Ole Miss vs. Mercer: Rebels not looking past first game, Bears’ head coach says ‘our kids will play their guts out’
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss opens the 2023 season Saturday against the No. 20 team in the nation. Well, in the Football Championship Subdivision poll.
Mercer rolls into Oxford this week with a 1-0 record after beating North Alabama 17-7 in Montgomery, Ala.
Although the Bears, from Macon, Ga., are not at the FBS level, Mercer is not unfamiliar with seeing a top team across the line of scrimmage. In the past, Mercer has played Alabama and Auburn twice, as well as playing at North Carolina, Georgia Tech and North Carolina.
“These guys played well Saturday, they played very well last year, they played extremely hard,” Kiffin said.
“Even if you go back two years ago when they were at Alabama, how well they played on defense. How well they played early, but especially on defense, that game and the problems they gave them. We’re going have our hands full, and have to prepare really well.”
Coach Lane Kiffin on Mercer
Two years ago at Alabama, the Bears were thumped 48-14, but the defense played well — especially in the red zone — where it forced the Tide into field goals on multiple occasions.
The defense was stout Saturday against UNA. Mercer held the Lions to just 248 total yards in the game. Still, that was against North Alabama. Now the Mercer players are looking forward to playing at Ole Miss.
“Ole Miss, I’ve always heard… is one of the rowdiest stadiums in the SEC,” Mercer captain Lance Wise, Jr., said. “I’m ready to see how our team can face against the rowdy crowd, the hyped up atmosphere. There’s 80,000 maybe, maybe more, fans in the stadium going crazy, so that’s gonna challenge us communication wise.”
But Mercer coach Drew Cronic is trying to keep his team on an even keel.
“We go back and look at the last two years when we played Auburn and we played Alabama. When we do what we’re supposed to do, we give ourselves a chance to execute plays,” Cronic said.
“We’ll be real excited to play this game, we’ll go over there and throw everything we got at them and you never know what’ll happen. Good things happen when you go prepared and ready to go and like I said, our kids will play their guts out.”
Mercer head coach Drew Cronic
If that is how Mercer is approaching the game, could Ole Miss be taking this one a little lightly before a Week 2 trip to Tulane? Not according to a couple of team leaders.
“I think that’s what separates our team just going into any matchup,” Quinshon Judkins said.
“We don’t not consider someone because of the logo on their chest or who they are and their record. I think we prepare well with coach Kiffin. He prepares us the right way to go into each matchup no matter who the team is or what they’ve done.”
Quinshon Judkins on playing Mercer
On the defensive side of the ball, Cedric Johnson believes it will not be hard to motivate his teammates even if the opponent is not in the Southeastern Conference.
“No, I don’t think (it is hard to get players ready), especially our freshmen guys, they don’t know what to expect. They come, it’s their first college game so we’re all going into it head on. We know this isn’t any slight of a team so we know this is a big game for us and we’ve got everybody locked in.”
Cedric Johnson on Mercer
Last season, Ole Miss opened the year with a 28-10 win over Troy. As it turned out, that was the Rebels’ marquee win of the season. The Trojans went on to a 12-2 record, a Sun Belt Conference title and a win over Texas-San Antonio in the Cure Bowl.
Mercer is expected to contend for a berth in the FCS playoffs this year. Last season, the Bears missed a bid on literally one play in the final game of the season.
Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m., at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
