MACON, Ga. (Nov. 1, 2024) – The lone game between two ranked teams in the FCS this week has the No. 23 ETSU football team traveling to take on No. 12 Mercer. Kickoff between the Buccaneers and Bears is set for 3 p.m. from Five Star Stadium in Macon.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Date: Saturday, November 2
Time: 3:02 p.m.
Location: Macon, Ga. | Five Star Stadium
Teams: #23/RV ETSU (5-3, 3-1 SoCon) at #12/16 Mercer (7-1, 4-1 SoCon)
Weather:  82° | Sunny | Winds: 6 mph
Live Video: ESPN+
TV Crew: Frank Malloy (pbp), Phil Cox (analyst)
Live Audio: WXSM-AM 640 | HD radio can listen on 101.5 WQUT HD-2
Radio Crew: Jay "Voice of the Bucs" Sandos (pbp), Mark Hutsell (analyst), Robert Harper (sideline)
Live Stats: ETSUBucs.com (Statbroadcast)
X: @ETSUFootball
 
THINGS TO KNOW – Please click HERE for all the "Things to Know" for Saturday's matchup with Mercer, presented by Citizens Bank.
 
LAST TIME OUT - ETSU came away with its fifth win of the season on Saturday as it defeated Wofford by a score of 24-7. The victory improves the Bucs' record to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in SoCon play.
 
RARE ROAD WIN IN SPARTANBURG - Saturday's win in Spartanburg was ETSU's first at Wofford's home stadium since 1997. Furthermore, the win was ETSU's third in the last four matchups overall with the Terriers.
 
SUCCESS AWAY FROM JOHNSON CITY - The victory was also the team's third straight road win. The last time the Bucs won three straight away from Johnson City was during the same 1997 campaign when they defeated Furman, Wofford and VMI in a row. 1997 was also the last time that the Bucs won four consecutive games away from Johnson City.
 
KING CLIMBING THE QB RUSHING CHARTS - With 88 rushing yards on Saturday, ETSU quarterback Jaylen King now has 408 yards on the ground this season. King's 408 yards are the third-most by an ETSU quarterback in program history behind Jeff Morgan's rushing totals of 564 and 475 yards in 1987 and 1986. Furthermore, King has five rushing touchdowns this season. The last time a Buccaneer signal caller had more than that in a season was in 1997 when Todd Wells rushed for six scores.
 
CLOSING IN ON 400 CAREER TACKLES - The trio of William McRainey, Ryan Barrett and Ray Coney led the defensive charge with five tackles each on Saturday. With those five stops, McRainey needs just 16 more tackles to reach 400 for his collegiate career.
 
BEST DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCE ON THE ROAD IN A WHILE - The seven points allowed by the Bucs are the fewest in a road game since defeating Robert Morris 45-3 in 2022. It is also the fewest ETSU has allowed in a league game since September 28, 2002, at Western Carolina when ETSU won 27-7.
 
RUN THE BALL, STOP THE RUN - The Bucs enter November ranked eighth in FCS football in both rushing offense (218.5 yards per game) and rushing defense (100.4). ETSU's opponent this weekend, Mercer, is the only SoCon squad with a better rushing defense than the Bucs (59.5 yards per game).
 
GETTING TO THE QUARTERBACK - Speaking of defense, the Bucs added three more sacks to their season total. ETSU has already surpassed its sack total from all of last season (15 to 22). 12 different Buccaneer defenders have at least 0.5 sacks this season. Nationally, ETSU is 11th nationally with 2.75 sacks per game.
 
BIG PLAY ON SPECIAL TEAMS - One of the big plays on Saturday was a fumble caused by Teddy Wilson, which was picked up Elijah Taylor and returned for a Buccaneer touchdown. Taylor has recovered two fumbles this season. Only two players in the FCS have more in Kasyus Kurns (Tarleton State) and Boogie Trotter (Tennessee State) who both have three.
 
LATE SURGE BY THE BUCS - 21 of ETSU's 24 points on Saturday came in the second half. The Buccaneer offense have played well late in games since entering SoCon play. In the fourth quarters vs. SoCon foes, the Bucs are outscoring their opponents 45-14.
 
BALANCED PASSING/RUSHING - In addition to playing well late in games, the Bucs have also been very balanced offensively in league play. ETSU has gained 785 yards rushing and 762 yards passing so far in four conference games. They also nearly have the same number of first downs rushing (37) as they do passing (34) in those games.
 
ETSU IN RARE COMPANY ENTERING NOVEMBER - As the season moves into its final month, the Bucs are one of just five FCS programs to rank among the top 21 in the country in both total offense and total defense. ETSU joins Montana State, North Dakota State, Delaware and South Dakota as teams that fit that criteria.
 
COACH LAMB'S SUCCESS IN YEAR ONE - With four games remaining in the regular season, first-year Head Coach Tre Lamb has a chance to make some program history if the Bucs continue to win. A victory on Saturday vs. Mercer would tie Lamb with Star Wood for the third-most wins by an ETSU coach in his first season. Wood won six games in his first season leading the Bucs in 1952. The only head coaches in front of Lamb would then be Paul Hamilton (7 wins in 1997) and Randy Sanders (8 wins in 2018).
 
GEORGIA ON MY MIND - Despite being in Tennessee, most of ETSU's current roster comes from the state of Georgia. Overall, 31 players are originally from the Peach State. Furthermore, Buccaneer Head Coach Tre Lamb is a native of Calhoun, Georgia.
 
TIES TO MERCER - The 2024 Buccaneers have a few ties to the Mercer program. Coach Lamb was Mercer's quarterback coach from 2014-17. During his time in Macon, Lamb mentored John Russ to an outstanding career and helped freshman Kaelan Riley to a spot on the Jerry Rice Award Watch List and Southern Conference Freshman of the Year honors in 2017. Lamb was the quarterback coach under his uncle Bobby Lamb who led Mercer's program for seven seasons (2013-2019). A couple players also have ties to Mercer as Cam Sims played the last two seasons with the Bears before transferring to ETSU where he played in 14 games. Additionally, wide receiver Hakeem Meggett played for Mercer's current Head Coach Mike Jacobs at Lenoir-Rhyne during the spring season in 2021 where he caught three passes for 110 yards and a touchdown. Meggett then transferred to Gardner-Webb for two seasons before joining the Bucs for the 2024 campaign. 
 
ABOUT MERCER - Mercer enters Saturday's clash with the Bucs with a 7-1 record overall and a 4-1 mark in SoCon action. The Bears outlasted Western Carolina in a 44-34 shoot out last Saturday in Macon. That win was after Mercer suffered its first loss of the season the week prior, which was a 55-35 loss to Samford. Like ETSU, Mercer is led by a head coach that is in his first season with the program. Mike Jacobs, who has gotten the Bears as high as #7 in the national polls this fall, came to Macon after eight total seasons as the head coach at Notre Dame (Ohio) and Lenoir-Rhyne. Adding in his 7-1 start to his tenure leading Mercer, Jacobs has a record of 81-18 (.818 winning percentage) as a collegiate head coach.
 
BIG PERFORMANCES BY BUCS AGAINST THE BEARS - Despite the series history between the Bucs and Bears consisting of just nine games, some memorable performances have happened when these two programs get together. In 2019, Quay Holmes ran for a then-single game school record 255 yards in the 2019 matchup that ended in a 38-33 win for the Bucs. ETSU scored 55 points in a 55-33 win over the Bears in 2022. 12 of those 55 points came on four made field goals by former Buc Tyler Keltner. Keltner is one of four ETSU kickers to make four field goals in a game, which is the single game school record.
 
For more information on Buccaneer football, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the football tab.