Josh D. Weiss – USA TODAY Sports
Whether you heard about it in August or this is your first time hearing about. the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets adding the Mercer Bears to their 2016 football schedule will be good for both schools and good for the state of Georgia as a whole.
The game will be at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta on September 3, 2016. It will be the first game of the year for each team. Athletic Director Mike Bobinski was quoted as saying:
"We are pleased to add Mercer to our 2016 football schedule. This is part of an ongoing effort to support and accentuate college football in the state of Georgia. Our yearly contest with Georgia and the addition of Georgia Southern and Mercer helps us meet that objective."
In the quote above from Bobinski he mentions that face that Georgia Southern was also added to the schedule. Georgia Tech will actually host Georgia Southern near the start of the 2014 season. It will be awesome to see the two option offenses clash, and who knows, each team may score over 60 points each and rack up 400-500 yards of rushing offense per team.
Mercer University’s Director of Athletics Jim Cole was also pumped up about the game being added to the schedule for both schools in 2016.
"We are excited to play a great institution like Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets have a rich history of excellence in academics and athletics and we are thrilled to renew a football tradition that dates back over 100 years."
After a 72 year wait for Mercer football to return. The city of Macon and Mercer fans have to be extremely excited about heading to the Flats to take on one of the top teams in the state.
Current Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb has a win under his belt against Georgia Tech. In 1983, near the start of the season, starting QB Lamb lead the upstart 1-AA Furman Paladins to a major upset over Bill Curry’s Yellow Jackets. Lamb had one touchdown on 8 of 16 passing. The final score of the game was 17-14.
So either way you look at it, the match-up between the Mercer Bears and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in 2016 will be special for people of all ages.
Thanks to Bart Heres for bringing the Bobby Lamb game to my attention.
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