Off To Georgia

It's a little more than four hours drive from Spartanburg, S.C., to Macon, Ga.

If TigerBlog had to guess, he thinks that Mike Cross will be making that ride this weekend — or have a pretty good reason why he isn't. 

Cross is the commissioner of the Southern Conference, whose offices are located in Spartanburg. If his name is familiar, it's because he spent 10 years as a high-level administrator for Princeton Athletics. 

As people have come and gone here through the years, TigerBlog has liked to think that they viewed their time at Princeton as more than a stepping stone to the next position and that they look back on when they worked here with great fondness. It's a certainty that Cross, one of TB's favorite people he's ever worked with, does just that. 

Ah, but now his loyalties will be tested as Princeton heads to Macon to take on one of the SoCon's teams, Mercer. Kickoff from Five Star Stadium (that's the name of the facility, not it's Michelin rating) is at 3:30, and the game can be seen on ESPN+.

Last week it was the Tigers and the Lions. This week, it's the Tigers and the Bears. Insert "oh my" where you see fit.

This isn't just any team, by the way. Mercer is currently 5-0 and ranked seventh in the FCS, with wins over two other Top 25 teams (Wofford and Chattanooga). There was also a win over Bethune-Cookman by the rarely seen score of 31-2.

This will be the first meeting ever between Princeton and Mercer. It'll also be, for whatever it's worth, the first of two straight games against teams nicknamed "Bears," as Princeton will host Brown a week from today. 

The Mercer Bears are a year removed from their first-ever FCS postseason berth. In fact, Mercer took down Gardner-Webb 17-7 in the first round before falling 41-0 to eventual champ South Dakota State. If 41-0 seems bad, "bear" in mind that South Dakota State won its semifinal game over Albany 59-0.

Mercer football dates back to 1892, though it has taken some huge breaks in fielding a team. It didn't have one at all between 1941 and 2013, and though it's been 132 years since the first Mercer team took the field, this is only the 51st season in program history. 

As TB looked into the team's history, he enjoyed the story of two members of the Georgia Hall of Fame who played at the school in the 1920s, brothers named Smith. Their nicknames? There was Crook Smith and Phoney Smith.  

Has Princeton ever had any Crooks or Phoneys? No way.

Mercer did not play last week. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It depends how you look at it. The team had a week off after playing five straight, but the momentum of the 5-0 start may have waned. 

The numbers the team has put up are impressive. Mercer leads the FCS in three statistical team categories: team completion percentage, rushing defense and passing efficiency defense. Not shockingly, a team that leads the country in the last two of those allows only eight points per game, which actually ranks second. 

Another Mercer Smith — current quarterback D.J. Smith — has completed 73 of 95 passes, which is just below 80 percent. He's thrown for 981 yards and eight touchdowns and rushed for three more touchdowns, but he's also thrown five interceptions.

It's a challenge, to be sure. 

Princeton ranks second in the Ivy League in passing defense and in sacks. Going against a quarterback like Smith, that's a pretty good place to start. Pressuring him and keeping his completion percentage in this stratosphere would be very helpful. 

Offensively, Princeton gained nearly 200 yards on the ground in the win over Howard but only a little more than 50 per game in the losses to Lehigh and Columbia. Princeton has also struggled with time of possession, at 25:10 per game. 

Mercer does not let teams move the ball on the ground. If Princeton can, the dynamic of the game changes immediately.

This is the final non-league game before a run of six straight Ivy games for the Tigers. It's also a chance to get on a plane and fly to take on a Top 10 opponent. 

Yes, it'll be a big challenge — but it's also an exciting one.