The Auburn Tigers open the 2022 season Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium against Mercer. The meeting will be the 13th all-time, with Auburn winning all 12 previous matchups.
Auburn and Mercer have an odd past. These two met for the first time in 1896, with Auburn defeating the Bears 46-0 in Macon. The two programs would become annual rivals from 1907-16, as both became members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, with Auburn winning all eight meetings. The Tigers and Bears would meet one more time in the 20th century, as Auburn defeated Mercer 50-6.
The bears disbanded their football program in 1942 and would reinstate it in 2014. Three years after Mercer’s resurgence, they would travel to Auburn to rekindle an old rivalry.
Auburn hosted Mercer for the third game of the 2017 season, and the Bears gave the Tigers all that they could handle.
Auburn had just come off of a grueling game at Clemson the week prior and needed to claw their way through to a 24-10 win. Despite the results not showing on the scoreboard, quarterback Jarrett Stidham passed for 364 yards in the win. Kam Pettway did most of the damage on the ground for Auburn, rushing for 128 yards and three touchdowns.
Although it was not a dominating effort, the win over Mercer in 2017 was a turning point for Auburn. Beginning with the Mercer game, Auburn would go on to win nine of their next ten football games en route to an SEC West championship. In that stretch, Auburn upset two No. 1 teams, Georgia and Alabama, over a three-week span.
While we prepare for the next edition of Auburn vs. Mercer, here’s a look at the best images from the last meeting between these two programs on September 16, 2017.