Mercer Heads to Georgia Tech Saturday

MACON, Ga. – For heading to uncharted waters Saturday, Mercer will certainly be in familiar territory. That will be the case when Mercer kicks off at Georgia Tech at 3 p.m. at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

While this may be the first time Mercer will face a Power 5 program since reinstituting its football program in 2013, the Bears face a team it has faced 15 times prior in a city that is home to the largest satellite campus of the University as well as over 30,000 living alumni.

GAMEDAY LINEUP
Date: Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016 | 3 p.m.
Teams: Mercer (0-1, 0-1 SoCon) at Georgia Tech (1-0, 1-0 ACC)
Location: Atlanta, Ga. | Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field
Broadcast: ESPN3 | Watch ESPN
Broadcast Talent: Matt Stewart (play-by-play), Al Groh (analyst)
Radio: Mercer Sports Network (Flagship: 97.3 FM The Bull Icons) | iHeartRadio
Radio Talent: Rick Cameron (play-by-play), Roger Jackson (analyst), Megan Trammell (sideline)
Live Stats: GameTracker
Twitter Updates: @MercerFootball

Series History
Saturday's game will mark the 16^th non-consecutive meeting between Mercer and Georgia Tech. The series began back in 1892 when Georgia Tech traveled to Macon to face Mercer in Tech's first football game in school history. The Bears would win that contest, 12-6.

Last Time Out
Mercer rallied back from a 21-3 deficit to take a two-point lead early in the third quarter but the 15th-ranked Bulldogs kicked a game-winning 35-yard field goal with 2:20 left in the game as the Bears dropped the season opener, 24-23, to No. 15 The Citadel.

Close Calls Continue
The 2015 season was marked by more close calls than anyone would like to imagine. Out of the 11 games Mercer played last year, seven were decided by one score or less with four games determined by three points or less.

Of those close calls, six of the games were played in a span of seven weeks while two games required more than 60 minutes of playing time to determine a winner and required overtime.

Those close calls have continued into 2016 as the season opener against No. 15 The Citadel was decided by just one point.

Mercer's Close Calls Since 2015

Date	W/L	Opponent	Score
Sept. 19	L	at Tennessee Tech	22-29
Oct. 3	L (OT)	Wofford	33-34
Oct. 10	L	at Western Carolina	21-24
Oct. 24	L	VMI	21-28
Oct. 31	L	at The Citadel	19-21
Nov. 7	W	#3 Chattanooga	17-14
Nov. 14	W (OT)	at Furman	27-20
Sept. 1	L	#15 The Citadel	23-24

Lamb No Stranger
Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb is no stranger to Georgia Tech. While he has never faced the Ramblin' Wreck as a head coach, Lamb has faced Georgia Tech on five prior occasions and found moderate success - once as a football player and four times as an assistant coach (all at Furman). While a quarterback for Furman in 1983, Lamb led the Paladins to a 17-14 upset over GT and then helped secure a 17-17 tie in 1986 as a student assistant coach working with the quarterbacks. In 1991, when he was working with the quarterbacks as a full time assistant coach, Furman dropped a close 19-17 decision at Georgia Tech.

Bobby Lamb vs. Georgia Tech

Year	W/L/T	Score	Role
1983	W	17-14	Player (QB)
1986	T	17-17	Student Assistant Coach
1991	L	17-19	Assistant Coach (QBs)
1993	L	3-38	QB/WR/Passing Game Coord.
1995	L	7-51	QB/WR/Passing Game Coord.

Familiar Offense
It's not often you see a triple option style offense more than once in a season but Mercer will be facing it for the second straight week when it plays at Georgia Tech. The Bears are coming off a 24-23 loss to 15th-ranked The Citadel, a military academy that expertly deploys the triple-option offense.

Mercer will then see another option-style offense when it plays at Wofford on Oct. 29.

How to Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer Football, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerFootball (Twitter), /MercerFootball (Facebook) and @MercerFootball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.

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