Saturday night was probably not the start to the 2018 season that the Mercer Bears had in mind.

From the opening kickoff to the final play, the Bears were clearly outmatched by the Tigers, falling behind 28-0 after the first quarter of play.

By halftime, the Bears had mustered up just 16 yards of total offense and headed into the locker room without any points on the board and down by 56 points.

“It was mistake after mistake against a really explosive offense,” head coach Bobby Lamb said. “We couldn’t move the chains, and defensively they just made plays on us.”

In a game where positives were few and far between, the second half did see a few for Mercer.

The Bears put together 158 yards of offense and outscored the Tigers 14-10 in the half.

“At halftime I told them we’re going to go out this half and it’s going to define who we are because we got embarrassed in the first half,” Lamb said.

The Bears played two quarterbacks in the game, with redshirt freshman Robert Riddle taking over after an interception by Kaelan Riley was returned for a touchdown on the game’s third drive.

Mercer will need to put this game in the back of their mind and shift their focus to their home opener against Jacksonville, Saturday at 6pm (EST).

At the end of the day, this is game one,” Lamb said. It’s a learning experience. There are things to learn and a long way to go.”