› UTC gets the job done against Shorter, with authority,
While some teams struggled, Mocs had easy time
While football teams all around the country found themselves struggling against supposedly “overmatched” opponents over the weekend, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs did what they needed to do. Took care of business. The sixth-ranked Mocs wasted no time jumping out on NCAA Division II team Shorter University last Thursday, recovering a fumble on the opening play and scoring five plays later. That set the tone for UTC’s 66-0 win at Finley Stadium.
The Mocs started preparation Tuesday for Presbyterian, their opponent this Saturday at 2 p.m. back at Finley.
“I never guessed the score would end up like that,” UTC coach Russ Huesman said. “In all three phases, we play well enough that we were going to win that game. They made some mistakes, obviously, but for the most part we played like we were capable of playing in that game.”
A number of major college programs took hits in their openers. Mississippi State lost to South Alabama, a Sun Belt Conference program. Tennessee needed overtime to overcome Appalachian State, another Sun Belt opponent. Breaking in a new coach, Virginia was favored by 12 points but lost 37-20 to Richmond of the Football Championship Subdivision.
The second-ranked Spiders were among four FCS teams beating Bowl Subdivision opponents in the opening weekend. Another was Eastern Washington, which won 45-42 over a Washington State team favored by 27.5 points.
“We can just control what we can control,” UTC defensive tackle Justin King said. “That’s what we talk about in the defensive room: Do your assignment. We hit on all cylinders and were in the right place at the right time.
“A lot of teams in the country did give up some upsets, but every team has those moments. We just have to come back, overprepare. As we get into conference play, we have to be ready for what other teams throw at us.”
The Mocs dominated Shorter in every aspect in winning their season opener for the first time since 2009. They had six plays of 20 or more yards — five on their way to a 45-0 halftime lead — while limiting the Hawks to 16 yards of total offense. It was a far cry from last season’s game against a Division II opponent, when the Mocs needed a late score to pull away from Mars Hill for a 44-34 final margin.
“It was one of our goals to win our home opener,” receiver James Stovall said. “That’s what drove us to go play hard, no matter the opponent. If you had put anybody out there, we were focused enough to execute the game plan, to do what we were supposed to do.”
The two games against Division II teams were late throwins after Austin Peay backed out of a scheduled home-and-home series.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @gene henleytfp.