2020 Mercer Bears football team

American college football season

2020 Mercer Bears football

Conference	Southern Conference
Record	5–6 (5–3 SoCon)
Head coach	Drew Cronic (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Bob Bodine (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Tim Foster (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Joel Taylor (1st season)
Home stadium	Five Star Stadium
Seasons ← 2019 2021 →

2020 Southern Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 11 VMI $^	6	–	1	6	–	2
No. 22 East Tennessee State	4	–	1	4	–	1
Chattanooga†	3	–	1	3	–	2
Mercer	5	–	3	5	–	6
Samford	4	–	3	4	–	3
Furman	3	–	4	3	–	4
Wofford†	1	–	4	1	–	4
The Citadel	2	–	6	2	–	10
Western Carolina	1	–	5	1	–	8

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant † – Chattanooga and Wofford opted out of the remainder of the spring season on March 29 and April 5, 2021, respectively. Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2020 Mercer Bears football team represented Mercer University as a member the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Drew Cronic and played their home games at the Five Star Stadium in Macon, Georgia. Mercer finished the season 5–6 overall and 5–3 in SoCon play to place fourth.

Schedule

Mercer had a game scheduled against Vanderbilt, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
October 10	3:00 p.m.	at Jacksonville State*		JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN3	L 28–34	5,870
October 24	12:00 p.m.	at Army*		Michie Stadium West Point, NY	CBSSN	L 3–49	5,181
October 31	3:00 p.m.	Abilene Christian*		Five Star Stadium Macon, GA	ESPN3	L 17–20	2,372
February 20	1:00 p.m.	at No. 16 Wofford		Gibbs Stadium Spartanburg, SC	ESPN+	L 14–31	1,078
February 27	3:30 p.m.	The Citadel		Five Star Stadium Macon, GA	ESPN+	W 42–28	3,372
March 13	1:30 p.m.	at VMI		Alumni Memorial Field Lexington, VA	ESPN+	L 14–41	1,000
March 20	3:30 p.m.	Western Carolina		Five Star Stadium Macon, GA	ESPN+	W 45–28	3,527
March 27	12:00 p.m.	at No. 9 Chattanooga		Finley Stadium Chattanooga, TN	ESPN+	W 35–28	3,144
April 3	3:30 p.m.	No. 21 Furman		Five Star Stadium Macon, GA	ESPN+	W 26–14	3,627
April 10	6:00 p.m.	No. 20 East Tennessee State		Five Star Stadium Macon, GA		W 21–13	3,273
April 17	1:00 p.m.	at Samford	No. 23	Seibert Stadium Homewood, AL	ESPN+	L 20–44	1,176
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[2]

Game summaries

At Jacksonville State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	14	0	7	7	28
Gamecocks	3	24	0	7	34

At Army

Mercer Bears at Army Black Knights

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	3	0	0	0	3
Black Knights	7	14	21	7	49

at Michie Stadium, West Point, NY

Date: October 24, 2020
Game time: 12:00 p.m. EDT
Game weather: Temperature: 66 °F (19 °C) • Wind: WNW 8 mph • Weather: Cloudy
Game attendance: 5,181
Referee: Mike Roche
TV announcers (CBSSN): Ben Holden (play-by-play), Ross Tucker (analyst) & Tina Cervasio (sideline)
ESPN – Mercer Bears at Army Black Knights^[3] /// Pregame Notes^[4] /// Postgame Notes

Game information

First Quarter

(08:08) MER FG – Caleb Dowden 36-yard field goal
Drive: 15 plays, 56 yards, 6:52; Mercer 3–0
(04:34) ARMY TD – Tyrell Robinson 53-yard pass from Cade Ballard, Landon Salyers kick
Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards, 3:34; Army 7–3

Second Quarter

(13:12) ARMY TD – Sandon McCoy 1-yard rush, Landon Salyers kick
Drive: 11 plays, 39 yards, 5:36; Army 14–3
(01:05) ARMY TD – Sandon McCoy 1-yard rush, Landon Salyers kick
Drive: 8 plays, 38 yards, 3:55; Army 21–3

Third Quarter

(10:39) ARMY TD – Cade Barnard 3-yard rush, Landon Salyers kick
Drive: 8 plays, 40 yards, 4:13; Army 28–3
(05:13) ARMY TD – Sandon McCoy 1-yard rush, Landon Salyers kick
Drive: 9 plays, 59 yards, 3:57; Army 35–3
(04:39) ARMY TD – Jabari Moore 29-yard interception return, Quinn Maretzki kick
Drive: 0 plays, 0 yards, 0:00; Army 42–3

Fourth Quarter

(01:00) ARMY TD – Jordan Blackman 6-yard rush, Quinn Maretzki kick
Drive: 17 plays, 91 yards, 10:03; Army 49–3

Passing

MER – Harrison Frost: 14/22, 94 yards, 3 INT
ARMY – Cade Ballard: 1/1, 53 yards, 1 TD

Rushing

MER – Tyray Devezin: 11 carries, 71 yards
ARMY – Tyhier Tyler: 10 carries, 77 yards

Receiving

MER – Zacch Davis: 2 receptions, 32 yards
ARMY – Tyrell Robinson: 1 reception, 53 yards, 1 TD

Defense

MER – Isaac Dowling: 16 total tackles (7 solo, 9 assisted), 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss
ARMY – Spencer Jones: 7 total tackles (3 solo, 4 assisted), 1.5 tackles for loss

Statistics	MER	ARMY
First downs	14	21
3rd down efficiency	6–13	8–14
4th down efficiency	0–0	4–4
Plays–yards	57–221	66–360
Rushes–yards	33–113	63–297
Passing yards	108	63
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	16–24–3	2–3–0
Penalties–yards	3–40	4–29
Turnovers	3	0
Time of possession	24:50	35:10

Abilene Christian

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	0	3	10	20
Bears	0	10	7	0	17

At No. 16 Wofford

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	7	7	14
No. 16 Terriers	7	10	7	7	31

References

^ Talty, John. "SEC moves to conference-only 2020 schedule, pushes back start of season". AL.com. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
^ "2020 Mercer Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
^ "Mercer at Army – Game Summary – October 24, 2020". ESPN. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
^ "Mercer at Army – Game Notes" (PDF). USMA Athletic Department. October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2020.

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