Mercer has been in this position before - coming off a big performance against a good football team.
The Bears' focus this week is on how they respond afterward.
The program earned one of the biggest wins in recent school history last Saturday, going on the road and defeating The Citadel 24-14. The Bulldogs were ranked 17th in the Football Championship Subdivision at the time.
Considering the Bears are eyeing a potential Southern Conference championship and FCS playoff berth, the case could be made that the win was bigger even than their 17-14 upset of then No. 3-ranked University of Tennessee at Chattanooga two years ago in Macon, Ga.
UTC's Mocs (1-5, 1-2) will be back in Macon this Saturday.
"We told them the same thing we told them last week: 1-0. Our goal is to go 1-0," Mercer coach Bobby Lamb told reporters Monday. "It's a lot like the Auburn game (a 24-10 loss). We played well but didn't win, and everybody on campus was patting them on the back. Then we didn't play very well the next week.
"We talked a lot about that in our team meeting: getting patted on the back. At the end of the day, that's why we call it 'Sunday flush.' We've got to flush that out of our system, and we've really got to have a great week at practice in preparation for the Chattanooga team."
Lamb called the Mocs "hungry" and "dangerous."
The Bears have been led by a redshirt freshman dual-threat quarterback, former Calhoun standout Kaelen Riley, who has thrown for 1,205 yards and 10 touchdowns while rushing for 144 yards and three scores. And C.J. Leggett, Tee Mitchell and Alex Lakes each has rushed for more than 200 yards.
Mercer entered the season with talk of being the sleeper in the league. After a number of close losses - their two losses against FCS teams have come by a combined four points, with one in overtime - the Bears finally got their win against the Bulldogs, a team that had won the last three meetings by a combined five points.
"It was a big win," Lakes told reporters. "Going up there and playing in one of the hottest games, it was a really big win."
Players of the week
Wofford's Andre Stoddard and Luke Carter and Mercer's Lee Bennett were named the SoCon players of the week.
Stoddard, a fullback for the fifth-ranked Terriers, ran for a career-high 157 yards and two scores to lead his team to a 35-28 overtime win over 25th-ranked Western Carolina. He averaged nearly 7.5 yards per attempt in his first 100-yard game, with his final score proving to be the game-winner.
Special-teams honoree Carter kicked two field goals, was 3-for-3 on extra points and averaged 49 yards per punt, twice pinning the Catamounts inside their 20-yard line.
Bennett earned the defensive honor. He had a career-high 16 tackles, forcing two fumbles and recovering one, helping the Bears hold The Citadel to 201 yards rushing, 122.5 below its season average entering the game.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.