Lamb set for another matchup with Furman

In his fourth season as Mercer’s head coach, Bobby Lamb still has strong ties to Furman.

Lamb did, after all, spend most of his adult life with the Paladins’ program as a player, assistant coach and then head coach. But Lamb said he is getting used to coaching against his alma mater.

He will do so for the third time at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Five Star Stadium. Mercer lost to Furman two years ago in Lamb’s first matchup with the Paladins and Mercer’s debut game in the Southern Conference.

Last year, Lamb’s team went to Furman and pulled out a win in overtime.

“It’s not near what it was going back to Furman last year and the year before,” Lamb said. “They don’t have any players on the team that I recruited; they’re all brand new. But I do have a great relationship with (Furman head coach) Bruce Fowler, (offensive coordinator) Tim Sorrells, the head trainer there, Craig Clark.

“I’ve got some ties still, but not nearly what it was like last year or the year before.”

Mercer enters its season finale with a 5-5 record, including 3-4 in the Southern Conference. Furman is 3-7 overall and 3-4 in the conference but has played well since losing its first six games.

The Bears’ losses have come to The Citadel, Chattanooga, Samford and Wofford — all teams Lamb believes will be in the FCS playoffs — along with Georgia Tech.

“I tell you, the exciting thing about the league is ... when Appalachian State and Georgia Southern left two years ago, everybody said the Southern Conference was going to collapse and not be very good,” Lamb said. “We’ve slowly built it back up, and now look what happened. For the first time, probably, in history, we’re going to have four teams in the playoffs. The Citadel is having a marvelous year at 10-0; I’d hate to be North Carolina playing them this week.

“Chattanooga is Chattanooga — really solid. Wofford has really bounced back with a nice year, and Samford is probably one of the most talented teams in the league. They’re having a great year, as well. You’ve got four teams that are going to take that next step, and what helps Mercer and the Southern Conference is these teams going into the playoffs and continuing to win. It makes us look better and builds the conference up. We’ve been rated the second-best conference in the FCS all season long.

“Now it’s time for those guys to go show it in the playoffs. It really helps us in the long run.”

This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 7:48 PM with the headline "Lamb set for another matchup with Furman."