Everything Mercer HC Mike Jacobs said after the Bears’ 52-7 loss at No. 10 in Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The Mercer Bears entered Saturday’s contest opposite No. 10 at 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 those 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 after the loss.

Opening statement:

“As far as the game goes, certainly not the result that anybody wanted and we’re not in this for any kind of moral victory. But I’m impressed and proud of our guys’ effort. I think we put in the effort. I thought we executed at times even though it was out of sync I thought we did some really good things throughout the day. We have to turn the page pretty quickly. We have a huge game next weekend against Furman to try to win an outright conference championship. I think it’s a little bit of history here with different things on the line. All in all, they were locked in holes in the preparation or something like that, I thought point of view that our young quarterback played really well. I mean, he was 13-of-15 at halftime. You know, that one interception was a heck of a game by (Qua Russaw). Newbauer) really took good decisions today I thought he got the ball out quick and had an incredible touchdown pass there with a good touch to Kendall (Harris). Kendall made a great one-handed grab. Just a few missed opportunities. We need to do a better job of backside ball security. Credit to Alabama’s defense and their pursuit. Got the ball out from behind a few times. These were obviously very critical plays in the game. With that, I open up any questions.”

By not letting the loss persist:

“I just think I think demeanor is really important. It’s a very fine line that we knew we were up against today. We knew we had to play really good, healthy, clean football to be in in the football game, and I don’t want to take away from their preparation and their effort, because they did a good job with it, but we also don’t want to get super excited about a loss quickly, the great thing about kids today is, man, they forgetting that I want to dwell on something for three weeks and it will probably be done for them when they get on the bus from a mindset to the work to be done, but we will evaluate the film and learn, be hypercritical and we will go from there.

On the possibility that FBS vs. FCS games disappear:

“I don’t know. I have no insight. I think at some point, it’s just me being very speculative, but I think at some point you’re going to see the Power Four break away completely. I don’t know. know , if you’re still going to get some of these crossover games, I think it’s a great opportunity. A lot of our kids grew up wanting to play SEC football or play in Alabama and get the opportunity to play against the best. .and put it on the line, I think is one important factor in their overall college experience, but I don’t know what direction it will go.We enjoy the opportunity every year, I can tell you that.

On the potential budgetary impact if these games disappeared:

“It would be devastating. You see when the teams change, don’t you, when the attitude of the teams towards the playoffs and what now looks like, I think you see more and more people take a little bit more chance in some games in the early season against other Power Four teams I think the SEC has done a good job of continuing to schedule some of these FCS schools and I think it’s a good opportunity, I’m happy for our children Definitely, regardless of what the payday was for whoever it is, it still is when they take something away, something is better than nothing (that’s) what my dad always used to tell me.

How facing this level of competition can help the team grow:

“I think you have to find the small victories. The whole week was our big thing,” Hear here. There will be somewhere between 65 and 80 opportunities to play as well as you can for four to six seconds. How many of those games can we win and swing in our favor?’ We talked about going into the week, I thought we had a chance in the game, I thought we had to limit our turnovers. I thought we had to make some stops on defense special teams I thought we did well on special teams today because we didn’t have the opportunity to make a splash play but I think we affected their punts (James Burnip) again. I think there will be lessons.”