UTC has happy homecoming

photo UTC's Richardre Bagley (#23) gains yardage against VMI during their game in Chattanooga on Oct. 4, 2014.

So much for Southern hospitality.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga continued a rude welcome back to the Southern Conference for VMI with a thoroughly dominating 55-7 win in front of a homecoming crowd of 8,848 at Finley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Led by quarterback Jacob Huesman's best performance of the season, the No. 14 Mocs snapped a two-game losing streak to VMI, which returned to the SoCon this season after an 11-year absence.

Huesman threw for 178 yards, tied a career-high with four touchdown passes and ran for 97 yards and two more scores. The junior became the first player in program history to surpass 4,000 passing and 2,000 rushing yards in a career.

"I'm really honored to be in that discussion. That's a pretty good stat to have next to your name because we've had some really good players come through here," Huesman said. "I didn't even realize that was close to happening until the end of the game today when someone told me.

"We're always trying to get better as an offense. Standing here looking at the scoreboard and thinking back on it, I feel like we played pretty well offensively. We're feeling a lot more confident over these last few weeks."

In starting 2-0 in the SoCon for the first time since 1984, the Mocs (3-2 overall) outgained the Keydets 555-165 in total yards, shutting down the SoCon's top passing attack. VMI threw for only 112 yards, 44 of which came on the game's final drive with UTC's defensive reserves on the field. Prior to that last drive, VMI had fewer than 100 total yards.

The Mocs defense had four sacks -- two by All-America end Davis Tull -- six tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hurries and an interception.

"Our (defensive) front came with a lot of preseason hype and we're trying to live up to that," said Tull, who now has 31.5 career sacks, five away from the league record. "Sometimes that's tough to do when people know about you and scheme for you. We're trying to prove we're as good as people think we are.

"I thought we did a good job early on getting after them."

By halftime UTC had built a 34-0 lead and had outgained the Keydets 325-41 in total yards.

The UTC offense stammered in its first two possessions, but facing fourth-and-3 at the VMI 35, the Mocs faked a punt and Taharin Tyson gained 13. Three plays later Huesman hit Derrick Craine on a screen that turned into a 23-yard TD.

C.J. Board returned a punt 41 yards to set up the offense's second score, a 36-yard drive capped by Huesman's 6-yard TD run. After the second of what would be seven three-and-outs UTC's defense forced, Huesman hit Board on a 26-yard scoring pass and the rout was on. Senior tight end Faysal Shafaat added two TD catches before halftime, covering 17 and 18 yards as the Mocs scored on each of their last five first-half possessions. The Mocs added TDs on their first two second half possessions as well.

"Good win. Right now our program is in a little bit better shape than theirs," UTC coach Russ Huesman said. "We've got some marquee players on our team that made some plays today. I think we got better again on offense today.

"They didn't have time to make some of the throws they wanted to throw. Nothing against them, but we've got some pretty good guys rushing the passer. I thought we did a great job defending the pass today. It was a good day."

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.

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