Saturday’s Peach State college football scouting reports
Delayed by technical difficulties.
2 p.m.
Lenoir-Rhyne (6-1) at Fort Valley State (1-6)
Central Georgians on L-R’s roster: Two. Javoris Smith is a freshman defensive back from Southwest and Twiggs County who has played in every game and is 11th on the team with 21 tackles, to go with three interceptions and five breakups. Jam’l Dillard is a freshman defensive end from Warner Robins who has played in three games and has a tackle.
There are 30 Georgians on the roster.
Scouting Report: Who scheduled this team for homecoming?
The Wildcats know L-R, which beat FVSU 21-6 in the 2012 playoffs. The Bears followed a three-year run of 33-6 with 11-20 the past three years before getting back on track this year.
FVSU has lost four straight, by an average of 9.5 points. The 31-14 home loss to Virginia University-Lynchburg was particularly galling, but the Wildcats were close against Clark and Tuskegee.
FVSU RB and Northside grad Willie Jordan originally committed to L-R out of junior college. He’s third with 82 yards.
Perry grad Jhi’Marre Brown is fourth with nine catches for 110 yards.
Homecoming or not, the Wildcats will have to play their best game in a few years and hope the Bears stumble.
To read
4 p.m.
Western Carolina (3-3, 1-3) at Mercer (3-3, 2-1)
TV: None
Web: www.mercerbears.com; www.sportsmic.com; ESPN+
Radio: WNEX-FM 100.9
Line: Mercer by 6 (Sagarin Ratings)
Central Georgians on WCU’s s roster: One. Defensive back Brandon Bawn is a junior from Rutland and GMC. He has played in six games and has two tackles. There are 27 players from Georgia on the roster.
Scouting Report: WCU is on a three-game losing streak, to Furman by six, Samford by a whopping 38, and Chattanooga by 20.
These teams are mighty even, which should lead – rain or not – to an entertaining game on PinkOut Day, in support of breast cancer awareness.
The game pits the No. 7 and 8 total defenses against the third and fourth total offenses. The air game is a key. Mercer is second in pass efficiency offense and WCU is fifth. They’re 5 and 6 in pass efficiency defense, and 4 and 5 in passing yards.
One big difference is in sack. WCU is second with 3.2 a game, and Mercer is last in the conference with one a game. And Mercer gets 11 more net yards per punt.
WCU has an edge on third downs, on offense and defense.
Mercer’s Tee Mitchell is third in the SoCon with 84.7 rush yards a game, 11 more than WCU’s Connell Young. QB Tyrie Adams of Western Carolina is fourth with 241.7 yards in total offense, and no Bears are close.
“Tyrie is a guy who can extend plays and take it to the house,” Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb said. “He's that kind of guy; slippery, hard to take down, hard to tackle. He's a year-three guy, but it seems like he's been there about five or six years.
Mercer is likely without six starters: QB Robert Riddle, OL David May, OL Andrew Robinson, DE Isaiah Buehler, and DB Eric Jackson.
The Catamounts aren’t having as good a season as in 2017, but there’s a little revenge at play.
“Last year's game was a big win because if Western Carolina would have won that game, they would have made it to the playoffs for the first time in 34 years,” Lamb said. “They were sitting there ready to celebrate.”
And the Bears left town with a 35-33 win, thanks to a solid running game.
Mercer is tied for third in the conference with Furman at 2-1, behind 3-1 Wofford and 4-0 ETSU. The Bears visit Wofford next week and host ETSU a week after that.
To Read
6 p.m.
Georgia Southern (5-1) at New Mexico State (2-5)
TV: None
Web: Eleven Sports
Radio: Macon, WXKO, 99.5-FM/1150-AM; Dublin, WDBG-FM 102.1; FM
Line: Georgia Southern by 14
Central Georgians on New Mexico State’s roster: None. There are two Georgians on the roster.
Scouting Report: The Eagles survived Texas State last week, and have another long road trip with bowl eligibility assured with a win.
But New Mexico State, while struggling, has last year’s 35-27 win in Statesboro to bolster some confidence. They lost 66-38 last week at Louisiana-Lafayette, with other losses to Wyoming, Minnesota, Utah State and New Mexico.
New Mexico State is the rare I-A independent, along with Notre Dame, Army, BYU, Liberty, and Massachusetts. It became independent when WAC football died, joined the Sun Belt for football – remaining in the WAC in everything else - for a few seasons and then was invited to leave after 2016-17 when the Sun Belt didn’t need football-only members.
GSU QB Shai Werts isn’t 100 percent healthy, and facing a defense giving up 43.7 points, 256.7 rushing yards and 233.9 passing yards. The Eagles are moderately banged up on both sides, including Peach County grad Sean Freeman (ankle/doubtful).
The Aggies average only four less points than the Eagles, so this may turn into an offensive game. Georgia Southern likely treated last week’s win with a little bit of a loss mentality, which the Eagles will need to counter the travel lag and another opponent with a losing record.
To read