Football Mocs turn focus to first foe

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During a morning practice at Scrappy Moore Field on Saturday, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team finally turned its attention to season-opening opponent South Florida.

The Mocs and Bulls, who meet this Saturday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, actually have some things in common. Both teams run spread offenses and play with four up front on defense. UTC and USF are also coming off disappointing seasons -- the Mocs went 5-6, the Bulls 5-7 -- in which each team lost numerous close games.

"Sometimes it's easy [to use the scout team] when the offenses and defenses are similar, and you can get better situations going," UTC coach Russ Huesman said, adding that the first-team offense and defense needed to be reminded that going against the scout team isn't the same as a walkthrough.

UTC did a limited amount of scout-team work, and the first day using the scout team (comprised mostly of freshmen and walk-ons) is seldom super sharp.

"It's the first day of scout team, so it's a little bit all over the place, but at least we're starting to get people in the right position," defensive coordinator Adam Fuller said.

South Florida has a new defensive coordinator in Chris Cosh, who joined the Bulls after three seasons running the defense at Kansas State. He's also been the coordinator at Maryland, South Carolina and Illinois.

"I don't know if they really know what we're doing or if we really know what they're doing," offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said.

Satterfield added that the Bulls' defense is fast and physical. It's not just the defense that shows impressive speed, Huesman said.

"They can run. That's the glaring deal right there -- they can run," he said. "They've got a lot of team speed."

Just stop talking

The scout-team period got off to a rocky start, leading to Satterfield going apoplectic on the sideline, and Huesman eventually had everyone stop for a moment. He began the period again.

"How do you win close games? How do you finish games? Don't panic as a coach and start screaming and yelling. That's what I was doing, and [the players] were starting to panic," Satterfield said. "There was a tipping point where we could have gone here or here [up or down], and we shut up and made a rule that we weren't going to talk the rest of the day."

What followed, with the offense communicating via its signals and signs, was among the best stretches of practice the offense has had, Satterfield said.

"When we shut up, I thought that was the best we looked from a tempo standpoint the whole camp," he said.

Surprise!

Mocs running back Marquis Green said he and the team greatly enjoyed the surprise day off Huesman gave the squad Friday. Instead of two hours of work at Scrappy, the team went swimming.

"That was the greatest surprise I've had in a long time!" Green said. "That was crazy."

The Mocs practice at 8 a.m. today and will be off Monday.

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