Mocs see visit to Western Carolina as crucial win
Due to a loss at The Citadel two Saturdays ago, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team doesn’t control its own playoff destiny.
But the Mocs can control their future.
The eighth-ranked Mocs need wins in their next two games — at Western Carolina and at home against Wofford after their bye week — to ensure they will have a spot in the 24-team Football Championship Subdivision playoff field.
Wofford’s Terriers almost did the Mocs a favor Saturday, building a 13-0 lead early in the second half against The Citadel in Spartanburg, S.C., but falling 24-21 in overtime. A Wofford win would have created a fourway tie atop the Southern Conference with four weeks to go in the regular season.
“We can’t control that,” UTC running back Richardre Bagley said. “All we can control is what we do from here on out, so we have to get ready for Western Carolina, then after that whatever’s next.
“Right now we’re worried about Western Carolina. It’s the biggest game because it’s the next game.”
Saturday’s game will be against a solid WCU program that won 14 games over the last two seasons and nearly was a playoff team in 2015. Yet this season the Catamounts limped
out of the gate, losers of six of their first seven games and all five in SoCon play.
“I haven’t seen much of them,” Mocs coach Russ Huesman said Saturday. “I know they have good players and they’re talented, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
WCU has been led by the offensive trio of freshman quarterback Tyrie Adams, junior running back Detrez Newsome and junior receiver Terryon Robinson, each ranking in the SoCon top five at his respective position. Adams’ 259.7 passing yards per game rank second only to Samford’s Devlin Hodges. Newsome, a preseason all-conference running back, ranks fourth in the conference in rushing at 67.4 yards per game, while Robinson is third in both receptions per game (7.7) and receiving yards (78.7).
The Catamounts’ problem has been on the defensive side of the ball, where they give up an average of 510 yards per game. The 296.6 rushing yards they allow per contest ranks dead last out of 122 FCS teams.
The Mocs know none of that will matter Saturday, considering they need all the wins they can get to qualify for the playoffs.
“This week is important because this is a good league full of opponents,” linebacker Nakevion Leslie said. “We have to keep getting conference wins if we want to keep playing in December.
“Each game is important to us.”
National recognition
The Mocs’ Bagley and Keionta Davis received national recognition for their performances against VMI.
As the lead running back subbing for injured Derrick Craine, Bagley ran a career-high 23 times for a career-high 189 yards and two touchdowns and earned honorable mention for the STATS FCS offensive player of the week and the SouthernPigskin.com X-factor of the week.
Davis, a senior defensive end from Red Bank High School, had three sacks and three quarterback hurries and is a candidate for the FCS “hero” of the weeek. Voting at HeroSports.com continues through Thursday.