What might have been
Despite loss, Arth hopeful for Mocs
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga made mistakes in Saturday’s football season opener against Jacksonville State.
The Gamecocks made their fair share as well, but the miscues weren’t nearly as frequent or as devastating.
After the Mocs’ 27-13 loss in the Football Championship Subdivision Kickoff Classic at the Cramton Bowl, Tom Arth stood at the podium and noted, “We’re right there.”
A play here; a play there. An inch here; an inch there. Once all the inches had been tallied up, they still led to a loss in Arth’s debut as UTC’s head coach.
On defense, the Mocs’ mistakes were magnified. There was the 76-yard first-quarter touchdown run by Roc Thomas, who also had a 48-yard run on a screen pass. On the 59-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Bryant Horn to former University of South Carolina receiver Shaq Davidson, a cornerback slipped, leading to the blown coverage.
There were penalties at especially inopportune times: an offsides call that led to a first down on the Gamecocks’ first scoring drive; a personal foul in the third quarter after Thomas had been stopped for no gain.
With the Mocs on offense, it was much of the same. After a Kareem Orr interception on the Gamecocks’ third drive took the ball to the Jacksonville State 17 and Nick Tiano completed a pass to Malcolm Colvin for a 14-yard gain, a substitution infraction pushed the Mocs back and they eventually settled for a field goal.
Instead of leading 7-3 in the first quarter, they were tied.
On the Mocs’ second scoring drive, Tiano had Joseph Parker wide open on a fade route in the end zone but overthrew him. The next play, the offensive line was called for a false start and another potential touchdown drive ended in a field goal.
“They’re a good enough team on their own. We don’t need to do anything to help them, but we can clean that up,” Arth said. “That’s the exciting thing, but it’s also the frustrating thing. Our players and coaches are going to go back and look at this game, and you’re going to see the opportunities left out there, see how close we were to making that a close game and to have the opportunity to do good things.
“But that’s football, and we’ve got to be better.”
It’s what made the two-touchdown margin so frustrating for many of UTC’s players. Under different circumstances — and with better execution — the outcome might have been different even against a top-10 team returning the majority of its staff and eight defensive starters.
“They didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves,” said UTC receiver Joseph Parker, who had six catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. “That’s a great team out there, but they’re just another team and we could have easily beat them if we hadn’t gone out and shot ourselves in the foot.
“Little things are what win games. That’s what Coach Arth preaches and what I believe in.”
Notebook
The Mocs finished with 76 rushing yards, with most coming against backups in the final period. In the past four meetings with the Gamecocks, UTC has failed to reach 100 rushing yards in three of them. … Tae Davis and Tae Lawson — each playing his first game at linebacker — combined for 22 tackles. … Ooltewah product Rashun Freeman had five tackles in his first college game, which ranked fifth on the team. … After intercepting multiple passes in a game only twice during the 2016 season, the Mocs did so in the first game of 2017, with safeties Kareem Orr and Lucas Webb making the plays. … Former UTC defensive lineman Derrick Lott signing with the Detroit Lions on Sunday gave the program eight former players in the NFL: C.J. Board (Ravens), Keionta Davis (Patriots), Chris Lewis-Harris (Broncos), Jacob Huesman (Giants), Corey Levin (Titans), Davis Tull (Chargers) and Dee Virgin (Texans).
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.