Mercer at Chattanooga Preview: SoCon First Place on the Line

No. 15 Mercer (7-2, 4-1 SoCon) plays at No. 24 Chattanooga (6-3, 5-1) at 1 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 7, at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is a first-place Southern Conference game on Homecoming Weekend, and it streams on ESPN+. Ranks are from our Week 9 FCS Top 25.

Chattanooga is tied with Tennessee Tech atop the league at 5-1. Mercer sits a half-game back at 4-1 with ETSU. The winner takes a clear step toward the SoCon's automatic FCS playoff bid. The loser stays alive, but the path gets harder.

Mercer at Chattanooga: Kickoff Time and How to Watch

Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 7, at Finley Stadium (capacity 20,668) in Chattanooga. The game streams on ESPN+ and airs on the SoCon Nexstar package as the Ingles Southern Conference Game of the Week. Pete Yanity has the call with Jay Sonnhalter on analysis and Dave Friedman on the sideline.

It is also Chattanooga's Homecoming, Fan Appreciation Day and Band Day. The Mocs are 3-1 at Finley this season and 24-13 there under head coach Rusty Wright.

What's at Stake in the SoCon Title Race

Four teams still have one conference loss. Chattanooga and Tennessee Tech lead at 5-1. Mercer and East Tennessee State are 4-1. Tennessee Tech beat ETSU 24-17 in Johnson City on Oct. 31 and climbed into a share of first place. We published a Tennessee Tech at East Tennessee State preview. Now the race runs through Finley Stadium.

Mercer's remaining schedule is brutal and clear: at Chattanooga, at Tennessee Tech on Nov. 14, then home against ETSU on Nov. 21. The Bears have to go through every other contender. A win Saturday keeps them in the driver's seat for a third straight SoCon title. A loss would leave Mercer at 4-2 and Chattanooga at 6-1, one game behind in the loss column, with two ranked-or-contending league games left.

Chattanooga finishes at Furman on Nov. 14 and at Alabama on Nov. 21. A win Saturday would put the Mocs at 6-1 in league play for the first time since 2023 and leave them tied with, or ahead of, Tennessee Tech depending on Tech's result. Wright is two wins from becoming the third Mocs coach with 50 career victories and the second with 40 SoCon wins.

The SoCon champion earns the league's automatic bid to the 24-team FCS playoffs. Selection Sunday is Nov. 22.

Mercer Bears: Season So Far

First-year head coach Joel Taylor, who spent the previous two seasons at West Georgia, has Mercer on a five-game winning streak. The Bears opened with wins over East Texas A&M (23-15) and Presbyterian (62-3), then lost 20-13 at home to Furman and 44-11 at Georgia Tech.

They have not lost since. Mercer beat Abilene Christian 34-17 on the road, routed VMI 54-3, edged Western Carolina 17-14 at home, won 31-21 at Samford and beat The Citadel 28-19 on Oct. 31. The Bears average 30.3 points and 411.2 yards per game.

The identity is the run game. Mercer averages 231.6 rushing yards per game, fourth in the FCS. Devon Caldwell leads the backs with 576 yards on 87 carries. Zahmari Palode-Gary has 527 yards on 76 carries. Dual-threat quarterback JP Pickles has taken over the offense and added 505 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns of his own.

Jaylen King started the year at quarterback and threw for 236 yards and four touchdowns in the Presbyterian rout, then threw four interceptions in the Furman loss. Pickles has handled more of the work since and has started the last three games. He has completed 68 of 90 passes for 723 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions. King still has 871 passing yards on the season.

Brayden Smith leads the receivers with 43 catches for 649 yards and four touchdowns. On defense, Mercer ranks 10th in the FCS in scoring defense at 17.3 points allowed per game. Linebacker Jyarius Carter leads the team with 70 tackles. Edge rusher Ronin Dangler has 10 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.

Chattanooga Mocs: Season So Far

Chattanooga's season has two acts. The first was rocky. The Mocs beat West Georgia 24-10 on the road to open the year, then lost 24-9 at home to Tennessee Tech and 22-17 at Eastern Kentucky. They sat at 1-2 before league play truly took shape.

Then the defense took over. Chattanooga beat Wofford 41-7 and won 27-8 at The Citadel. A 14-3 loss at ETSU on Oct. 3 was the low point, with 183 total yards and no touchdowns, but it was also the last time anyone scored more than 18 on the Mocs. Since then, Chattanooga has beaten Samford 19-3, won 41-18 at Western Carolina and beaten VMI 24-10 on Senior Day. The Mocs are on a three-game winning streak.

The defense leads the FCS in scoring defense at 12.9 points allowed per game. Opponents average 268.6 yards and 113.9 rushing yards against Chattanooga. The Mocs have 23 sacks, nine interceptions and a plus-6 turnover margin. Linebacker Zion Rutledge leads the team with 87 tackles. Safety Kristian Ozane has three interceptions.

The offense is built to keep that defense fresh. Chattanooga averages 203.3 rushing yards and just 93.3 passing yards per game. Kevin Lalin has carried 170 times for 913 yards and eight touchdowns, 5.4 yards per carry. Journey Wyche has 600 yards and four scores on 110 carries. Quarterback Battle Alberson has completed 61 of 124 passes for 840 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions, and he has added five rushing touchdowns.

Wide receiver Ashton Schumann leads the passing game with 24 catches for 366 yards. Taylor Crumedy has been the big-play piece in the three games he has played: seven catches for 203 yards and a touchdown, including a 66-yard score against VMI. Kicker Jude Kelley is 15 of 17 on field goals, including a 57-yarder at Western Carolina, and he leads the team with 67 points.

Finley Stadium in November is the stage Wright wants. The Mocs are 3-1 at home this year. Average home attendance is 5,734 across four games, with a season-high 7,205 for the Wofford win. Homecoming packs the place differently. Wright, a Chattanooga alum in his eighth season, is 48-37 overall and 3-4 against Mercer. This is the third straight Finley meeting with both teams ranked.

Mercer-Chattanooga Series History

Chattanooga leads the series 22-13-1. The teams first met in 1909 in Macon, a 10-2 Mercer win. They have played 12 times as SoCon members.

Mercer has won the last two. The Bears beat Chattanooga 63-17 in Macon on Nov. 15, 2025. In 2024, No. 23 Mercer won 10-3 at Finley Stadium over No. 14 Chattanooga, the last top-25 matchup in the building before Saturday. Chattanooga's most recent win in the series was a 41-21 home victory over No. 11 Mercer in 2022, when the Mocs were ranked No. 10.

Chattanooga has long been strong at home against Mercer. Many of those home games were at Chamberlain Field before Finley Stadium opened in 1997. That home edge is still the Mocs' best argument after last year's blowout in Macon.

Keys to the Game

The central matchup is Mercer's run game against Chattanooga's front. Mercer ranks fourth in FCS rushing. Chattanooga ranks among the national leaders in rush defense and first in scoring defense. If Caldwell, Palode-Gary and Pickles cannot hit explosive runs, Mercer's offense stalls. The Bears convert just 30.2% of their third downs. Our FCS ratings through Week 9 put Mercer 15th of 128 teams at a 9.9 power rating and Chattanooga 26th at 7.7, a 2.2-point gap that is closer than the poll gap suggests.

Pickles is the swing player. He can beat a defense with his legs or his arm, and Chattanooga has to account for both. The Mocs have to keep contain and force Mercer into long-yardage throws. Alberson does not need to win a shootout. He needs to hand it to Lalin and Wyche, hit Schumann and Crumedy on play-action, and let Kelley finish drives.

Turnovers favor Chattanooga. The Mocs are plus-6 on the season. Mercer is also plus-6, but cornerback Cameron Goggins and company will test Alberson's 49.2% completion rate. On the other side, Chattanooga has lost one fumble all year. Mercer has lost two.

Common opponents this season: Both beat VMI, Samford, Western Carolina and The Citadel. Chattanooga beat Wofford; Mercer lost to Furman. Mercer beat Abilene Christian; Chattanooga did not play ACU. Against shared foes, both have looked like top-half SoCon teams. The separator is Saturday's trench fight.

What's Next

Mercer's five-game streak and fourth-ranked rushing attack meet Chattanooga's top scoring defense at Finley on Homecoming. The Bears need the road win to stay in the SoCon driver's seat with trips to Tennessee Tech and a home finale against ETSU still ahead. The Mocs need it to climb to 6-1 in league play and keep Homecoming loud before November road games at Furman and Alabama.

Our bracket projection after Week 9 has Mercer as the No. 15 seed. The interactive Week 9 projection shows the full field. A win Saturday strengthens that case. A Chattanooga win would push the Mocs onto the bubble conversation and scramble the SoCon automatic-bid picture. As far as Redshirt Sports knows, the committee doesn't use our poll, but it can be a good indicator.

Correction

An earlier version of this article misstated how far a Mercer loss would leave the Bears behind Chattanooga. A loss would leave Mercer one game behind Chattanooga in the loss column, not two.