Mercer, Mercer Me…Things Ain’t What They Use to Be. Wildcats Blasted 31-2 by the Bears.

Remember the good old days when Bethune-Cookman was a perennial Top 25 program and frequent visitor to the FCS playoffs? The days when the Wildcats would roll into your trap and take over your trap. Well these ain’t them days. At least not at this early juncture of the season they are not.

Saturday’s contest against the Mercer Bears, who won a FCS playoff game last season and are currently ranked 24th in FCS Coaches’ Poll, was the first genuine opportunity of the Raymond Woodie era to see how close the BCU football program was to returning to those former days of glory. The test results were emphatic—BCU still has a ways to go to close the gap on the top teams at this level.

Heck, if you’re just looking at the 31-2 scoreline, it would suggest BCU failed the first early season test miserably. But football is a situational game and a play or two here or there changes the entire complexion of the contest. After watching that game live on Saturday, and re-watching it online two additional times on Sunday, my conclusion is this: there is no need to hit the panic button, but there are reasons to be concerned.

So how did we get here? How did this Cookman team, who had elevated expectations coming into the season, end up on the wrong side of a completely lopsided scoreline?

Well for starters, Mercer is a really good football program. Like really, really good.  Much respect to the coaching staff and players from the Middle Georgia school. Bethune won’t be the only team on the wrong side of the win/loss column against Mercer.

The Bears demonstrated what good football programs do.

They make the critical plays when they are there to be made.

They weather adversity.

They make the right adjustments.

They win the situational game.

The Wildcats did none of these things quite so well on Saturday.

Mercer quarterback, DJ Smith connected with slot receiver Bryden Smith on a wheel route for a 50-yard touchdown at the 6:06 mark of the second quarter to open the game’s scoring.

Smith’s, bubble screen to Parker Wroble ended as a 14-yard TD with 1:25 left in the second quarter. And 23 seconds later, Mercer turned a BCU interception into a 21-0 lead when Smith tossed his third TD pass of the half to wideout Kelin Parsons.

If you are keeping up at home, the score went from 0-0 to 21-0 in 4:41 of game time. YIKES. And that still only reveals a part of the story.

Too Aggressive, Too Soon

Trailing 14-0 with 1:20 left in the half, BCU took over at its own 29 yardline. The Wildcats were still very much in the contest and playing well at this point. Conventional wisdom say you play the percentages, take a knee, and get to halftime trailing by only 2 scores. This is specifically true since BCU was set to  receive the ball to begin the 3^rd quarter. However, the Wildcats threw caution to the wind and came out aggressive. Mercer made BCU pay for the decision by intercepting a Cam Ransom pass and returning it BCU’s 15 yardline.

The Bears scored on the next play pushing the lead to 21 and killed off the game at that point.

42-point swing

As wild as it sounds, BCU could have just as easily taken a 21-point lead into halftime instead of trailing by as many.

On its opening possession of the game, the Wildcats drove the ball to the Mercer 6-yard line before fumbling it away on 2^nd and goal. It was an 100% avoidable error by the BCU offense. The ball was not stripped, it was simply bad ballhandling by QB Cam Ransom.

Let’s assume BCU scores a TD on that drive. That’s 7 points you left on the field.

On the next possession, Ransom found Lorenzo Jenkins on a deep post and 5 yards behind the nearest defender. Unfortunately for BCU, Jenkins dropped what would have been a certain 87-yard TD reception.

To add to the missed opportunities, on BCU’s first possession of the second quarter, Ransom found Corey Turner streaking down the middle of the field and delivered a perfect pass into the hands of Turner. Actually, he delivered a perfect pass through the hands of Turner who was about 7 yards behind the nearest defender when he dropped a surefire touchdown. When that ball hit the turf, so too did the air from the team and the 8,484 Wildcat fans in attendance.

There are not very many teams who are good enough to overcome squandering three gimmie touchdowns. Mercer went on to score on their next three possessions of the first half.  

Speaking of Mercer’s first half touchdowns, on each of those scores, you can clearly see blown coverages by BCU’s safeties who were way out of position and their eyes locked in the backfield.

The bad news is the six plays I just described saw a 42-point swing in the game. Instead of nursing a 3-score lead, the Wildcats entered halftime chasing a 21-point deficit.

The good news is that each of those six plays are easily correctable. All six were unforced errors by BCU. But that’s the difference between being a playoff team and a team still finding its way at this level. The Mercer type teams make those plays and punish other teams’ mistakes, while teams who are in a bad run of form like Bethune-Cookman come up just short.

Some things are easily correctable, others not so much!

I don’t know the analytics on this but I will go on record as saying that teams with a 42-point swing in their favor win more than 90% of those games. Wildcat fans can take some solace in that fact knowing that they were a half dozen plays away in this contest. What’s worrisome for BCU fans is a) they are not making those plays; and b) the overall lack of production of the offense.

Cookman ran the ball 26 times for 29 yards in the contest. That’s a dreadful 1.1 yard per rushing attempt. DREADFUL! I don’t know how you fix that but offensive coordinator, Joe Gerbino, is going to have to figure it out real soon if BCU is to have their first winning season in 4 years.

And just to stress the point, it’s not like the running stats were low because the passing game was clicking. The Wildcats only completed 48% of their pass attempts and only managed 127 yards through the air. They were 0 for 12 on 3^rd down conversions and only eclipsed the 100 yards of total offense mark on the 2^nd to last play of the game. BCU ended the night without an offensive score and they are still looking for their first offensive touchdown of the season. The lone Wildcats score of the night came on an Orin Patu sack which ended in a safety.

So I’ll say it again, DREADFUL! I don’t know how you fix that but offensive coordinator, Joe Gerbino, is going to have to figure it out real soon if BCU is to have their first winning season in 4 years.

It is still early in the season. All of BCU’s season goals are still in front of them so the panic button is safely locked away. The Mercer test was a bit too much to overcome but there is plenty of time to improve that grade. If BCU can make the plays when they are there to be made, correct the alignment and eye discipline miscues on defense, and get some production from its offense, they will be fine. If not, then just play the Marvin Gaye tunes because things just ain’t what they use to be.