JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Oct. 6, 2023) – The Buccaneers are finally back at home! 
 
After having a month between home games, the ETSU football teams gears up for its Homecoming game when the Buccaneers host Mercer this Saturday at Bank of Tennessee Field at William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium.
 
HOMECOMING SATURDAY
Date: Saturday, Oct. 7
Time: 3:32 p.m.
Location: Johnson City, Tenn. | Bank of Tennessee Field at William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium
Teams: ETSU (1-3, 0-1) vs. Mercer (3-2, 1-1)
Weather: 61° | Sunny | Winds NW @ 10-15 mph 
Live Video: ESPN+
TV Crew: Keith Brake (pbp); Mark Hutsell (analyst) 
Live Audio: WXSM-AM 640 | 104.9 NASH ICON
Radio Crew: Jay "Voice of the Bucs" Sandos (pbp), Don Helman (analyst)
Live Stats: ETSUBucs.com (StatBroadcast)
Twitter: @ETSUFootball
Game Sponsor: Mr. Electric
 
THINGS TO KNOW 
Please click here for all the "Things to Know" for Saturday's Homecoming game, presented by Citizens Bank 
 
ABOUT THE BUCS 
SOCON HOME OPENERS 
Saturday marks the eighth SoCon home opener since the Bucs rejoined the league in 2016 … ETSU is 4-3 in those seven contests with the Bucs winning in 2016 (34-31 vs. Western Carolina in Bristol Motor Speedway), in 2018 (vs. Furman, 29-27), in the spring of 2021 (vs. Samford, 24-17), and the fall of 2021 (vs. Wofford, 27-21).
 
CLOSE CALLS IN CONFERENCE 
ETSU has played in 55 SoCon games since rejoining the league in 2016 with the Bucs record being 23-32 in those contests … Thirty-six of those games have been decided by one possession (8 points or less) with 14 being decided by three points or less … ETSU is being outscored 1,522 to 1,347 in those previous 55 games, breaking down to 27.7 points to 24.5 points per contest (differential of 175 points) … Furthermore, since 2018, ETSU is 19-20 in league play with 29 of those 39 games being decided by one possession (8 points or less) and 11 by three points or less … The Bucs are being outscored by their opponents 1,055 to 1,051 (4-point difference) during this stretch, breaking down to 27.1 points to 26.9 points … In addition, four of those last 39 SoCon games have gone to overtime … To go even further, when looking at ETSU's spring 2021 and fall 2021 games, the Bucs went 11-3 overall with 13 of those 14 games being decided by one possession (8 points or less) … The Bucs won the SoCon title in the 2018 and 2021. 
 
BUCS ON THIS DATE   
Today marks the ninth all-time meeting on this date for the Blue & Gold … ETSU is 4-4 when playing on Oct. 7, while winning its last three and four of the last five … The last time the Bucs played on this date was in 2017 when ETSU beat Robert Morris 16-3 on Homecoming … ETSU has also won in 2000 (at The Citadel, 20-7), 1995 (vs. The Citadel, 21-13) and in 1978 (vs. Tennessee Tech, 38-17). 
 
BUCS ON HOMECOMING       
ETSU is 4-3 when playing on Homecoming since the return of football in 2015 (Bucs didn't have Homecoming in 2020) … The Bucs have won four of their last six games on Homecoming … ETSU lost to Samford last year 55-45, while defeating VMI in 2021 in front of 10,416 fans … The Blue & Gold won three straight Homecoming games from 2016-18 when ETSU defeated Cumberland (2016), Robert Morris (2017) and Gardner-Webb (2018). 
 
ARNOLD NAMED SOCON DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK 
ETSU junior safety Sheldon Arnold II was named SoCon Defensive Player of the Week on Monday … Arnold stuffed the stat sheet in the Bucs' game at Samford last Saturday … With the Bucs playing their first SoCon game of the season, Arnold totaled seven solo tackles, one tackle for loss, two interceptions and one fumble recovery against the Bulldogs … The Bucs scored touchdowns on each of Arnold's two interceptions in the second quarter … This marked the first career weekly award Arnold and the first by a Buccaneer this season … ETSU has six SoCon Defensive Player of the Week honors since the start of the 2021 season.
 
BRYSON'S BREAKOUT GAME 
ETSU junior running back Bryson Irby had a breakout game last Saturday at Samford … Irby rushed for a career-high 126 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns … Irby became the first ETSU running back to rush for three touchdowns since Jacob Saylors accomplished the feat last season at Wofford, while Irby's 70-yard touchdown run marked the longest run by a Buccaneer since Quay Holmes ripped off a 74-yard run against Mercer on Nov. 16, 2019. 
 
BUCS IN THE FCS RANKINGS 
Nate Brackett ranks fourth nationally in punting as he's averaging 46.0 yards per punt … Brackett's 70-yard punt against Carson-Newman is tied for the sixth-longest among FCS players this season … Sheldon Arnold II is 12th in interceptions per game (0.5), Tommy Winton III is 25th in kickoff returns (24.8), Chris Hope is ninth in solo tackles. (6.2) and 39th in total tackles (8.5) … Stephen Scott ranks 50th in total tackles (8.2), Bryson Irby is 35th in rushing touchdowns (4) and Isaiah McGaha is 30th in sacks (0.75).  
 
PERSONAL MILESTONES
A pair of Buccaneers reached personal milestones at Austin Peay as linebackers Zach West and Stephen Scott notched their 100th career tackles … Zach West landed right on the number with his two hits against the Govs, while Stephen Scott – who posted a career-high 12 tackles at Austin Peay – has 111 for his career … West now has 104 tackles … Max Evans is four tackles away from registering his 100th career tackle … Chris Hope enters Saturday's game with 99 career tackles. 
 
HUZZIE REACHES THE 2K MARK 
Speaking of personal milestones, ETSU redshirt senior wide receiver Will Huzie made history in the Bucs' win over Carson-Newman as he became just the third Buccaneer receiver to eclipse the 2,000 receiving yard mark for a career … Huzzie has now totaled 2,093 receiving yards in 42 career games with the Bucs … B.J. Adigun (1994-97) is the all-time Buccaneer leader with 2,802 receiving yards and Cecil Moore (1999-02) is second with 2,488 yards … Huzzie also has 159 receptions, which rank third all-time … Huzzie needs three catches to pass Moore for second and 14 catches to break B.J. Adigun's school record of 172 … In his 42 games played, Huzzie has posted 17 touchdown receptions … The Duluth, Ga. native needs two more touchdown catches to move into the top three Buccaneer leaders and 10 to break Adigun's record of 26. 
 
RIDDELL AMONG BUCCANEER LEADERS 
Redshirt junior quarterback Tyler Riddell also finds his name among the Buccaneer career leaders … The Tampa native has totaled 5,417 passing yards, 39 passing touchdowns and 448 completions in 33 career games played in the Blue & Gold … Riddell is fourth all-time in passing touchdowns, fifth in completions and sixth in passing yards … Riddell needs two passing touchdowns to leap Larry Graham (1967-70) for third, 37 completions to pass Randy Meredith (1988-91) for fourth and 65 passing yards to pass Larry Graham for fifth.
 
THE COMFORT OF GREENE
The Bucs boast a .676 winning percentage when playing games in the friendly confines of William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium ... Entering its seventh season of existence, Greene Stadium has held 23 wins for the Blue & Gold, while yielding 11 losses ... The Bucs finished with a perfect 7-0 record at home in 2021, becoming one of 16 FCS programs to go undefeated at home that season ... ETSU finished 4-2 inside Greene Stadium in its first season in 2017, following that season up with a 5-1 home mark in 2018 … ETSU finished 3-3 at home in 2019 with wins over Shorter, Austin Peay and Mercer ... The Bucs competed in three games inside Greene Stadium during the 2021 spring season ... During that three-game span, ETSU finished with a 2-1 record ... In the 34 games played inside its home, ETSU is outscoring the opposition, 1005-719, holding its foes to 21.1 points per contest. 
 
ABOUT MERCER

• Mercer is 3-2 overall and 1-1 in SoCon play after defeating VMI 38-3 on Saturday in Macon 
• The Bears are 2-0 at home (wins over Morehead State and VMI), 0-2 on the road (at Ole Miss and at Furman) and 1-0 at neutral site (beat North Alabama) 
• Mercer is averaging 24.8 points per game and allowing 28.6
• The Bears are averaging 327.8 yards per game (150.2 passing/177.6 rushing) and allowing 364.4 yards (229.8 passing/134.6 rushing) … Mercer has scored 16 touchdowns and given up 18 … Overall, Mercer ranks 29th nationally in rushing offense 
• Mercer is 12 of 16 in the red zone scoring with the Bears scoring eight touchdowns and making four field goals … Opponents are 17 of 20 in the red zone against Mercer's defense (12 touchdowns, five field goals) 
• The Bears have turned the ball over six times (five lost fumbles, one interception), while Mercer's defense has forced five turnovers (two INTs, three fumbles) 
• Quarterback Carter Peevy has thrown for 747 yards and four touchdowns, while completing 64.3 percent of his passes (63-of-98) … Peevy has also totaled 193 rushing yards on 43 carries and three touchdowns 
• Peevy has completed passes to 12 different players with Devron Harper leading the team with 22 receptions … Harper also has eight rushing attempts for 78 yards, including a long of 37 … Ty James tops the team in receiving yards (317) and receiving touchdowns (3) … James ranks 29th nationally in receiving TDs and is 39th in receiving yards 
• Al Wooten II is Mercer's top running back as he has totaled 348 rushing yards on 50 carries and has scored four touchdowns … Wooten ranks 13th among FCS players in rush yards per carry (6.96) and 34th in rushing touchdowns
• Wooten has a 76-yard run and Peevy has ripped off a 75-yard run … Peevy's longest pass went for 75 yards to Ty James, while he also competed a 50-yard pass to Harper 
• Harper is also a threat on special teams with 225 punt return yards and two touchdowns, including a long of 73 yards … He also has 12 kickoff returns for 279 yards and a long of 43 … Overall, Harper ranks third among all FCS players in all-purpose yards (169.8), first in combined kick returns (504) and punt return touchdowns (2), ninth in punt returns (17.3), 
• Defensively, Mercer has registered seven sacks and 36 tackles for loss … The Bears rank 18th nationally in team tackles for loss … Ken Standley leads the team in tackles (35), tackles for loss (5.5) and sacks (2) … Isaac Dowling is second on the team with 32 tackles and has four tackles for loss 
• Lance Wise Jr. and Myles Redding have accounted for the two interceptions, while Wise is third on the team with 28 tackles and Redding is fourth with 26 hits
• Mercer, who entered the season ranked No. 20 in the Preseason, was picked to finish third in the SoCon, while 12 Bears earned preseason all-conference honors, which included Harper, James, Dowling, Standley, Wise and Redding  

SERIES HISTORY 

• Saturday marks the ninth all-time meeting between ETSU and Mercer … The two teams have split the previous eight meetings but the Bucs have won four of the last six matchups, including all three played in Johnson City 
• The Bears won last year's meeting 55-33 in Macon 
• ETSU won the 2021 matchup in a winner-take-all conference title game 38-35 thanks to Devin Folser missing a game-tying field goal wide left as time expired, sending the Buccaneer faithful into pandemonium 
• In 2019, Quay Holmes set then a new single-game program record for rushing yards with 255 on 26 carries, while the Blue & Gold won down in Macon in 2018, 21-18, to secure at least a share of the SoCon crown 
• ETSU's first-ever win over Mercer came in 2017 when the Bucs won 26-23 on Jajuan Stinson's walk-off 25-yard touchdown reception from Austin Herink
• In total, the Bucs' four all-time wins over the Bears have been by a combined 14 points 
• This marks the ninth straight year the two teams are playing as they also met in 2015 when ETSU was in its first year of being an independent

COVERAGE
The Buccaneer Sports Network (BSN) will provide ETSU fans with complete pregame, in-game and postgame coverage on the Bucs' flagship station WXSM-AM 640 and affiliate station 104.9 FM NASH ICON. Click herefor live audio. 
 
BSN begins its pregame programing one hour and 30 minutes prior to kickoff with the 30-minute Tennessee Lottery Tailgate Show, followed by the Pregame Show presented by Lafayette Heat & Air, which will lead up to 30 minutes prior to kickoff. The Appalachian Orthopedic Countdown to Kickoff will then lead into the final moments before kickoff.     
 
The broadcast team of "Voice of the Bucs" Jay Sandos and analyst Don Helman will provide ETSU fans all the information they need to complement their game-day activities.
 
At halftime, the crew will have the Mr. Electric Halftime Show, while fans can tune into the Mullican Flooring Post Game Show for a full wrap up, with game statistics, players and coach interviews and other post-game information. 
 
Saturday's game will also be broadcast on ESPN+ with the team of Keith Brake (play-by-play) and Mark Hutsell (analyst) on the call.
 
UP NEXT
ETSU continues its homestand next weekend when the Bucs host Wofford on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 3:30 p.m. 
 
For more information on Buccaneer football, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the football tab.