Mercer lost twice Saturday.

          Just before going down 38-31 to The Citadel, the Bears lost quarterback Robert Riddle to what turned out to be a broken collarbone.

          “(He) will be out for awhile,” Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb said during his Monday press conference. “He suffered it while scrambling out of the pocket and trying to throw the ball away. I think (a player) just fell wrong on his shoulder.”

          Riddle’s quality day was done. He had passed for 347 yards and three touchdowns, going 25 of 37, but he had been sacked four times.

          The Bears have as competent a backup as a team can have. Kaelan Riley played in all 11 games last year, and was the Southern Conference freshman of the year. He started every game, completing 59.4 percent of his passes for 2,030 yards and 13 touchdowns for the 5-6 Bears.

          Still, the Bears had adjusted to a one-quarterback system in the past few weeks, and Riddle was the guy.

          “It’s really difficult, because his best ball is ahead of him,” Lamb said. “He had a solid game last week and did some solid things on Saturday.”

          Linebacker Sidney Otiwu suffered a lower leg injury and is out indefinitely. But the Bears get kam Lott back.

          Mercer visits VMI on Saturday.

          “We were just watching last year’s VMI game and (Riley) made a lot of great plays in that game,” Lamb said. “There’s not a huge dropoff. Robert won the (position) battle, but just barely.”

          Mercer is 1-1 in Southern Conference play. Chattanooga, ETSU, and Wofford are -0, WCU 1-0. The Citadel improved to 1-2 with the win, while preseason favorite Samford is 0-2.

          The Keydets are last in scoring with 13.7 points a game and points allowed with 51 a game. It’s been an odd season, opening with a loss at Toledo and then No. 7 Woffrd, by 105-17.

          Then they lost by three to ETSU and 52-50 at WCU last week.

          Mercer is off next week, then steps out of conference play at Yale, home to Northside grad Jaylan Sandifer, who has played in one game with no stats.