# 2019 Mercer Bears football team

The 2019 Mercer Bears football team represented Mercer University as a member the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach Bobby Lamb and played their home games at the Five Star Stadium in Macon, Georgia. Mercer finished the season 4–8 overall and 3–5 in SoCon play to place seventh.

## Preseason
### Preseason media poll

The SoCon released their preseason media poll and coaches poll on July 22, 2019. The Bears were picked to finish in fourth place by the media and in fifth place by the coaches.
Media poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Wofford | 253 (21) |
| 2 | Furman | 229 (6) |
| 3 | East Tennessee State | 187 (2) |
| 4 | Mercer | 146 |
| 5 | Chattanooga | 134 |
| 6 | Samford | 125 |
| 7 | The Citadel | 111 |
| 8 | Western Carolina | 88 |
| 9 | VMI | 32 |
Coaches poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Wofford | 63 (7) |
| 2 | Furman | 55 (1) |
| 3 | East Tennessee State | 44 (1) |
| 4 | Chattanooga | 40 |
| 5 | Mercer | 34 |
| 6 | Samford | 33 |
| 7 | The Citadel | 22 |
| 8 | Western Carolina | 21 |
| 9 | VMI | 12 |

### Preseason All-SoCon Teams

The Bears placed seven different players on the preseason all-SoCon teams.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 31 | 6:00 p.m. | at Western Carolina | E. J. Whitmire StadiumCullowhee, NC | Nexstar/ESPN+ | W 49–27 | 10,542 |
| September 7 | 2:00 p.m. | at Presbyterian* | Bailey Memorial StadiumClinton, SC | ESPN+ | W 45–7 | 1,264 |
| September 14 | 7:00 p.m. | Austin Peay* | Five Star StadiumMacon, GA | ESPN+ | L 34–48 | 11,478 |
| September 21 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 17 Furman | Paladin StadiumGreenville, SC | Nexstar/ESPN+ | L 10–45 | 7,667 |
| September 28 | 7:00 p.m. | Campbell* | Five Star StadiumMacon, GA | ESPN3 | L 27–34 | 11,272 |
| October 5 | 4:00 p.m. | Chattanooga | Five Star StadiumMacon, GA | ESPN+ | L 17–34 | 8,972 |
| October 19 | 3:00 p.m. | VMI | Five Star StadiumMacon, GA | ESPN+ | W 34–27 | 5,714 |
| October 26 | 2:00 p.m. | at The Citadel | Johnson Hagood StadiumCharleston, SC | ESPN+ | L 24–35 | 11,439 |
| November 2 | 7:00 p.m. | Samford | Five Star StadiumMacon, GA | ESPN+ | W 36–33 $^{3OT}$ | 8,272 |
| November 9 | 3:00 p.m. | No. 24 Wofford | Five Star StadiumMacon, GA | ESPN+ | L 7–41 | 10,729 |
| November 16 | 1:00 p.m. | at East Tennessee State | William B. Greene Jr. StadiumJohnson City, TN | ESPN3 | L 33–38 | 7,121 |
| November 23 | 3:30 p.m. | at North Carolina* | Kenan Memorial StadiumChapel Hill, NC | ACCRSN | L 7–56 | 50,500 |
| *Non-conference gameRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time |||||||
* ↑ On September 2, it was announced that Mercer had added an away game against Presbyterian; the date was originally a bye week for Mercer and was scheduled after Presbyterian's week 1 game against Stetson was cancelled.

## Game summaries
### At Western Carolina

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 14 | 28 | 7 | 0 | 49 |
| Catamounts | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 27 |

### At Presbyterian

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 21 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 45 |
| Blue Hose | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |

### Austin Peay

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Governors | 7 | 6 | 14 | 21 | 48 |
| Bears | 10 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 34 |

### At Furman

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| No. 17 Paladins | 14 | 14 | 17 | 0 | 45 |

### Campbell

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Fighting Camels | 6 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 34 |
| Bears | 0 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 27 |

### Chattanooga

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Mocs | 7 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 34 |
| Bears | 14 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 17 |

### VMI

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Keydets | 3 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 27 |
| Bears | 3 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 34 |

### At The Citadel

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 0 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 24 |
| Bulldogs | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 35 |

### Samford

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | 2OT | 3OT | Total |
| Bulldogs | 7 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 33 |
| Bears | 3 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 36 |

### Wofford

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Terriers | 3 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 41 |
| Bears | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |

### At East Tennessee State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 7 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 33 |
| Buccaneers | 10 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 38 |

### At North Carolina

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Tar Heels | 21 | 21 | 14 | 0 | 56 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Final |
| STATS FCS | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Coaches | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |