Glenville added to UTC schedule

Barring a surprise twist, Division II Glenville State will be on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team's schedule for the second time in four seasons.

UTC reached a verbal agreement with Glenville State this week -- the paperwork's on it's way -- to play next season on Sept. 15, the date that became open when Presbyterian backed out of its scheduled game against the Mocs due to a conflict with Vanderbilt.

"We couldn't find another [Football Championship Subdivision] opponent that met our needs on that date," athletic director Rick Hart said Wednesday. "And by that I mean either a home-and-home or a one-off to pay them some money. ... We just couldn't get anything else lined up and we didn't want to wait any longer. We had the opportunity to go ahead and send a contract to Glenville, so we have."

Presbyterian paid UTC $50,000 for having to cancel its trip to Chattanooga -- the second half of a home-and-home series -- and UTC will pass that money on to Glenville State, Hart said.

Hart said UTC had difficulty finding a home-and-home with an FCS team that didn't require too much travel. There were also problems getting dates to synch up even when UTC offered to play on its open date on Oct. 6.

It was expected that the Southeastern Conference's expansion, which caused Presbyterian's schedule change, would have a trickle-down effect to more FCS teams in the Southeast. But that didn't happen, which left UTC with fewer options.

Russ Huesman's first game as the Mocs' head coach was against Glenville State, on Sept. 5, 2009 -- UTC won 30-13. Huesman prefers not to play D-II opponents because a win doesn't count toward playoff eligibility, but he said this was the Mocs' best option under the circumstances.

Huesman was actively involved with senior associate athletic director Matt Pope in the scheduling process -- a process that was more difficult that he expected.

"Games are hard to come by, man," he said. "I'm a rookie coach here and I'm just now figuring this out. When I showed up they had [2009], '10, '11 all figured out, they were done, and now Matt's in my office and I'm in his office -- it's hard."

The Pioneers, from Glenville, W.Va., play in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; they went 5-6 in 2011. Before hosting Glenville State, UTC will open the season with road games at South Florida and Jacksonville State. This is the final year of the Jacksonville State series and Hart said there are no plans to renew it in the near future.

Playing a non-Division I program is far from uncommon among Southern Conference programs -- Wofford, Elon, Georgia Southern and Samford all did so in 2011 -- but it does make qualifying for the playoffs more difficult.

The Mocs will have to win seven of their 10 games against Division I opponents, which won't be easy for a program that hasn't won seven games in a season since 1997.

"I would hope we think we can win every game," Huesman said. "I hate to say this but people go in thinking, all right let's get six conference wins, let's get this one, let's get that one and then here we are.

"I'd hope we're thinking, let's win a conference championship."