Mercer Bears take on the Ivy League

[FUBeAR]

http://mercerbears.com/news/2016/8/11/mercer-and-yale-ink-four-game-football-series-beginning-in-2018.aspx

MACON, Ga. – Mercer Director of Athletics Jim Cole (http://mercerbears.com/staff.aspx?staff=94) announced Thursday that a four-game non-conference football series with Yale has been agreed to, starting with the 2018 meeting in New Haven, Connecticut.

The series between the two schools will begin on Oct. 13, 2018 at the historic Yale Bowl in Connecticut with the Yale Bulldogs visiting Five Star Stadium in Macon on Oct. 2, 2021. Mercer will return to the Yale Bowl in 2022 with the fourth game of the series being hosted in Macon in 2023.

"The addition of Yale to our future schedules just adds to an already great slate of teams the Bears will face in the coming seasons," Cole said of Thursday's announcement. "I know our coaches and players will be excited to play in a great, historic stadium like the Yale Bowl and we are looking forward to taking the Bears football brand into a new part of the country."

When Yale hosts the Bears in 2018 it will mark the first time a Southern Conference program will have played at the historic Yale Bowl and the first time a SoCon program will play an Ivy League team since 2010 when The Citadel played at Princeton.

Founded in 1701, Yale is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions in the world. Football at Yale began 144 years ago with the 61,446-capacity Yale Bowl having opened in in 1914. The historic facility has played host to National Football League games, international soccer matches, lacrosse, tennis, concerts, Olympic World Games and was home to the New York (Football) Giants for a short period of time.

The announcement marks the second non-conference game scheduled for Mercer's 2018 schedule. The Bears previously announced they would open the season at Memphis on Sept. 1, 2018.

Mercer's scheduling of Yale adds to an already impressive list of non-conference opponents for the Bears over the coming years, starting with a trip to Georgia Tech in less than a month. Mercer will play at Auburn and at Alabama in 2017 and will return to Tuscaloosa in 2021. A trip to Vanderbilt is also slated for 2020.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Yale has played some great OOC games lately! Good for them!

[ASU33]

I would love for us to schedule one of the Ivy League schools.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Yale has played some great OOC games lately! Good for them!

Yeah, that is pretty cool that they want to mix it up a bit.

[ursus arctos horribilis]

Congrats to both schools btw.

[Thumper 76]

This is a cool matchup

[PaladinFan]

Was it the last SoCon/Ivy matchup that gave us the infamous Citadel/Princeton culture war?

[DFW HOYA]

Looks like Fordham came off the Yale schedule to accommodate this series.

[Go Green]

Guess Reno wouldn't go for a game with Rutgers either.

:)

[Go Green]

Was it the last SoCon/Ivy matchup that gave us the infamous Citadel/Princeton culture war?

According to the press release quoted above, yes.

[Son of Eli]

Guess Reno wouldn't go for a game with Rutgers either.

:)

Go Green, did you notice that Mercer has scheduled Georgia Tech, Auburn, Memphis, Vanderbilt and Alabama? Yet Princeton is afraid to play Rutgers!

I'm excited for Yale to play Mercer of the Southern Conference. I will be rooting for them over the years to pull an upset over one of those big FBS teams. If they do the respect they earn will be reflected in the attendance at the Yale Bowl when Mercer comes to town.

[bulldog10jw]

Go Green, did you notice that Mercer has scheduled Georgia Tech, Auburn, Memphis, Vanderbilt and Alabama? Yet Princeton is afraid to play Rutgers!

I'm excited for Yale to play Mercer of the Southern Conference. I will be rooting for them over the years to pull an upset over one of those big FBS teams. If they do the respect they earn will be reflected in the attendance at the Yale Bowl when Mercer comes to town.

Don't get your hopes up. They will draw the usual 10k. Less if it rains.

Unless Mercer REALLY travels well.

[Son of Eli]

Don't get your hopes up. They will draw the usual 10k. Less if it rains.

Unless Mercer REALLY travels well.


Yes, unless they were to beat Alabama. Then I could see them drawing closer to 20K. Such an upset would be the equivlant of Appalachian St visiting the Yale Bowl the year after they beat Michigan.

[Schism55]

Very cool news.
Congrats to both schools!

[kdinva]

Supposedly VMI has agreements for home and home series with Cornell and Princeton......somthing like 2019-'22....

[dewey]

Congratulations to both schools on the interesting OOC matchup.

Dewey

[Go Green]

Go Green, did you notice that Mercer has scheduled Georgia Tech, Auburn, Memphis, Vanderbilt and Alabama? Yet Princeton is afraid to play Rutgers!

.

As I said on the other board, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Ask Savannah State how much fun they've been having scheduling up.

[Son of Eli]

As I said on the other board, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Ask Savannah State how much fun they've been having scheduling up.


Princeton and Mercer aren't Savannah State, who was ranked 245 last year by Sagarin. Although even they were still higher ranked than future Dartmouth opponents Stetson and Valparaiso, who were ranked 247 and 252 respectively.

[Schism55]

As I said on the other board, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Ask Savannah State how much fun they've been having scheduling up.
Who even knew Savannah State had a football team.....

[Go Green]

Who even knew Savannah State had a football team.....

In the past five years, they've played Colorado State, Akron, Florida State, Oklahoma State, BYU, and Miami (FL).

In some quarters, that carries a lot of currency. Never mind that they got absolutely destroyed by each opponent.

[Son of Eli]

In the past five years, they've played Colorado State, Akron, Florida State, Oklahoma State, BYU, and Miami (FL).

In some quarters, that carries a lot of currency. Never mind that they got absolutely destroyed by each opponent.


Savannah St has a record of 23-149 since they made the jump from Division II to the FCS in 2000. They aren't even competive in the FCS, much less against a FBS opponent. I agree they shouldn't be playing a FBS team. Obviously they are just looking for the paycheck. Most FCS teams don't fit this example. Certainly Princeton and Mercer don't.

Better examples on the benefits of scheduling up are Furman and The Citadel, two Southern Conference teams who both beat FBS teams just last year. Furman beat UCF and The Citadel beat South Carolina. And of course there is also the example of Yale, who beat Army in 2014.

[Schism55]

Seems like a drop back to DII is in order for ye olde Savannah st.

[ASU33]

Seems like a drop back to DII is in order for ye olde Savannah st.

Hell they weren't good their either. Savannah State hasn't had a winning season in about 21 years or so.

[UAalum72]

Hell they weren't good their either. Savannah State hasn't had a winning season in about 21 years or so.
SSU had nine straight winning seasons from 1988-1996, and eleven between 1986-1998.

But only 8 others plus five .500 seasons since WWII, and the best since going D-I was 5-7 in 2008,when Winston-Salem was their only D-I win.

[paward]

I grew up going to Savannah St games. I always pull for them. My thoughts are we will not see football at that school beyond the next ten years. Major reason will be finances not wins.

[ASU33]

I grew up going to Savannah St games. I always pull for them. My thoughts are we will not see football at that school beyond the next ten years. Major reason will be finances not wins.

Savannah State is definitely in a rough spot. We got into a nasty litigation battle with them a few years back after we dropped out of the Joe Turner Classic in Columbus, Ga due to the game not drawing well. The game once drew 25,000+ to Columbus but by 2007 the crowds didn't even get over 10,000. The rivalry had become lopsided and by the time that it ended in 2010 we had won 15 in a row over Savannah State with most of those games being very lopsided. Because SSU hasn't been competitive they haven't been invited to participate in any Classic games that give big paydays because they don't have a fan base that travels, which leads them to playing the body bag games.

[Go Green]

Savannah State is definitely in a rough spot. We got into a nasty litigation battle with them a few years back after we dropped out of the Joe Turner Classic in Columbus, Ga due to the game not drawing well. The game once drew 25,000+ to Columbus but by 2007 the crowds didn't even get over 10,000. The rivalry had become lopsided and by the time that it ended in 2010 we had won 15 in a row over Savannah State with most of those games being very lopsided. Because SSU hasn't been competitive they haven't been invited to participate in any Classic games that give big paydays because they don't have a fan base that travels, which leads them to playing the body bag games.

Sounds like a vicious cycle. Hope that Savannah State can pull themselves out of it.

[Catatonic]

Savannah State and Armstrong State should be encouraged to merge. One larger public college makes more sense economically in a town the size of savannah than two smaller ones competing over scarce resources. I get the historic significance of historically black institutions, but this is 2017. Maybe it's time to end defacto racial segregation, particularly when it makes compelling economic sense. Who knows? A combined multiracial u might actually field a winning football time, something Savannah hasn't seen in a while.

[ASU33]

Savannah State and Armstrong State should be encouraged to merge. One larger public college makes more sense economically in a town the size of savannah than two smaller ones competing over scarce resources. I get the historic significance of historically black institutions, but this is 2017. Maybe it's time to end defacto racial segregation, particularly when it makes compelling economic sense. Who knows? A combined multiracial u might actually field a winning football time, something Savannah hasn't seen in a while.

In on sentence you say you understand the significance of HBCUs then in the very next sentence you proved that you in fact don't AT ALL!

[Catatonic]

In on sentence you say you understand the significance of HBCUs then in the very next sentence you proved that you in fact don't AT ALL!

Why don't you explain to me the rationale for two defacto segregated colleges in the same mid sized town, when both are strapped for funding , without the resources necessary to mount credible academic or extracurricular activities?

[ASU33]

Why don't you explain to me the rationale for two defacto segregated colleges in the same mid sized town, when both are strapped for funding , without the resources necessary to mount credible academic or extracurricular activities?

I can't speak for Armstrong but Savannah State the institution isn't struggling. SSU is the oldest historically black institution in state of Georgia and this year is welcoming their largest freshmen class in 20 years. The problem with Savannah State was they jumped to D1 athletics with no idea how D1 athletics worked or the costs associated with high level athletics. The people who made that decision are all gone for the most part and now the decision makers have to rebuild bridges to the "old money" that the old regime ran off. A lot of that "old money" gave very favorably to the athletic department, as of 2015 SSU got virtually zero donations for athletics from alums. The confuse the mess that is Savannah State's athletic department to what's going on with the entire school.

[Catatonic]

I can't speak for Armstrong but Savannah State the institution isn't struggling. SSU is the oldest historically black institution in state of Georgia and this year is welcoming their largest freshmen class in 20 years. The problem with Savannah State was they jumped to D1 athletics with no idea how D1 athletics worked or the costs associated with high level athletics. The people who made that decision are all gone for the most part and now the decision makers have to rebuild bridges to the "old money" that the old regime ran off. A lot of that "old money" gave very favorably to the athletic department, as of 2015 SSU got virtually zero donations for athletics from alums. The confuse the mess that is Savannah State's athletic department to what's going on with the entire school.

I'm glad to hear Savannah State is doing well in terms of overall enrollment. Thanks for that info.

I know two things about Savannah State--it's athletic department and social work program suck. I guess I mistakenly generalized to the university without a more complete picture.

Savannah's social work program has been a mess for years. They dropped their master's degree program mid way through the two year program several years ago, leaving students stranded. They later regrouped and started the program again several years later but have struggled to achieve or maintain accreditation due to lack of resources.They are ranked last in the latest USNWR social work grad programs, well behind Clark-Atlanta and Albany State. Clark has been around for a long time, so no surprise there. But Albany State just started up it's program a couple of years ago and is already well ahead of Savannah.

And, of course, Savannah State Athletics are what they are.

[PaladinFan]

Savannah St has a record of 23-149 since they made the jump from Division II to the FCS in 2000. They aren't even competive in the FCS, much less against a FBS opponent. I agree they shouldn't be playing a FBS team. Obviously they are just looking for the paycheck. Most FCS teams don't fit this example. Certainly Princeton and Mercer don't.

Better examples on the benefits of scheduling up are Furman and The Citadel, two Southern Conference teams who both beat FBS teams just last year. Furman beat UCF and The Citadel beat South Carolina. And of course there is also the example of Yale, who beat Army in 2014.

I think UCF paid Furman $450,000 to come to Orlando and beat them. Good deal for the Paladins.