No. 25 Football Too Much For The Citadel

Saturday, November 4

Charleston, S.C.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

7-3 , 5-2

The Citadel

0-9 , 0-6

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Mercer

The Citadel

11/4/2023 1:59:00 PM | Football

Box Score Postgame Presser Highlights Photo Gallery

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The 25^th-ranked Mercer football team forced a trio of turnovers, including Ken Standley's pick 6 on the opening possession of the afternoon, and limited The Citadel to just 91 yards of offense in the second half, on the way to a 38-16 victory over the Bulldogs on Saturday at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

It was the sixth win in the last nine road outings for the Bears (7-3, 5-2 SoCon), and helped the Orange & Black match a program record with their seventh victory against an NCAA Division I institution as well. The setback marked the fourth-straight series loss for The Citadel (0-9, 0-6) who stayed winless on the season with the outcome as well.

THE BASICS

SCORE: Mercer 38, The Citadel 16
RECORDS: Mercer 7-3, 5-2 SoCon; The Citadel 0-9, 0-6 SoCon
LOCATION: Charleston, S.C. (Johnson Hagood Stadium)

HOW IT HAPPENED

1ST QUARTER

It was business as usual for the Mercer defense who gave the game its first points of the afternoon on a big turnover. The Citadel gained just one yard on its first two plays of the afternoon, and then Ken Standley stepped in front of a third-down pass from Graeson Underwood and raced 27 yards for a pick-6. MU 7, CID 0

The Bulldogs responded with a 17-play, 71-yard scoring drive that consumed nearly 10 minutes off of the game clock. The hosts converted a quartet of third downs, as well as a 4^th-and-1 situation, before the drive stalled at the Mercer 14-yard line. Colby Kintner took care of the rest for the Bulldogs. MU 7, CID 3

Pick 6‼️

Another great start for the Bears as @standley_ken with the 27-yard interception return for a @TruistNews TD!

That's 3 straight games with a pick-six for the Bears!

Q1 | 13:29
Mercer 7, The Citadel 0#RaiseTheBar | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/LkcTiDhi0w
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) November 4, 2023

2ND QUARTER

The Citadel put together another lengthy drive with their initial possession of the second period, driving 57 yards in 10 plays before Hi'Keem Elmore punched it in from two yards away. The Bulldogs signaled in running plays eight times on the possession, but keyed the go-ahead score with a 29-yard reception by Tyler Cherry. CID 10, MU 7

Mercer was able to shake its offensive lull right before the half. A shanked punt set the Bears up in The Citadel territory, and the Orange & Black followed with an 8-play touchdown drive, including a 14-yard scoring strike from Carter Peevy to Devron Harper. MU 14, CID 10

Touchdown Bears!!@Cpeev7 finds @DevronHarper for a 14-yd @TruistNews TD!

Q2 | 0:25
Mercer 14, The Citadel 10#RaiseTheBar | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/Sc7b9CbXOQ
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) November 4, 2023

3RD QUARTER

The Bears used their air game to eventually put more points on the board to finish off their opening possession of the second half. Carter Peevy completed his first three pass attempts of the possession to chew up 58 yards and move the visitors into the red zone before Reice Griffith punctuated the scoring drive with a 29-yard field goal. MU 17, CID 10

A giveaway by The Citadel on the ensuing possession set the Bears up inside the red zone, and Mercer would make it a two-score game moments later. Brayden Smith nifty 10-yard run on the ensuing play from scrimmage set up Carter Peevy's 15-yard touchdown toss to Al Wooten II. MU 24, CID 10

Fumble‼️@904LaRich scoops it up and sets up the offense in the redzone!#RaiseTheBar | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/BoXyuiLMue
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) November 4, 2023

4TH QUARTER

The Bears bridged the third and fourth quarters with a 4-play, 63-yard scoring drive that spanned just more than 70 seconds. Carter Peevy moved Mercer to midfield with an 8-yard quarterback keeper, and freshman Brayden Smith got the visiting fans on their feet seconds later when he darted through traffic and sprinted 50 yards down the far sideline for his first collegiate score. MU 31, CID 10

Devron Harper's 37-yard punt return gave the visitors good field position on their first full possession of the fourth quarter, and Mercer followed with a 5-play, 33-yard possession that was culminated with Al Wooten II's 4-yard touchdown run. Carter Peevy's 32-yard pass to Ty James on the opening play of the drive moved MU down to the 1-yard line to provide the early boost, however. MU 38, CID 10

The Citadel finally broke its scoreless drought midway through the fourth quarter thanks to legs and strong right arm of Graeson Underwood. Underwood ran three times for 22 yards, and completed four of his six pass attempts for 38 yards, including a 24-yard pass to Ha'Keem Monroe in the corner of the end zone. MU 38, CID 16

First career touchdown alert! 🚨

That man @BraydensmithMU was flying down the sideline for the 50-yard @TruistNews TD! 💨

Q4 | 14:51
Mercer 31, The Citadel 10#RaiseTheBar | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/HtJZ5kyTN8
— Mercer Football (@MercerFootball) November 4, 2023

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

+ Senior Ty James caught three passes for 74 yards to move increasingly closer to registering his second-straight 1,000-yard receiving campaign. The Conyers, Ga., native has now registered 52 catches for 982 yards this season, while also adding seven touchdown receptions as well.
+ Ken Standley turned in a team-best nine tackles (7 solo stops), including a 3-yard tackle for loss. The junior is now within a single solo stop of moving into the program's all-time top 5 in that category. He also tacked up his first career interception in the opening period.
+ Freshman Reice Griffith registered a 40.0 yard average on four punts against The Citadel, including two that were downed inside the 20-yard line. Griffith also canned all five of his point-after attempts, and added his ninth field goal of the season.

NOTABLES

+ Mercer closed out the road portion of its 2023 schedule with a 3-2 clip – its first winning record away from Macon since the 2021 campaign and just the second winning road record in the modern era history of the program (2013-present, 11 seasons). The Orange & Black has now captured six of its last nine road games against FCS opponents as well.
+ Saturday's result snapped a 3-game skid for the Bears in November contests, and gave Mercer its first win in the calendar's 11^th month since a 10-6 home win over then-No. 19 Chattanooga on Nov. 13, 2021.
+ The Citadel's touchdown with 3:42 left in the first quarter marked the first points of in the series for the Bulldogs since a first-quarter touchdown on Oct. 30, 2021 – a scoreless drought that had spanned more than seven quarters and 118 minutes of game action.
+ The Bears have now forced 16 of their 20 turnovers on the season over the last six games, including a dozen in the last three weeks. Four of those turnovers have been returned for touchdowns.

UP NEXT

The Bears will culminate Homecoming Week on November 4, while also closing out the regular season portion of their 2023 schedule, when they take on Samford at Five Star Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. Get your tickets ahead of time by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.

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