No. 12 Bears Battle No. 23 East Tennessee State On Homecoming

MACON – The 12th-ranked Mercer Bears will culminate Homecoming Week on campus today when they close out a two-game home stand against 23rd-ranked East Tennessee State at Five Star Stadium. Today's game will be broadcasted live on ESPN+ with Frank Malloy and Phil Cox handling the duties in the booth. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:02 p.m. EDT.

Rick Cameron and the rest of the Mercer Sports Network will call all of the action as well, and fans can listen to that broadcast on The Creek 100.9 FM, or by visiting Sportsmic. A live statistics link is also being provided by the Mercer athletics department.

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Saturday, October 26 Time: 3 p.m. ET Location: Macon, Ga. I Five Star Stadium TV: ESPN+ Listen Live: 100.9 The Creek I Sportsmic Network Live Statistics: MercerStats.com Twitter Updates: @MercerFootball

GAME NOTES (PDF)
Mercer	East Tennessee State	Southern Conference

TICKETS
Tickets are still available for Saturday's game, and can be purchased by visiting *MercerBears.com/Tickets*.

MERCER/ETSU SERIES
Mercer claimed five of the previous nine meetings with the Buccaneers and will bring a two-game series win streak into today's game, including a dominant 24-6 victory in Johnson City, Tenn., last season. The Bears have also posted a win in each of the last two meetings with the Bucs at Five Star Stadium, including a 55-33 triumph in 2022. All four ETSU wins in the series have come by seven points or less, including a trio of contests that were decided by a field goal.

SCOUTING THE BUCCANEERS
East Tennessee State is 5-3 under the direction of first-year head coach Tre Lamb who took over the reins of the program in November after leading Gardner-Webb to a 24-23 mark from 2019-23. The Buccaneers returned 10 starters (5 offense, 5 defense) and nine other letterwinners off last year's squad that posted a 3-8 clip and a seventh-place finish in the Southern Conference. Among the returners are 11 players that raked in preseason all-conference recognition from either the SoCon coaches or Phil Steele, including linebacker William McRainey who also picked up preseason all-America laurels.

BEARS AT FIVE STAR STADIUM
Mercer is now 47-20 (.701) all-time in Five Star Stadium following its Week 9 win over Western Carolina, including a 20-4 (.833) clip since the 2019 campaign. The Bears have turned in at least four wins inside their home stadium in each of the last five seasons, and have now captured 14 of their last 16 home games following the 44-34 triumph over the Catamounts on October 26.

BEARS VS. TOP 25 TEAMS
The Bears moved to 3-0 against nationally-ranked opponents this season with a 44-34 win over then-No. 24 Western Carolina last week, and have now posted wins in four of their last five contests against Top 25 foes dating back to a 45-38 victory at then-No. 10 Western Carolina on Oct. 28, 2023. MU's three Top 25 victories this season is the most for the program since it went 3-1 against such foes during the Spring 2021 campaign.

No. 12 Bears Battle No. 23 East Tennessee State On Homecoming

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