Mercer not focusing on praise coming off big win
Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb said he reminded his players that they have been in this spot before this season.
Coming off a close loss to Auburn, the Bears were praised as they made their way around campus. But the next Saturday, Mercer lost to East Tennessee State.
Lamb doesn’t want to see a repeat of that this week as the Bears prepare to face a 1-5 Chattanooga team after beating The Citadel 24-14 last week.
“We told them the same thing we told them last week: 1-0. Our goal is to go 1-0,” Lamb said Monday. “It’s a lot like the Auburn game. We played well but didn’t win, and everybody on campus was patting them on the back. Then we didn’t play very well the next week. We talked a lot about that in our team meeting: getting patted on the back. At the end of the day, that’s why we call it ‘Sunday flush.’ We’ve got to flush that out of our system, and we’ve really got to have a great week at practice in preparation for the Chattanooga team.
“They’re dangerous. The most dangerous team you can play is a team that’s 1-5 and hungry to get a win. I think Chattanooga is in that category right now.”
The Citadel defeated Mercer in their first three meetings by a combined five points. But Mercer jumped on top early and led 21-0 entering the fourth quarter. The Citadel entered the game ranked No. 17 in the country, and the win was the Bears’ second win over a ranked team.
Mercer has won back-to-back games to get to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in Southern Conference play. Chattanooga is 1-2 in the conference.
“It was a big win. Having played The Citadel the last three years, we lost all three by a combined five points,” Mercer senior running back Alex Lakes said. “Going up there and playing in one of the hottest games, it was a really big win.”
Socon honor
Mercer linebacker Lee Bennett was named the Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week after recording a career-high 16 tackles against The Citadel. Bennett also forced two fumbles and recovered one, setting Mercer’s career record with his sixth fumble recovery.
This story was originally published October 9, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Mercer not focusing on praise coming off big win."