It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for the sixth-ranked Chattanooga Mocs. Next up is No. 24 Furman on Saturday in Greenville. The Mocs and No. 13 Samford lead the SoCon race at 4-0, while the Paladins and last week’s opposition Mercer (#16) are a half-game back at 4-1.
It’s the first time playing back-to-back ranked opponents since 2017 with a 23-21 win at No. 8 Samford followed by a 24-21 OT defeat at No. 8 Wofford. The matchup features one of the stoutest run defenses in the nation – Chattanooga (No. 7-86.0 ypg) – against one of the most prolific rushing attacks – Furman (No. 10-229.1 ypg).
Saturday’s broadcast is the Ingles SoCon Game of the Week aired on Nexstar stations in the Carolinas and on ESPN+. Kickoff is at 2 p.m.
Team Record SoCon Stats Perform Top 25 Coaches Top 25
Chattanooga 6-1 4-0 7 6
Furman 6-2 4-1 24 RV
MEDIA
TV – Ingles SoCon Game of the Week/ESPN3: Pete Yanity (pbp) & Jared Singleton (analysis)
Radio – Mocs Sports Network: 96.1 FM, 100.3 FM & 1070 AM – Jim Reynolds (PxP), Todd Agne (Analysis) & Will Poindexter (Sideline). Also available online at GoMocs.com.
Listen Live – Radio broadcast is available for free online at GoMocs.com & on the Varsity Network App
COACHES
Chattanooga: Rusty Wright (Chattanooga ’96) | UTC: 21-14 (4th) | Career: Same | vs. Furman: 2-1
Furman: Clay Hendrix (Furman ’86) | Furman: 37-25 (6th) | Career: Same | vs. UTC: 3-2
SERIES
Game: 52nd | Record: 21-30 | H: 9-18 | A: 12-12 | SoCon: 16-29 | Last 5: 2-3 | Streak: +2
LAST MEETING
13-3 win last October in Chattanooga
157 yards of total offense allowed…third time giving up 200 or fewer (90 at UNA/200 at Samford) for the season and just 357 over the last two weeks (200 at Samford).
Devonnsha Maxwell record 1.5 tackles for loss becoming the third Moc to eclipse 40.0 for his career (40.5).
Ailym Ford’s 108 yards put him over the 2,000-yard mark with 2,009 for his career.
QUOTABLE
QB Preston Hutchinson on the challenge of Furman’s defense:
“They’re a disciplined, stout defense. They’re not going to have a lot of missed assignments and a bunch of errors. They’re well-coached, they fly around and get to the ball so just we got to be the same way offensively. We can’t have any mistakes.”
DT Devonnsha Maxwell on following up one big matchup with another:
“That’s every week in our league. Win or lose, you have to put the last game behind you and come in the next week understanding we’re 0-0. Last weekend was fun, and we enjoyed it, but you have to focus on the next one. There’s no looking back.”
3 NOTES TO KNOW
4-0 SoCon start for the Mocs for the first time since 2016. Last time 5-0? 2015. It’s happened twice before in the program’s 45 previous seasons in the SoCon: 2014 (7-0), 2015 (5-0).
Top 10 defense nationally in rushing (7th, 86.0) and scoring (8th, 16.4). 4th in tackles for loss (8.4) and 9th in first downs allowed (105).
Seven “explosive plays” of 20 or more yards in the win over Mercer with six by air and two on the ground. The longest was Preston Hutchinson’s 53-yard connection with Sam Phillips. There have been 33 through seven games (4.7/game) with Ailym Ford’s 10 (7 rush/3 pass) leading the way.
This article is comprised of information and media from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletics department. For more sports, news, and entertainment, follow us on Twitter @SESNsports or like our page on Facebook.
