Chattanooga Mocs finding some much needed stability on football field
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (BVM) — Over the past 18 months, everyone has been on a journey worthy of being told as a story. The Chattanooga Mocs football team isn’t exempt from this qualification.
Just to recap, the Mocs started and finished the 2020 fall campaign playing just one game. In a contest at Western Kentucky, the Mocs lost 16-13 on a controversial fair catch call with 1:09 left in the game. The fall FCS season was canceled soon after and rescheduled to the spring due to pandemic concerns.
UTC played four games in the spring, resulting in being named the No. 9 ranked team in the country. However, on March 27 against Mercer, head coach Rusty Wright decided to play all freshmen and sophomores in hopes of developing talent for the fall, a move he had been transparent about during the weeks prior. The following Monday the Mocs would opt out of the rest of the spring season entirely, hoping to return to normalcy in the fall.
While things have been trending in that direction, UTC has still had to deal with its fair share of uncertainty.
For starters, they opened this season against Austin Peay with senior Drayton Arnold starting at quarterback. Arnold finished the game completing 11 of 26 pass attempts with a touchdown and two interceptions. The Mocs lost 30-20.
In game two, UTC turned to junior quarterback Cole Copeland who has been the starter ever since. Copeland, while a junior, is hardly the experienced option. After starting six games as a freshman in 2017, Copeland was suspended for the 2018 season and left the program, only to return to the Mocs in the spring of 2020.
Since the quarterback switch, UTC has gone 2-1 with wins against North Alabama and Western Carolina. The lone loss was a hard-fought game against Kentucky that saw the Mocs leading in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats are now the No. 16 ranked FBS team.
With each game that passes, Copeland and the Mocs seem to be returning more and more to that normalcy that they desired. This normalcy has even spread to the way UTC plays.
The Mocs are very much a good ole’ smash-mouth team. They rank first in the Southern Conference in yards allowed per game at 305 and rank fourth in rushing at 187.5 yards per game. A team that hangs their hat on defense and running the football is sure to make any old-school coach smile.
Chattanooga came into the season ranked No. 18 in the FCS. That ranking has been erased thanks to their two losses. However, if the Mocs have shown anything during this 18-month journey it’s that they are a resilient bunch. A good showing the next couple of Saturdays could boost them right back up the rankings.
This Saturday’s upcoming game against VMI smells like a trap game for UTC. Coming off a dominating win against Western Carolina, with No. 12 ranked ETSU the following weekend, it would be easy to overlook the upcoming contest against middle-of-the-pack VMI.
Luckily for UTC, it looks like a matchup they are poised to exploit. The Keydets give up 290 yards on the ground per game. Wright is going to be licking his chops tonight at the thought of unleashing his running attack against this VMI squad.
To avoid the aforementioned trap game, the Mocs should have their eyes solely focused on this weekend. Assuming UTC and ETSU win this weekend, the following Saturday will most certainly be one of the most important Southern Conference games of the last couple of years.
Both teams are bitter rivals that have playoff aspirations that could be made or broken in this game. The Mocs wanted a return to normalcy. What could be more normal than a high-stakes football game in the middle of October? Be careful what you wish for, UTC.
