Mocs’ desire to win is obvious after defeat
Javin Whatley sat in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga media room at Finley Stadium on Saturday night, still attempting to process the emotional roller coaster of the Mocs’ 52-50 loss to Western Carolina.
On one hand, Whatley had just put together the best singlegame yardage performance in UTC history. On the other hand, the Mocs lost.
The 5-foot-10, 169-pound redshirt sophomore had 231 receiving yards on 10 catches in the loss, the fifth-best total in school history and the first 200-plusyard receiving performance by a UTC player since Bryce Nunnelly had 268 against The Citadel in 2018. Whatley also had 116 yards on five kickoff returns and a 6-yard carry that eventually led to one of his four touchdown catches, which tied him with Terrell Owens for the second most in a game in school history (Owens had four against Marshall in 1994, with Cos DeMatteo’s six against Mississippi Valley State in 2000 the record).
“We knew there was a matchup issue on their safety,” UTC coach Rusty Wright said. “We knew there was going to be a problem with their safety and him, and we were able to get some shots and get some stuff done with him. We liked that matchup going into it, and you know, he’s a good player. He makes good things happen and gave us a chance.”
With a total of 353 on Saturday, Whatley set a school record for all-purpose yardage.
But it came in a loss. And that’s what matters to Whatley.
“There’s a lot of mixed emotions,” said Whatley, a Freshman All-American last year who this season ranks eighth in the Football Championship Subdivision in receiving yards per game (91.0) and is tied for second in touchdowns with six. “You put up a good performance, but at the end of the day it doesn’t mean anything because you want to win.”
Mocs quarterback Chase Artopoeus, who also had a pretty historic game by passing for 399 yards and five touchdowns but threw a couple poorly timed interceptions, said he’d be “lying if he didn’t see the positives” about UTC’s offensive performance. The Moc did finish with a season-high 543 yards on that side of the, bouncing
back from a week prior, when the offense was pretty lethargic in a 23-13 road win against the Wofford Terriers.
His passing yardage against the Catamounts tied for the seventh most in a game by a UTC player with Chris Sanders, who also passed for 399 yards against Western Carolina in 1999 and has five of the top seven passing yardage performances in Mocs history. The five touchdown passes by Artopoeus matched B.J. Coleman (versus Elon in 2010) and Cedric Stevens (versus Appalachian State in 2004); three players share the UTC record with six touchdown passes.
“I think a lot of us were down about that performance (at Wofford), and I think we did answer back with a better performance up to our standards,” Artopoeus said. “Unfortunately, the end result was a loss, and on the stat sheet it counts as a loss. It is tough to see the bright in certain times like this when it was kind of dark.”
Winning is what matters to this team.
Wright and Whatley described what was a pretty solemn and stunned locker room, one with a team hurting from a loss in a game it briefly felt it had won. With the Mocs seeking the program’s first playoff berth since reaching the second round in 2016, they’re also trying to put some distance between themselves and how recent seasons ended — from opting out with games still on the schedule in spring 2021, to some players essentially checking out that fall after a late loss cost UTC a share of the Southern Conference title, to losing three of the “A month ago we were dead. Now we’re sitting here at 4-2 and 3-1 in the league with, I think, a pretty good football team. We’ve got an opportunity to keep playing and go finish this thing out.”
— UTC FOOTBALL COACH RUSTY WRIGHT
final four games a year ago after a 6-1 start.
There were reasons in all cases, but the results are undeniable, and that’s something this team is fighting against where wins get dissected and losses mean the end of everything. Those are pretty high expectations for a program with an alltime .489 winning percentage as a Division I member (250-264-4), but that’s what this team wants.
Knowing those are lofty standards doesn’t make anything easier for the Mocs if or when they fall short.
“A month ago we were dead,” Wright said, referring to a season-opening 41-27 loss at North Alabama. “Now we’re sitting here at 4-2 and 3-1 in the league with, I think, a pretty good football team. We’ve got an opportunity to keep playing and go finish this thing out. If we had won today, we were going to show back up for work tomorrow or Monday and try and get it figured out.
“I know they’re hurting, and they’ve got every right to be, but we’re sitting here 3-1 in the league and I’ve got a feeling this league is going to get crazy before it’s over, so we have to just keep playing and keep yourself alive in it.”
UTC visits Mercer (4-1, 2-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Five Star Stadium in Macon, Georgia.