While Bryant isn’t technically eliminated from the Big South title race and therefore the FCS playoff picture, the heartbreaking OT loss last weekend certainly didn’t help.
Dropping a 45-44 decision against Gardner-Webb put the Bryant season on the edge with two games remaining against Lindenwood and SEMO. They’d need quite a bit of help and to win both games, but even if a Big South crown isn’t in the cards, had coach Chris Merritt isn’t going to let his team go through the motions.
An FCS at-learge bid is probably out of the question, but not 100%. With life as a member of the CAA looming on the horizon, maintaining program momentum as a whole that’s been built over the last few years – on top of a new facility as well – is paramount when entering recruiting periods. Rhode Island, UNH and Maine will all be chomping at the bit to ‘welcome’ Bryant in 2024 and it adds another piranha in the tank so to speak for those programs when it comes to recruiting.
Bryant can’t just roll over and die right now and they aren’t going to.
Here’s everything Merritt had to say during his weekly presser on Tuesday…
On the loss to GW
“Second tough loss in in conference play. Overtime, one-point loss. We’ve got to find a way to break the cycle. We had a two touchdown lead with eight minutes left to go and all three phases of the football team had a chance to put it away and seal it. We were unsuccessful in all three phases. I was really proud of their effort and how they fought, we just have to get up, dust ourself off, make a trip out to St. Louis and continue to play hard and see how this whole thing turns out.”
On if it was more of what GW did or more of what Bryant didn’t do down the stretch
“I’m sure it was a combination. Missing field goals, that’s us. Dropping passes, that’s us. Giving up three fourth-and-long conversions is us. Everything they needed to do for the stars and moons to align came true.”
On putting the OT losses behind them and looking ahead
“Listen, we have two tough opponents and eight quarters of conference play left against two pretty good teams. We’re going to do the best we can and someone’s going to have to tell me at the end that two one-point losses in overtime just wasn’t good enough. We’re going to keep swinging. We’re going to keep battling. That’s the one thing you can always expect from this group, that they’re going to continue to battle. Three of our five losses have literally come at the last second in the ball game and I think the combined score of those three losses has been six points.”
On Lindenwood
“Coach does a great job there. They’re playing a lot of young players. This is their final game. That’s the one thing you’ve got to remember. This is their season ending game for them and they’re going to put it all on the line and we’re going to get their best swing. A lot of times the dangerous part about playing a team where you don’t know what’s going to happen at quarterback is offensively, you don’t know what they’re going to do either. This last game for example, young man from Garnder-Webb being a freshman, they came out with a little bit different game plan than they had done in the previous two games and did a great job there. It’s kind of hard to expect the unexpected for Saturday…while it seems advantageous for us, you just don’t know what a team like that’s going to come out and do.”
On traveling for road games in general
“Over the last three years we’ve gotten really used to wearing white uniforms. We’re on the road six, seven times a year and that’s something we talk about all the time. To be successful at Bryant, we’re going to have to win on the road.”
On Zevi Eckhaus’ performance in Big South games this year and if he thinks he’s the best QB in the conference
“I think that’s probably a better question for opposing questions. For us, I’ve said it time and time again, he’s our best player on offense. His play determines the outcome of our games and I haven’t seen anybody that’s better with our opponents, but I think that’s a better question for the opposing questions.”