No. 22 Mercer Returns Home To Battle Samford

MACON – The 23rd-ranked Mercer football team resumes the home portion of its regular season schedule on Saturday when it takes on league nemesis Samford to highlight Family Weekend on campus. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Saturday's game will be broadcasted live on ESPN+ with Frank Malloy and Phil Cox handling the duties in the booth. 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 ETSU athletics department.

ABOUT THE GAME
Date: Saturday, October 4 Time: 4 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 Game Notes	Samford Game Notes	SoCon Weekly Release

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

MERCER/SAMFORD SERIES
Samford in 16-14-1 all-time in a series with Mercer that dates all the way back to the 1907 season when both teams competed as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) and later as members of the Dixie Conference ... Fifteen of the first 16 matchups in the series were played in Macon ... Samford has captured seven of the 11 Southern Conference matchups in the series ... Seven of those contests were decided by seven or fewer points ... The squads have combined to register 49 or more points in each of the last seven meetings, including 90 or more points in two of the last three meetings.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Samford returned just four starters (1 offense, 3 defense) from last season's 4-7 squad that registered a 3-4 (5th) mark in Southern Conference play ... Among the returners for Samford are a trio of preseason All-SoCon standouts, including first team defensive lineman Conroy Cunningham ... Quincy Crittendon (QB) and Jaden Mosley (LB) also graced the preseason all-conference list ... The Bulldogs boast FCS's 8th-best passing offense (296.8 yards/game) and 44th-best total offense (376.6 yards/game allowed) ... Samford has turned the ball over 16 times through its first five games, while also allowing nearly 300 yards (299.6) per game through the air.

SEVEN-STRAIGHT SOCON WINS FOR MU
Mercer will ride a seven-game win streak against Southern Conference teams into Saturday's game against Samford ... The last league loss for the Bears came in the form of a 55-35 loss at Samford that marked the first loss of the season for MU in 2024 ... MU has now captured 16 of its last 18 games against SoCon opponents dating back to a 38-3 win over VMI on Sept. 30, 2023 ... The Bears are 8-1 at home across that stretch and 8-1 away from Macon.

BEARS AT FIVE STAR STADIUM
Mercer is now 51-21 (.708) all-time in Five Star Stadium following its Week 3 win over Wofford, including a 24-5 (.828) 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 18 of their last 21 home games following the triumph over the Terriers ... Mercer has won eight-straight games against SoCon foes in Five Star Stadium, and boasts a 19-3 clip against league foes since the end of the 2019 campaign ... The Bears are 29-17 all-time against SoCon opponents in Macon.

NEXT WEEK FOR THE BEARS
Mercer will step out of conference play on October 11 when it makes the long trek to northern New Jersey to take on Ivy League rival Princeton. Kickoff is slated for noon inside Princeton Stadium. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by visiting *the Princeton athletics ticket portal*.

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