Oct. 24 (Saturday)
Mercer at Army West Point (CBS Sports Network/
online), 12 p.m.
Chattanooga at Western Kentucky (
ESPN3), 4 p.m.
Notes:
• After an idle week, the Southern Conference resumes play with two contests at FBS opponents on Oct. 24. Mercer will visit Army West Point and Chattanooga will play its lone fall contest of the season when it heads to Western Kentucky.
• Mercer will be facing Army West Point for the second time in program history but the first since 1933, when the Black Knights took a 19-6 win at home.
• Army West Point is 5-1 on the season, including a 14-9 win over The Citadel on Oct. 10.
• The Bears opened their fall season and the Drew Cronic era with a 34-28 loss at Jacksonville State on Oct. 10. Mercer got off to an electric start, as Deondre Johnson returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, good for the longest special teams play in program history. The Bears would lead 14-3 after a quarter, but the Gamecocks outscored Mercer 24-0 in the second to take a lead they would not relinquish.
• Mercer running back Tyray Devezin ran for 94 yards and a touchdown at JSU, moving over 2,000 yards for his career and becoming one of just three active players in the league to hit the milestone, joining ETSU running back Quay Holmes (2,071) and Citadel quarterback Brandon Rainey (2,061). Now with 2,080 career rushing yards, Devezin is one of just four players in Mercer history to surpass 2,000 yards.
• Freshman linebacker Isaac Dowling had a game-high 15 tackles against JSU in his collegiate debut.
• Chattanooga owns an 8-5 lead in the series against Western Kentucky, though the Hilltoppers have won two straight, with the last one coming in 2007, WKU’s first year of transition to the FBS level.
• The Hilltoppers are 1-4 on the season so far with a conference win over Middle Tennessee.
• The Mocs received votes in the Stats Perform 2020 Preseason FCS Top 25. Stats Perform is not conducting a weekly poll this fall.
• Chattanooga returns senior wide receiver Bryce Nunnelly, who is the SoCon’s active career leader in receptions (143) and receiving yards (2,120). Nunnelly, who had 57 catches for 794 yards and five touchdowns last season, was a second-team CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2019.
• The Mocs also return running back Ailym Ford, who finished fifth in the Jerry Rice Award voting last season. Before a season-ending injury in November, Ford ran for 1,081 yards, averaging 108.1 per contest.
• Western Carolina is the fourth SoCon squad playing fall contests. The Catamounts open their season Nov. 14 at FBS Liberty and face Eastern Kentucky the following week before closing at North Carolina on Dec. 11.
• The Citadel went 0-4 this fall and played three FBS opponents in a season for the first time. The Bulldogs wrapped up their fall schedule with a tightly contested 14-9 loss at FBS Army West Point on Oct. 10, earning Stats Perform FCS Team of the Week honors. Defensive back Sean-Thomas Faulkner (career-high 16 tackles) was named FCS Co-Player of the Week.
• The SoCon announced its spring league schedule on Wednesday. Play begins on Feb. 20 and wraps up on April 17 before the FCS playoffs start on April 24.
• Former Samford defensive lineman Ahmad Gooden was signed to the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad as a linebacker on Thursday.
Recent news:
Bills add Samford's Gooden to practice squad (10/22/20)
SoCon announces football spring conference schedule (10/21/20)
SoCon Goes Pro: NFL Week 6 (10/20/20)