12 yards on first 11 rushes or something
). Whew. That was a brutal start for both offenses. Things got better as KSU game wore on. Anyway UNA ran 36 times for 156 yards vs Mercer for 4.3 ypc. Sounds slightly easier to move on ground v Mercer than KSU
Last edited by gofurman on Sun Sep 17, 2023 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I imagine we're going to do our thing regardless of who they put in the game.
The two WRs are talented. I fully expect Mercer to run some deep routes with max protection trying to beat Furman deep. I do not believe, however, the Mercer QB is as shifty as the last two we've faced, so Furman may well be willing to send more pressure into their backfield.
The two WRs are talented. I fully expect Mercer to run some deep routes with max protection trying to beat Furman deep. I do not believe, however, the Mercer QB is as shifty as the last two we've faced, so Furman may well be willing to send more pressure into their backfield.
Q. Is Morehead State a scholarship program?
Like I said before any coach that doesn’t throw 40 times and often deep against FU is not paying attention.The Jackal wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 1:01 pmI imagine we're going to do our thing regardless of who they put in the game.
The two WRs are talented. I fully expect Mercer to run some deep routes with max protection trying to beat Furman deep. I do not believe, however, the Mercer QB is as shifty as the last two we've faced, so Furman may well be willing to send more pressure into their backfield.
Mercer is a better team than Kennesaw and we need to be better as well. IMO we need to do two things:
1. We need to get a lot more pressure on their QB or it will be a long afternoon for our pass defenders. We are clearly very vulnerable to the long ball when the QB is not hurried. Mercer has two good receivers.
2. I hope the return of 55 helps our O line problems. We have not looked crisp in our run game at all. Huff’s scrambles notwithstanding. Some changes are necessary.
I also would like to see the ball more in Ferguson and Hinton’s hands. Both run good routes, have excellent hands and are fast and shifty. They both look capable of taking it to the house.
Furman got better as the season progressed last year and we need to do that right now. WCU looks very strong so far.
1. We need to get a lot more pressure on their QB or it will be a long afternoon for our pass defenders. We are clearly very vulnerable to the long ball when the QB is not hurried. Mercer has two good receivers.
2. I hope the return of 55 helps our O line problems. We have not looked crisp in our run game at all. Huff’s scrambles notwithstanding. Some changes are necessary.
I also would like to see the ball more in Ferguson and Hinton’s hands. Both run good routes, have excellent hands and are fast and shifty. They both look capable of taking it to the house.
Furman got better as the season progressed last year and we need to do that right now. WCU looks very strong so far.
bj93 liked this
Yes. 1 and 2 are spot onJasper wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 5:21 pmMercer is a better team than Kennesaw and we need to be better as well. IMO we need to do two things:
1. We need to get a lot more pressure on their QB or it will be a long afternoon for our pass defenders. We are clearly very vulnerable to the long ball when the QB is not hurried. Mercer has two good receivers.
2. I hope the return of 55 helps our O line problems. We have not looked crisp in our run game at all. Huff’s scrambles notwithstanding. Some changes are necessary.
I also would like to see the ball more in Ferguson and Hinton’s hands. Both run good routes, have excellent hands and are fast and shifty. They both look capable of taking it to the house.
Furman got better as the season progressed last year and we need to do that right now. WCU looks very strong so far.
BTW It is the CW SoCon game of the week so it is on channel 62 locally. FYI you peeps on directv channel 7 and 62 came back on today.
I think that needs some context.
Mercer's QB is not the quick twitch passer we saw the last two weeks with Rattler and Murphy. He can take off, as evidenced by a long TD run against Ole Miss, but that's not really his game. If you recall, Furman was able to pressure the Mercer QB a bunch last year.
So, with a less mobile QB, I expect will be more willing to bring extra pressure on Mercer than we were willing to bring against USC and KSU.
As for the offensive line, I don't see a ton of "problems." We put up right about 400 yard of offense, ran for 159 yards, ran for four touchdowns, etc. Several of Huff's long runs/scores were designed runs, not scrambles. I thought they looked a lot more comfortable than they did week 1.
Admittedly, if Johanning is back, that will be a big lift for the offense.
Mercer's QB is not the quick twitch passer we saw the last two weeks with Rattler and Murphy. He can take off, as evidenced by a long TD run against Ole Miss, but that's not really his game. If you recall, Furman was able to pressure the Mercer QB a bunch last year.
So, with a less mobile QB, I expect will be more willing to bring extra pressure on Mercer than we were willing to bring against USC and KSU.
As for the offensive line, I don't see a ton of "problems." We put up right about 400 yard of offense, ran for 159 yards, ran for four touchdowns, etc. Several of Huff's long runs/scores were designed runs, not scrambles. I thought they looked a lot more comfortable than they did week 1.
Admittedly, if Johanning is back, that will be a big lift for the offense.
No Mercer Starters will be unavailable during the 1st half against Furman.gofurman wrote: ↑Sun Sep 17, 2023 12:52 pmAlso they are missing two DBs for the first half of our game - which was already a weakness in their DB / Safety area - due to targeting or something from last game. That’s big. Interesting that’s only fir the first half. So do we deviate from our usual run first in first half or attack a place they are not super and now missing two players?
Mercer’s All SoCon Safety, Lance Wise, was ejected for targeting in the 1st quarter of the Morehead State game. He will be available to play in the 1st half against Furman.
Mercer’s backup Safety, Juwan Johnson, was ejected for targeting during a Bears Kickoff in the 3rd quarter of the Morehead State game. He will not be available to play in the 1st half against Furman. Mercer’s base Defense is a 4-2-5 alignment. So they have 3 Safeties in the game on most plays. All 3 Starters and 2 other backup Safeties (Chris Joines & Christian Davis) will be available to play in the 1st half against Furman.
Mercer’s reserve (their 5th CB) Cornerback, Dainsus Miller, was ejected for targeting in the 3rd quarter of the Morehead State game. He will not be available to play in the 1st half against Furman.
Not having these 2 backup/reserve Players available in the 4th game of the season with temperatures forecasted to be in the high 60’s should not be a significant challenge for Mercer’s Secondary, which, nonetheless, has been an area of concern for the Bears. FUBeAR would imagine the 4 CB’s and 5 Safeties who are ahead of these 2 will be able to man their battle stations in the 1st half.
How effectively they can do that against SoCon Offenses remains to be seen. While their coverage against Ole Miss may have looked (or seemed) just a little bit better (not much) than Furman’s vs. South Carolina, their tackling of the Rebel’s WR’s, unlike Furman’s vs. the Cock’s WR’s, was atrocious. It was a horror show. And they have not really tackled well, nor been especially great in coverage in their other 2 outings. They only have 1 INT, 6 PBU’s, 3 Sacks, 10 QBH’s, and 1 FF/FR as a Defense. With only 1 Starting CB missing from a strong 2022 Defense, their level of play in the 1st 3 games of 2023 has been surprising.
NCAA MANUAL
20.10.1 ...intercollegiate athletics...competition in amateur athletics…
20.10.1.2 …maintaining a line of demarcation between student-athletes who participate in the Collegiate Model and athletes competing in the professional model
20.10.1 ...intercollegiate athletics...competition in amateur athletics…
20.10.1.2 …maintaining a line of demarcation between student-athletes who participate in the Collegiate Model and athletes competing in the professional model
and in person. Top 20 showdown, if the weather is as nice as predicted then there should certainly be a big crowd
That’s my plan and bringing peeps with me.