The good from this game for Mercer is the players came out aggressive, physical and played hard the whole game. I would say the frustrating part for the players and fans is that the game plan did not seem aggressive and was way to conservative. Mercer had 45 total plays and ran it 33 times with 12 pass attempts. Mercer avg. 2.33 yards per carry and 7.83 yards per pass attempt. Mercer's tailbacks ran it 17 times for 23 yards for 1.35 yards per carry. There were zero adjustments from the Boyle game last year to the Boyle game this year much less in game adjustments. Last year Mercer sat back in a cover 3 zone and had no pressure on the QB and got picked apart. Same game plan same result this year. Boyle has a good offense and defense and no matter what Mercer did it may not have worked but the problem is we don't know because we didn't try anything different and continued to be one dimensional both offensively and defensively.

The good from this game for Mercer is the players came out aggressive, physical and played hard the whole game. I would say the frustrating part for the players and fans is that the game plan did not seem aggressive and was way to conservative. Mercer had 45 total plays and ran it 33 times with 12 pass attempts. Mercer avg. 2.33 yards per carry and 7.83 yards per pass attempt. Mercer's tailbacks ran it 17 times for 23 yards for 1.35 yards per carry. There were zero adjustments from the Boyle game last year to the Boyle game this year much less in game adjustments. Last year Mercer sat back in a cover 3 zone and had no pressure on the QB and got picked apart. Same game plan same result this year. Boyle has a good offense and defense and no matter what Mercer did it may not have worked but the problem is we don't know because we didn't try anything different and continued to be one dimensional both offensively and defensively.

 

Take away one pass attempt and the Average per pass would have been much worse. Not sure passing more would have helped.

Take away one pass attempt and the Average per pass would have been much worse. Not sure passing more would have helped.

It may not have but you want to walk out of there knowing you tried everything and not leave with "what ifs". One thing we do know is lining up and running the ball 33 times for 2.3 yards a carry doesn't work against Boyle or teams of their caliber such as CAL and Desales. The players after halftime didn't quit and held Boyle to one TD. From a play calling standpoint it seems Mercer gave up as they only passed 4 times in the 2nd half while down 35-7. The players are playing their guts out getting a stops only to run the ball 3 times and punt back to Boyle. If that was the game plan from a play calling standpoint to give up they should have subbed the starters to avoid any further injuries.