Mercer Shocks No. 3 Chattanooga, 17-14

Saturday, November 7

Macon, Ga.

4 pm

Mercer University

Chattanooga

11/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University football team recorded its best win in program history, taking down No. 3 Chattanooga, 17-14, on Saturday evening at Five Star Stadium. The Bears handed UTC its first league defeat to pick up the program's first victory over a Top-25 opponent.

RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer improves to 4-5 overall and 1-4 in the Southern Conference with the victory, while the Mocs slide to 7-2 overall and 5-1 league play.

COACH LAMB'S TAKE
"What a great win for us. I can't say enough about our defense forcing four turnovers. Anytime you defend Chattanooga with [Jacob] Huesman at quarterback it's like defending against 12 because he is their running back.

"Time and time again we kept coming and kept coming. We didn't play perfect on offense. We didn't play perfect on defense but we made plays down the stretch when we had to and I can't be more proud of this team because so many times we have sat right here and it's been a seven-point loss, a three-point loss, a two-point loss on the last play of the game and these kids are resilient. They stepped up and believed. The coaches have done a great job of making them believe all year long.

"I really think us playing them pretty well up [at Chattanooga] last year helped us but at the end of the day it's a different Chattanooga team and a different Mercer team. But what a win, what a win. I want to thank Bear nation for coming out. It was 90 percent chance for rain and thunderstorms all week long and we're planning for the worst case scenario and I look up and we have people everywhere. It was a great atmosphere and a great win for our program."

TURNING POINT
Mercer led 17-14 late in the fourth quarter, but Chattanooga threatened with another drive into Bears' territory. However, for the fourth time in the game, the Bears' defense came up with a big play. Zach Jackson picked off Mocs' quarterback Jacob Huesman in the red zone to hand the ball back to Mercer with just under four minutes remaining. The Bears' offense took over from there, picking up a pair of first downs to run out the clock on the historic victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercer jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game, as John Russ' quarterback keeper capped off a 13-play, 75-yard drive that handed the Bears an early lead. Chattanooga responded with a scoring drive of its own on the next possession, thanks to Huesman's seven-yard touchdown run that put the two teams on even terms, 7-7.

The Bears drove 73 yards on its next drive to once again grab the lead, as Jagger Lieb's 19-yard field goal pushed them back in front, 10-7. UTC had an opportunity to tie the game at the end of the opening half, however, Henrique Ribeiro's attempt went wide left to keep Mercer on top heading into the break.

Jimmie Robinson made the offense's top play of the game on the opening drive of the third quarter, breaking away from a defender and racing 64 yards down the sideline for a touchdown to give the Bears a 17-7 advantage. Mercer's defense took care of the rest for the Bears, coming up with a huge goal line stand and forcing three turnovers in the final 17 minutes of the game to ice the victory.

STAT OF THE GAME
Mercer came into the game ranked ninth in the nation in turnover margin and its ability to win the turnover battle came up huge again. The Bears forced four turnovers in the contest, recovering two fumbles and intercepting two passes to hold one of the league's top offenses to just 14 points.

OFFENSIVE STAR
Robinson made the most of his opportunities on Saturday afternoon, finishing with 90 yards of total offense on just five touches. The freshman wideout scored his first collegiate touchdown in the third quarter to help him tally a career-high 85 yards receiving.

DEFENSIVE STANDOUT
Jackson made two huge plays to help the Bears stave off a Chattanooga comeback in the second half. With the Mocs driving down 10 late in the third quarter, Jackson recovered a fumble on the Mercer 17 to end the Chattanooga drive and give Mercer the ball back. Then later in the fourth Jackson intercepted a pass on the Mercer 16 yard line to give the Bears the ball and keep the lead safe at 17-14 with just over four minutes remaining in the contest. The fumble recovery and interception were both firsts for the junior this season. Jackson also added a season-high nine tackles in the victory.

OFFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS

Mercer knocked off No. 3 Chattanooga, the program's first win over a ranked opponent since reintroducing football in 2013.

The victory is the Orange and Black's first Southern Conference win at home in program history.

The win is Mercer's seventh in the all-time series against Chattanooga and is now 7-18-1

against the Mocs and 4-3 when playing in Georgia.

Head coach Bobby Lamb is 9-2 in his career against Chattanooga.

The Bears did not commit a single penalty in the victory.

OFFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS

Russ scored his sixth rushing touchdown of the season on a QB sneak from the 1-yard line to give Mercer a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

With the TD run from Russ, Mercer has scored in 38 consecutive games dating back to the 1941 season.

Lieb connected on a 19-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter to put Mercer on top 10-7. The make was Lieb's ninth of the season.

Robinson caught a 64-yard touchdown pass from Russ for the first score of his career to give Mercer a 17-7 lead early in the third quarter.

The touchdown pass was Russ' 14^th of the season.

Russ has now thrown a touchdown pass in 29 of 33 games over his career.

The 64-yard pass marks the longest completed pass from the Bears this season.

DEFENSIVE NOTES

The Mercer defense held Chattanooga to just 14 points, its lowest output of the season.

The Bears forced a season-high four turnovers in the game, by way of two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

Senior defensive back Alex Avant intercepted his first pass of the season and sixth of his career on Chattanooga's opening drive of the game.

The Mercer defense has now forced a turnover in 18 of its last 20 games.

Junior defensive back Lendell Arnold recorded a season-high 10 tackles to tie for the team lead.

Junior linebacker Tripp Patterson tied for the team lead in tackles with 10, his third double-digit tackle performance of the season.

Jackson recovered the first fumble of his career deep in Mercer territory in the third quarter.
Arnold forced his first fumble of the season, which was recovered by Isaiah Buehler, his first fumble recovery of the season.