By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

There were issues with the plane the night of a long trip and before the biggest game of the season.

That led to South Dakota arriving several hours late Friday to Macon.

The problems with the plane were about the only problems the Coyotes had to deal with.

Weather that kept away scores of local fans was embraced by the visitors, in the stands and on the field, and South Dakota didn’t play like it was 1,200 land miles from home in hammering Mercer 47-0 in a second-round FCS playoff game at Five Star Stadium.

Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs didn’t try to sugarcoat things or paint a prettier picture than the reality portrayed, which was as glum as the weather.

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“If I tell you anything other than they kicked our ass …,” Jacobs said. “The weather didn’t affect the outcome. They dealt with the same thing we did, and we got beat today.”

The weather did have an effect on the atmosphere. Jacobs had high hopes early in the week for a big crowd, with the rare noon start and Georgia’s SEC championship game not until 4 p.m.

“I believe we called it ‘eggs and kegs’ in my time at Ohio State,” Jacobs said during his regular Monday media meeting. “This is going to be a big-time college football game.”

It was a big-time game for the visitors, on a stunning afternoon during which Mercer never looked like Mercer, and South Dakota (10-4) looked like a team that could’ve knocked off many higher-level outfits.

“That performance was arguably one of our best of the year,” head coach Travis Johansen said. “Our ability to run the football versus a really difficult defense and limit a quarterback who’s really taken advantage of every defense he’s played to date …”

The Bears suffered their worst loss under Jacobs overall, and worst to an FCS opponent since 41-0 to South Dakota State in the 2023 playoffs.

Mercer last gave up so many points at home in 2021 in a 45-7 loss to VMI. It is only the third shutout of the Bears in the modern era, and first at home.

The surprising afternoon in all phases brought a stellar season to a crushing end for the 9-4 Bears, who were ranked five spots head of the Coyotes. Getting a team from the Dakotas – a region of FCS powers – was no advantage after all.

“We wanted to see how we matched up, what direction was the line of scrimmage going to move,” Johansen said. “Early on, I think we showed we were going to be able to hang well.”

South Dakota put on a clinic in pretty much all phases. The offense often gashed a quality Mercer defense, the defense shut down Jerry Rice Award winner Braden Atkinson, and there weren’t even any special-teams cracks for Mercer to take advantage of.

Atkinson was picked off four times, in combinations of poor decisions, weather, and a defense that was ready for the Bears.

“We got a great scheme,” said defensive back Mikey Munn, who had two interceptions. “We got a lot of just great pictures we’re throwing out at young quarterbacks. We executed all around. I was really happy to see us really not make very many (missed assignments) and bring the scheme to a really high level.”

Atkinson completed 18 of 39 – a staggering number for somebody who had hit on 68.3 percent of his passes all season – for 148 yards. The longest completion was only 18 yards.

C.J. Miller did battle his way for 105 yards on 18 carries, but South Dakota ran wild, with 160 yards from L.J. Phillips Jr. – his eighth 100-yard game of the year - and 107 from Carson Fletcher en route to 317 yards the ground.

Mercer had allowed an average of 92.2 yards a game until Saturday. The Coyotes had 91 yards on nine carries after one quarter.

“I think after the first quarter, I felt like we could certainly be in the game and manage the game for a win,” Johansen said. “From that point, obviously our guys just excelled.”

Aidan Bouman was a steady 13 of 18 for 241 yards and two scores with no interceptions en route to becoming the program’s career passing yards leader and first to pass 9,000 yards. Tysen Boze and Larenzo Fenner cracked 100 yards in receiving for South Dakota, while Maconites Brayden Smith (Tattnall) and Travion Solomon each had three catches for a combined 77 yards for Mercer. Adonis McDaniel caught four for 32 yards.

Julian Fox was busy for Mercer’s defense, with 14 tackles and 2.5 for loss. Drew Clare had 10 tackles.

South Dakota almost doubled up Mercer in total yards, 550-277, on 10 fewer snaps, and had a 9.6-4.1 margin in yards per play.

“They stayed on schedule and ran the ball,” Jacobs said. “Specific today and the conditions, they did a better job of staying on schedule offensively than we did, and their ability to run it at a great clip than our ability to do that.”

And it was that way from the start, the Coyotes going 80 yards in seven plays on their first possession, boosted by a 41-yard blast from Phillips to set up Reid Watkins’ scoring surge from 8 yards out.

Minutes later came one of Atkinson’s worst decisions of the year, a heave while in the grasp that stayed in play and was picked off. The visitors ate up 4:03 with a 7-play, 48-yard scoring drive ending on Phillips’ 16-yard run behind near-perfect blocking at the point of attack and downfield.

Less than 12 minutes into the game, South Dakota was precision and Mercer looked nothing like Mercer. The quarter ended with South Dakota having outgained Mercer 139-49, and Atkinson 2 for 6 for 20 yards and an interception.

He came into the game having thrown seven in 367 attempts. And nothing got better for him nor his teammates. The Bears’ nice drive ended when he took too long to throw and fired into double coverage for another interception, giving him two on nine attempts for the day.

Phillips went in from 15 yards five plays later for a 21-0 lead 23 minutes into the game. Another interception followed a few plays later, as did a field goal with 3:07 left en route to a 24-0 lead at halftime.

The Coyotes scored twice less than four minutes apart early in the third quarter, on a 66-yard pass to Fenner and 63-yarder to Boze. They added, naturally, Mercer’s first safety of the year in the final 94 seconds of the third.

Everything the Bears did well all season inexplicably evaporated on the biggest day of the year.

“We were death by paper cuts, and then we were gouged on some stuff,” Jacobs said. “Just a lack of execution. Then we were where we would put a stop to it, right? Like it wouldn’t snowball? It snowballed today, and that’s partly us, that’s partly playing a better opponent.

“We’ll look back, and we accomplished quite a it. There’s a bunch to proud of, but today was certainly not good … But one day can’t define us completely.”