Everything Mercer HC Mike Jacobs Said After Bears' 52-7 Loss at No. 10 Alabama

Mercer head football coach Mike Jacobs addressed his team's 52-7 loss against Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

Nov 16, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Mercer Bears head coach Mike Jacobs talks with Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer during warmups at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Will McLelland-Imagn Images / Will McLelland-Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The Mercer Bears entered Saturday's contest opposite No. 10 Alabama on a three-game winning streak, a No. 7 FCS ranking and a 9-1 overall record. The visitors from Macon, Ga., were unable to parlay these successes into a highly unlikely upset at Bryant-Denny Stadium, instead falling 52-7 to the Crimson Tide. Head coach Mike Jacobs, who is in his first season leading the Bears (9-2), addressed the media following the defeat.

Full Transcript

Opening Statement:

"Just as far as the game goes, certainly not the outcome that anybody wanted, and we're not in this for any sort of moral victory. But I am impressed and proud of our guys' effort. I think we strained. I thought we executed at times, although it wasn't in sync. I thought we did some really good things throughout the course of the day. There will certainly be a bunch of lessons learned from the film, but as far as we go, we've gotta turn the page pretty quickly. We have a huge game at home next weekend against Furman to try to win an outright conference championship. I think that's a little bit of the story here, is, these games usually aren't this late in the year with different things on the line. All in all, really proud of our young men for their effort. I'm proud of how they prepared. They strained all week. They were locked in. I didn't think there was any gaps in the preparation or anything like that. I thought just from a first-half standpoint, our young quarterback really played well. I mean, he was 13-of-15 at halftime, I believe. You know, the one interception was a heck of a play by number four [Qua Russaw]. I thought Whitt [Newbauer] really made great decisions today. I thought he got the ball out quickly and had an unbelievable touchdown pass there with good touch to Kendall [Harris]. Kendall made a great one-handed grab. Just a few missed opportunities. We've gotta do a better job with backside ball security. Credit to Alabama's defense and their pursuit. Got the ball out from behind a few times. Obviously, those were very critical plays in the game. With that, I'll open it up for any questions."

On not letting the loss linger:

"I think just, I think demeanor's really important. It's a very fine line, of, we knew we were up against it today. We knew we had to play really good, sound, clean football to be in the football game, and I don't want to take away their preparation and their effort, because they did a great job with that. But we also don't want to be super excited about a loss. I think just having that measured moment, but then understanding just how quickly, the great thing about kids today is, man, they forget. I'll dwell on something for three weeks and it'll be done for them probably by the time they get on the bus. We've gotta quickly move on just from a mindset standpoint to the work that needs to be done. But we'll evaluate the film and learn, be hyper-critical, and we'll go from there.

On the possibility of FBS vs. FCS games disappearing:

"I don't know. I don't have any insight. I think at some point, this is just me being very speculative, but I think at some point you're gonna see the Power Four completely detach. I don't know if you'll still get some of these regional crossover games. I do think it's a great opportunity. A lot of our kids grew up wanting to play SEC football, or play at Alabama, and to have an opportunity to play against the best and put it on the line, I think is an important factor in their overall experience in college. But I don't know what the direction will go. We enjoy the opportunity each year, I can tell you that."

On the potential budgetary impact if those games did disappear:

"It'd be devastating. You see as teams shift, right, as teams posture for playoffs and whatnot, I think you're seeing more and more folks take a little bit bigger chance on some early-season games against other Power Four teams. The SEC's done a good job, I believe, with continuing to schedule some of these FCS schools, and I think that's a great thing. I do think it's a good opportunity. I think it's good regionally. I'm happy for our kids. Certainly, whatever the payday was for whoever it is, it's still, anytime they take something away, something's better than nothing. [That's] what my dad always used to tell me. It'd be a huge issue for us."

On how facing this level of competition can help the team grow:

"I think you have to find the small victories. All week, our big thing was, 'Listen. There's gonna be somewhere between 65 and 80 opportunities to play as good as you can for four to six seconds. How many of those plays can we win and swing in our favor?' We talked about going into the week, I thought to have a chance in the game, I thought we had to limit our turnovers. I thought we would have to generate some stops on defense. I thought we would have to make a splash play in the special teams. I thought we executed well on special teams today when we had the opportunity. Didn't quite have the chance for a splash play, but I do think we affected their punter [James Burnip] with our punt rush. Again, I think that there'll be lessons learned."