Wielding a 4-1 overall record, the nationally-ranked ETSU Bucs football team took to the road in Macon, Georgia, on April 10 but eventually fell to the 4-2 Mercer Bears by a score of 21-13.
The Bucs entered the day in second place in the Southern Conference standings, carrying a three-game winning streak, in which ETSU had outscored their opponents 76-58.
Needing a few pieces to fall in place to earn an automatic bid into the FCS playoffs, the Bucs had to defeat Mercer and wait for results of the April 17 matchup between VMI and The Citadel. If the Bucs won and VMI loses, the Bucs would have earned a berth into the playoffs.
Close games have been the story of the season for the Bucs, including their only loss entering the game. The 17-13 loss came at the hands of the No. 15 ranked Furman. Every game this season had been decided by a single score, as the Bucs went head-to-head with Bears.
On Saturday night, the first quarter did not see much action, other than a Bucs fumble late in the quarter, as both teams remained scoreless entering the second.
The game’s pace changed after the Bears scored on their opening drive of the quarter, putting the Bucs down 7-0 one-minute in due to a turnover. Bucs’ kicker Tyler Keltner (Tallahassee, Florida) answered two drives later with his first field goal of the night, a 49-yarder, making the score 7-3.
The Bears answered on the following drive with a one-yard rush into the end zone. Keltner tacked up three more points for the Bucs as time expired at the half, sending the Bucs to the locker room down by a score of 14-6.
Both teams put up big numbers by the half. ETSU tallied 225 total yards against Mercer’s 165 total yards.
The third quarter was similar to the first, with both teams struggling to move the ball throughout.
The fourth quarter started rough for the Bucs. Another fumble was recovered by the Bears for a touchdown. The following drive for the Bucs was ended again by yet another turnover, this time an interception thrown by ETSU quarterback Brock Landis (Hoschton, Georgia).
The score was 21-6 as time was slowly running out for the Bucs. With five minutes left to play, the Bucs finally found the end zone on an 80-yard drive that was capped off by a 4-yard pass thrown by Landis who found Will Huzzie (Duluth, Georgia) to make the score 21-13. The Bucs forced a three-and-out and were forced to run a two-minute offense. Mercer’s defense answeredn the Bucs turned the ball over on downs. The Bears held on to win 21-13.
The Bucs had five total turnovers and that proved to be detrimental, despite outperforming the Bears on offense, 382 total yards to 219. Both teams were fairly even rushing the ball, but the Bucs attempted 29 more passes than the Bears.
Now the 4-2 Bucs will be forced to wait for selection day to determine their fate, as they did not earn the automatic bid into the FCS playoffs.
The FCS football playoffs are a bit different this season — only 16 teams will make the playoffs as opposed to the traditional 24. Out of the 16 teams, 10 of those will automatically qualify via their conference championships.
The remaining six teams will be selected by the committee. The bracket will be revealed on April 18. The playoffs will span across four weeks and end with the championship game on May 15.
