MACON, Ga. - Gardner-Webb prepares for the opening round of the FCS Playoffs, traveling to Macon, Ga. to face #17/20 Mercer of the Southern Conference on Saturday, Nov. 25
FCS Playoffs - First Round
Gardner-Webb (7-4, 5-1 Big South-OVC) at #17/20 Mercer (8-3, 6-2 SoCon)
Macon, Ga. - Five Star Stadium
Saturday, Nov. 25 - 3:00 PM
Watch (ESPN+)
Listen (RBSN Presented by AlphaGraphics South Charlotte)
THE GAME
The Runnin' Bulldogs open the FCS Playoffs on the road at Mercer of the Southern Conference. Kickoff is set for 3:00 PM. Jack Benjamin and Forrest Conoly will have the call on ESPN+, while Dave Friedman Mark Covert will be on the radio call on the Runnin' Bulldog Sports Network presented by AlphaGraphics South Charlotte. Fans can tune in online at gwusports.com, via the Varsity Network app, or on the radio via WGNC 1450 AM/101.1 FM.
SERIES NOTES
Mercer leads the series 1-0, defeating Gardner-Webb 45-14 on Sept. 24, 2022. The then 16th ranked Bears led 21-0 after the first quarter, but Gardner-Webb cut the lead to 28-14 with 9:57 left in the third quarter. Mercer scored 17 unanswered points to end the game. Former Gardner-Webb wide receiver Devron Harper had two carries for 64 yards and a touchdown, along with eight catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns.
THE HEAD COACHES
Gardner-Webb head coach Tre Lamb is the second-youngest skipper in Division I football at age 34. He is 20-19 in his brief tenure, with seven of those losses coming to 85-scholarship FBS programs. Drew Cronic is in his fourth season at Mercer, holding a record of 27-19. In his eight years as a head coach overall, Cronic is 74-22, including a combined record of 25-3 and a pair of NCAA Division II Quarterfinal appearances at Lenoir-Rhyne. This is Cronic's first trip to the postseason with Mercer
LAST TIME OUT
Gardner-Webb clinched the automatic bid to the FCS playoffs and a share of the Big South-OVC Championship with a 34-10 win over Charleston Southern. The Runnin' Bulldogs held Charleston Southern to just 81 yards of offense in the second half. The Bucs rushed for just 92 total yards, marking the third straight game the Gardner-Webb defense has held their opponents to less than 100 yards rushing. Brendan Jackson had seven tackles and 3.5 tackles-for-loss, while also picking up a pair of rushing touchdowns. Jayden Brown had 10 carries for 147 yards and a touchdown, including a 73 yard scamper in the fourth quarter.
BACK IN BLACK
Last season, Gardner-Webb opened the year with new black helmets, defeating Limestone 56-21 in the season opener. The Runnin' Bulldogs donned the black helmets in all five conference games last season, culminating in the program's first Big South Conference championship since 2003. The black magic continued for GWU in the first round of the FCS Playoffs, rolling to a 52-41 victory over Eastern Kentucky in the 2022 FCS Playoffs. While the streak ended at #5 William & Mary the next week, GWU broke out the black helmets again on Oct. 21, 2023, defeating EKU 35-32. GWU has worn the black helmets in their last five games, winning all five Gardner-Webb is now 11-1 all-time in the new black helmets.
ALL-CONFERENCE DAWGS
Ten Gardner-Webb players earned All-Conference accolades from the Big South-OVC this season. Ty French, William McRainey, Ja'Kai Young, AJ Covan, and Jayden Brown all earned First Team honors, while Narii Gaither, Gabriel Thompson, JaQuan Adams, Brendan Jackson, and Jamari Brown earned Second Team selections. McRainey also earned a spot on the All-Academic Team and was voted the Scholar Athlete of the Year. McRainey currently holds a 4.0 GPA while pursuing an MBA.
THE RETURN
Tre Lamb is very familiar with the Mercer Bears, as he was the Quarterbacks Coach and Passing Game Coordinator under his uncle Bobby Lamb from 2014-17. Lamb called the plays for Mercer in 2017 and spent four seasons as the quarterbacks coach for the Bears. He mentored John Russ to an outstanding career and helped freshman Kaelan Riley to a spot on the Jerry Rice Award Watch List and Southern Conference Freshman of the Year honors in 2017.
I WALK A LONELY ROAD
While Gardner-Webb is 4-0 at home this season, they are 2-4 on the road. Two of those losses were at FBS opponents, falling to Appalachian State 45-24 and ECU 44-0. GWU is 7-15 in road games under Tre Lamb, but seven of those contests have been against teams at the FBS level. Gardner-Webb did win their first-ever FCS playoff game on the road, knocking off Eastern Kentucky 52-41 in Richmond, K.Y. on Nov. 26, 2022. The Runnin' Bulldogs' 45-44 overtime win at Bryant was GWU's first road win in 343 days. GWU has won two straight away games in the midst of this five game winning streak, including a 35-0 win over Tennessee Tech. Gardner-Webb's last winning record in road games came in 2006, going 3-2 away from Spangler Stadium. The last time the Runnin' Bulldogs did not have a losing record on the road came in 2009, when GWU went 3-3 in away contests
WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A TACKLE
For the past two years, William McRainey has been a head hunter for the Runnin' Bulldogs, recording over 100 tackles the past two seasons. Last year, McRainey led the team with 104 tackles, with 9.0 TFL and 5.5 sacks. McRainey has started all 38 games he has played in since earning the starting linebacker job in the 2021 spring season. This season, McRainey has 90 total tackles, picking up 11 tackles in back-to-back games against Austin Peay and Robert Morris, and 14 tackles, along with an interception, against Eastern Kentucky. McRainey now has 323 tackles for his career, the 13th most for any Gardner-Webb player in program history.
BIG SOUTH STATS
Gardner-Webb is 51-58 all-time in Big South Conference or Big South-OVC play since joining the conference in 2002. Gardner-Webb has gone undefeated in conference play three times, in 2002 (3-0), 2003 (4-0), and 2022 (5-0). The Runnin' Bulldogs opened their time in the Big South with six straight seasons without a losing record in conference play, going 15-8 in conference games from 2002-2007, winning seven conference games in a row before falling to Liberty 17-9 on Oct. 2, 2004. Last season's 5-0 record in Big South play ended a stretch from 2017-2021 where Gardner-Webb failed to record a winning record in conference play, going just 5-21 in that time span.
EDDIE ROBINSON AWARD FINALIST
For the second straight year, Gardner-Webb Head Football Coach Tre Lamb has been named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award. The Eddie Robinson Award is given annually to the national coach of the year in Division I FCS college football. Lamb has helped guide a complete turnaround for the Gardner-Webb football team, guiding the Runnin' Bulldogs to back-to-back conference championships for the first time since 2002, 2003. Under the direction of Lamb, the Runnin' Bulldogs are heading to the postseason for back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history, and finished the regular season undefeated at home for the first time since 2003. Lamb was also the play-caller for the Gardner-Webb offense this season. The Runnin' Bulldogs averaged 34.7 points per game in conference games, and averaged 354.3 yards per game. The GWU offense has not been afraid to push opposing defenses, as the Runnin' Bulldogs have converted 24 of their 37 fourth down attempts (64.9%), the 14th highest percentage in the FCS and the third-most fourth down conversions in the nation.
SACK MASTER
With a pair of sacks against Charleston Southern, Ty French set a new school record for career sacks with 30.5. That mark passes GWU Hall of Famer and former Green Bay Packer Gabe Wilkinson (1990-93) who held the old mark of 28.5. For the second straight year, French has been named a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award for the best defensive player in the FCS. French also set a new school record for career tackles-for-loss with 58. His 17.5 tackles-for-loss this season are tied with Jason Burns (1990) for the eighth-most in a single season.
RECORD BREAKER
Running back Narii Gaither (5-10, 181, R-Sr.) now has 3,147 career rushing yards, becoming just the second player in program history to rush for at least 3,000 yards. Gaither also has 104 career receptions, passing Philip Keefe for the most career pass receptions by a running back in Gardner-Webb history, while his eleven receiving touchdowns are the most in program history. Gaither's 924 career receiving yards are also the most by a running back in program history.
TOP-25 TUSSLES
Gardner-Webb is 9-36 all-time against FCS teams ranked inside the national polls since moving to the Division-I level in 2000. GWU defeated #13/14 UT Martin earlier this season 38-34 on Oct. 28, as Jaylen King scored on a ten-yard rushing touchdown with 15 seconds left in the game. Gardner-Webb is just 3-15 on the road against Top-25 teams, their last road win over a nationally-ranked team coming on Nov. 5, 2016 against #8 Charleston Southern. That is the highest ranked team Gardner-Webb has defeated, tied with a 3-0 win over #8 Wofford, also on the road, on Sept. 21, 2013. Tre Lamb is 2-3 all-time against nationally-ranked teams as the head coach of the Runnin' Bulldogs.
KING ME
A finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, Jaylen King started to earn recognition after earning the start at quarterback for the Runnin' Bulldog. The true freshman has gone 5-1 in his first six career starts, winning five games in a row. King earned his first career conference honor from the Big South-OVC Football Association, after recording 254 yards of total offense and three touchdowns, as the quarterback helped lead Gardner-Webb to a 38-34 upset victory over #13/14 UT Martin. King came up big on the final drive of the game, leading a 16-play, 90-yard drive to score a 10-yard rushing TD with 0:13 left in the contest. The Runnin' Bulldogs also converted three fourth downs on the final drive. The Folkston, Ga. native showed off his arm as well, finding Jayden Brown for a 71-yard passing touchdown in the first quarter, and also ending the first half with a one-yard strike to Karim Page to put GWU up 31-20 at the break. Against one of the best defenses in the FCS, King was 16-for-33 with 216 passing yards and two touchdowns. On the ground, King had 17 rushes, for 38 yards with the game-winning rushing touchdown.
King also earned FedEx Ground FCS National Freshman Honorable Mention honors in three straight weeks. His first honor came on Oct. 23, after going 14-for-18 for 185 yards with one touchdown pass and rushing for 46 yards and a touchdown in Gardner-Webb's 35-32 win over Eastern Kentucky. Last week against Tennessee Tech, King went 12-for-19 for 171 yards and three touchdowns, recording touchdown passes of 23, 59, and 62 yards.
JUST GO (FOR) IT
In their last three games, Gardner-Webb has gone 12-for-14 on fourth down attempts (85.7 percent). The Runnin' Bulldogs were a perfect 5-for-5 on fourth downs against UT Martin and went 7-for-8 against Bryant. This year, GWU has converted 24 total fourth downs, the third-most in the FCS. GWU is 24-for-37 on fourth down this season, with their 64.9 percent conversion rank tied for 17th in the FCS.
BRICK WALL
The Gardner-Webb rushing defense has been a brick wall this season, holding teams to just 106.3 rushing yards per game. That mark is the 15th best in the FCS and second-best in the Big South-OVC. Four times this season and in three straight games, the Runnin' Bulldogs have held teams to under 100 rushing yards in a game, holding Robert Morris to just 33 rushing yards and held Bryant to just 68 rushing yards. GWU held Tennessee Tech to just 23 yards rushing and picked up 18 tackles-for-loss, and also held Charleston Southern to 93 yards rushing. UT Martin running back Sam Franklin entered the contest between GWU and the Skyhawks leading the Big South-OVC averaging roughly 140 yards per game. Gardner-Webb held Franklin to just 70 yards for the game.
BLOCK OUT THE NOISE
Gardner-Webb was one of just two teams in the FCS Playoffs last season to win a true road game, knocking off Eastern Kentucky 52-41. The other win was #7 Incarnate Word defeating #2 Sacramento State 66-63 in the Quarterfinals. The Runnin' Bulldogs also became the first team to win their first ever FCS Playoff game in program history since Austin Peay made a run to the Quarterfinals in 2019, knocking off Furman 42-6 and Sacramento State 42-28. This is Mercer's first time qualifying for the FCS Playoffs.
STANDIN' ON BUSINESS
For the second time this season, Jay Billingsley earned Big South-OVC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. Billingsley opened the scoring in Gardner-Webb's 34-10 win over Charleston Southern on Saturday, Nov. 18, nailing a 48-yard field goal to give the Runnin' Bulldogs an early 3-0 lead. That 48-yarder ties a career long for the Anderson, S.C. native. Billingsley also connected on a 22-yard field goal later in the first quarter to put GWU up 6-0. Billingsley was also a perfect 4-for-4 on extra point attempts. Billingsley has yet to miss an extra point this season, as he is 40-for-40 on the year.
Brendan Jackson also earned a spot on the FedEx Ground FCS National Defensive Honorable Mention Team for Week 12. Jackson terrorized the Bucs in Gardner-Webb's 34-10 win over CSU on Saturday, recording seven tackles, four solo, including 3.5 tackles-for-loss. With Charleston Southern driving early in the game down just 13-7, Jackson's tackle behind the line forced the Bucs into a field goal, keeping GWU in front. The Statesboro, Ga. native also flexed his muscle on the offensive side of the ball, recording two rushing touchdowns, including the first touchdown of the day, on just two carries. For the season, Jackson has scored four rushing touchdowns, the most offensive touchdowns in a season by a defensive player since defensive end Harold Wells scored eight rushing touchdowns in 2004. Jackson finished the 2023 regular season with 66 tackles, the second-most on the team, with 11.5 tackles-for-loss, four sacks, and one interception.
WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
Jayden Brown has had no sophomore slump this season for the Runnin' Bulldogs. The sophomore is averaging 129.3 all-purpose yards per game, second in the Big South-OVC and 10th in the FCS. Brown's 532 kick return yards are the fourth-most in the conference. On offense, Brown has had a pair of 100-yard rushing games this season, rushing for 142 yards on 15 carries and one touchdown against EKU and for 147 yards on 10 carries with one touchdown against Charleston Southern. Brown earned the first-ever Big South-OVC Offensive Player of the Week Award after his performance against App State to open the season, finishing with 45 rushing yards and 67 passing yards for 112 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns.
UP NEXT
Should Gardner-Webb defeat Mercer, the Runnin' Bulldogs will travel to Brookings, S.D. to face #1 South Dakota State in the second round of the FCS Playoffs. Kickoff is set for 2:00 PM Eastern/1:00 PM Central on Saturday, Dec. 2.
