Mocs seek more TDs

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team went 5-for-5 in the red zone last Saturday in the Mocs' 24-20 win over Western Carolina. Converting on all five drives deep into Catamounts territory looks very good, but four of those five trips resulted in field goals.

"You're scoring when you get down there, but still, it's an empty feeling," UTC offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said. "If you convert on two of those four, it's not even a close game."

The Mocs are seventh in the Southern Conference in red-zone offense, having scored on 23 of 29 drives that reached the opponent's 20-yard line. Of those 23 conversions, UTC (5-3, 3-3) has scored 16 touchdowns, including Chris Awuah's 6-yard run to beat the Catamounts.

Coming away with three points is better than nothing, but field goals aren't going to beat the best teams in the SoCon.

At No. 6 Elon last month, the Mocs got an interception on the first play from scrimmage and started their first possession at the Elon 29. They drove as far as the 9 before having to settle for a field goal.

The Mocs lost 45-10, but the game might have gone a different way had UTC been able to get into the end zone, take a 7-0 lead and put some pressure on the Phoenix.

When UTC plays Saturday at No. 8 Appalachian State (6-2, 5-0), coach Russ Huesman said the Mocs have to find the end zone to have a chance against the Mountaineers, who lead the nation in total offense (513 yards per game) and are second in scoring (39 ppg).

"We're going to have to move the football and we're going to have to score touchdowns," he said. "They're just so good on offense that it's going to be ... it won't be a shootout because there's no way we can score enough to make it a shootout.

"We're going to have to play lights-out on defense, we're going to have to have some luck, they're going to have to help us out (with mistakes), and obviously when we do get in the red zone we're going to have to score touchdowns."

The Mocs scored four red-zone touchdowns in their 38-9 win over Wofford on Sept. 26. In UTC's four games since then, it has gone 11-for-11 in the red zone, but only four of those 11 scores were touchdowns.

Part of the problem has been the Mocs' lack of a running game, which has forced them to throw for scores. There also have been some drops in the end zone. Blue Cooper caught a career-high 16 balls against Western Carolina, but he dropped a pass in the back of the end zone that would have given UTC the lead early in the fourth quarter.

"Is it something to worry about? Yeah, any time you're not scoring touchdowns and you got four opportunities down there, you really have to worry about it," Satterfield said. "We'll just keep grinding away and hopefully the momentum will shift, we'll have a full moon and go 4-for-4 in the red zone with touchdowns instead of field goals."