No. 7 Bears Head To Fargo For FCS Quarterfinals

MACON – The No. 7 national seed Mercer Bears will make their first appearance in the NCAA quarterfinals on Saturday when they make the long trek to Fargo, N.D., to take on the No. 2 national seed North Dakota State Bison at the Fargodome. Saturday's game will be broadcasted live on ABC with Roy Philpott and Sam Acho handling the duties in the booth. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.

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 NCAA.

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Saturday, December 14 Time: 3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. local) Location: Fargo, N.C. I Fargodome TV: ABC / ESPN+ Listen Live: 100.9 The Creek I Sportsmic Network Live Statistics: NCAA.com Twitter Updates: @MercerFootball

GAME NOTES (PDF)
Mercer	North Dakota State	Southern Conference

TICKETS
Tickets are still available for Saturday's FCS Quarterfinals tilt with the Bison, and can be purchased by visiting *North Dakota State's ticketing website*.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA STATE
The 2nd-seeded Bison wrapped up a three-way share of the 2024 Missouri Valley Football Conference championship despite a 29-28 setback at No. 4 South Dakota in the regular season finale ... Making its 38th postseason appearance (15th-straight playoffs berth), North Dakota State opened up the postseason with a 51-31 home win over 15th-seeded Abilene Christian last week ... 14 Bison players earned a spot on the postseason All-MVFC squad, including six first team selections ... NDSU features 11 seniors on its 2-deep depth chart, including 10 who have a starting role on either offense (6) or defense (4) ... North Dakota State will bring FCS's 2nd-ranked scoring offense into the weekend, but also ranks among the nation's top 10 in 14 other statistical categories as well ... Senior Cam Miller is a top-3 finalist for the Walter Payton Award, and has thrown just two interceptions in 285 passing attempts.

MERCER/NORTH DAKOTA STATE HISTORY
Saturday's matchup will mark the first meeting between the Bears and North Dakota State on the gridiron ... Mercer has played just one current member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, dropping a second-round playoff contest at then-No. 1 South Dakota State last season ... The only previous athletic competition between teams from Mercer and NDSU came in 2012 (February 17) when the Bison topped the Bears, 7-2, at the Florida State Seminole Classic in Tallahassee, Fla.

MOST WINS IN PROGRAM HISTORY
Mercer will bring a program record 11 wins into Saturday's game at North Dakota State ... The Bears matched the inaugural 2013 squad (10-2) for the program superlative with a 49-23 win over Furman on November 23 ... All 11 of MU's wins this season have come against NCAA Division I competition, whereas the 2013 squad recorded just six victories against Division I competition ... The inaugural squad also bested two NAIA opponents and a pair of NCAA Division III teams.

BEARS VS. TOP 25
Mercer has won six of its last seven games against nationally-ranked FCS teams, including a nation's-best five wins this season against opponents ranked in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 at kickoff ... The only blemish across that six-game stretch came at then-No. 1 and eventual national champion South Dakota State in the second round of last year's FCS Playoffs ... MU's five Top 25 victories this season are a program high, while the six contests against nationally-ranked opponents (including then-No. 9 Alabama) is the most since the Bears faced six nationally-ranked foes during the 2017 campaign ... The Bears are 14-24 over the last decade against nationally-ranked opponents, including a 14-19 mark against ranked FCS opponents ... Half of the Bears' 14 wins against Top 25 FCS foes have come away from Macon (7-12 away vs. FCS) ... The Orange & Black has also posted a sextet of wins against Top 10-ranked FCS opponents (6-6 vs. Top 10) ... Just more than one-third (7 of 19) of MU's losses to Top 25 FCS competition have come by seven or fewer points.

No. 7 Bears Head To Fargo For FCS Quarterfinals

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