Mercer wins season opener in historic fashion before road trip to Alabama in Week 2

Mercer began its 2021 season in historic fashion Thursday night against Point University.

The Bears beat Point 69-0, the largest margin of victory for Mercer since the program restarted in 2013. The previous mark was a 61-0 win over Warner in 2013. The Bears racked up 778 yards of total offense, also the most in a game since the program restarted.

The game was never in doubt and served as a warm-up for their game against Alabama next week.

Quarterbacks Carter Peevy and Fred Payton each got work early on in the game. Head coach, Drew Cronic said before the season that the two were still competing for the starting job.

Peevy was intercepted on the first drive of the game, but the Bears bounced back with a 57-yard drive capped by a 4-yard touchdown by Brandon Marshall.

Mercer defensive tackle Chris Hill intercepted Point quarterback Peyton Allen on the third drive of the game to set up an Ethan Dirrim touchdown catch from Fred Payton.

Peevy came back in at quarterback on the next drive and threw a 47-yard touchdown pass to Ty James. Peevy’s pass was put on the money in the end zone, a good sign after the earlier interception.

The Bears dominated the rest of the first half with a pair of rushing touchdowns from Fred Davis and another from Devron Harper. The Bears went into the half up 42-0.

Quarterback and former Warner Robins standout Dylan Fromm started the second half. Fromm put together a scoring drive midway through the third quarter.

The Mercer defense held Point to 99 yards and shut out the Skyhawks. It was Mercer’s first shutout since a 52-0 win over East Tennessee State in 2015.

The Bears will take on Alabama next Saturday in Tuscaloosa. This will be the second time that Mercer has taken on Alabama in the last four years. In 2017, the Bears lost to the Tide 56-0.

3 STARS

Mercer defense: The Bears held the Skyhawks scoreless on the night and never let them get much of a rhythm on offense. Mercer swarmed to the ball all night long. Point’s longest drive of the game went for 30 yards and ended in a fumble. The special teams unit was able to block a punt in the first half to set up another touchdown. Overall the Bears showcased great defense at all three levels from the line to the secondary.

Bears rushing attack: There wasn’t really one guy that stood out above the rest. The team racked up 539 yards on the ground but the leading rusher, Tommy Pollack only accounted for 103 yards on a team-high 10 attempts. The Bears distributed the ball evenly to a number of ball carriers. Mercer’s ability to distribute the workload will keep its guys fresh throughout the season.

Mercer quarterbacks: The top three guys on the depth chart saw action on Thursday. They combined to go 18-of-25 for 239 yards and three touchdown passes.

Carter Peevy still seems to be the leader in the clubhouse at the position. Peevy got 12 attempts and threw for 139 yards and a touchdown.

The only two mistakes were the early Peevy interception and a botched snap handled by Dylan Fromm that resulted in a turnover.

Cronic has a good quarterback room to choose from and could go with the hot hand throughout the season.

They said it:

“We are getting ready to play this best college football team in the country. What an opportunity to show you belong out there. To show that you can go out there and fight your guts out and compete and try to give yourself a chance to have success. Whatever happens we are going to get better because of that game. But I have never gone to a game thinking I was going to get beat. So we are going to prepare and go try and win a game.” — Coach Cronic on facing Alabama next week

“It means a lot to me. It is the first time my parents have been able to see me play in a Mercer uniform. I feel like I have been chipping away at it the last few years. It is awesome to go out there and try to play well. I came to Mercer to play in front of my hometown. It means a lot to me.” — Quarterback Dylan Fromm on playing in front of the home crowd

“We have talked about it a little bit. I know Tyler has played them twice to this point and they play them later this year so they might watch a little of our film so that is pretty cool. Alabama is obviously a really tough team and we are looking forward to it.” — Fromm on talking with his brothers about the Alabama game

“Having three quarterbacks that can play is really good for a team. It gives us a lot of security at that position. All three of us know the offense really well. It was really good tonight obviously for me to have success but see these guys also succeed.” —Quarterback Carter Peevy on having multiple options at quarterback

What’s Next:

Mercer at Alabama

The stark contrast between the Bears’ opening opponent and its second game might be the largest in college football history. Mercer beat the Skyhawks, an NAIA school is similar to a D-3 school, but now take on the defending NCAA national champions in Alabama.

Alabama lost a lot of talent from its team a year ago including the Heisman Trophy winner, Devonta Smith and the New England Patriots starting quarterback Mac Jones.

But the Tide has replenished its talent pool with more five-star recruiting and will send out one of the early Heisman betting favorites in quarterback Bryce Young.

Mercer will get a chance to compete against one of the best programs in the history of college football. Coach Cronic said before the season that there is no mission impossibles and will go into the game looking to compete for the win.

This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 10:29 PM.