Keionta Davis is hungry.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive lineman has gone consecutive games without a sack, and after a league-high 8.5 in the Mocs' first six games, Davis is more than ready for another one.
He and the rest of the Mocs' defense - the best in every major statistical category in the Southern Conference - will look for opportunities today when UTC takse on Mercer at 4 p.m. at Five Star Stadium in Macon, Ga.
"It's been a while. A long while," said Davis, who this week was added to the FCS STATS watch list for national defensive player of the year. "I'm ready to get back at it. We just have to keep working in position to get sacks, but we're ready for more chances to get them."
The Bears have allowed only eight sacks this season, which ranks No. 14 in the Football Championship Subdivision. All of those sacks have come in their four conference games, including four allowed against The Citadel last week in a 21-19 loss in Charleston, S.C.
"The bottom line is that we've got to stay within the chains," Mercer coach Bobby Lamb said this week. "If we stay within the chains, we'll have opportunities, but if we get behind the chains, it's going to be a long day for us because their front four puts so much pressure on an offense to perform.
"Defensively, they've been as good as they always have been."
Mercer features a balanced offense that averages 210.8 yards rushing and 226.6 per game passing. The rushing totals per game rank No. 22 in the nation. Their 437.4 yards per game rank 24th, and quarterback John Russ hasn't thrown an interception since a 34-6 loss to Wofford on Nov. 22, 2014 - a span of 228 passes - so getting pressure and trying to disrupt the three-year starter's flow will be important for the Mocs.
"It doesn't matter how spread out a game gets, you still win or lose football games up front," UTC defensive coordinator Adam Braithwaite said. "It's important if you expect to win a football game that you win there. Their quarterback does a great job of getting rid of the football on time. He doesn't take sacks, he doesn't throw interceptions and he's a good decision maker, so we've got to find a way to disrupt them, but we have to cover them up, too."
Last year the Bears had 440 yards of total offense in a 38-31 loss to UTC, which was the Mocs' closest game in conference play all season. The Mocs led by 21 points with six minutes to go in the third quarter, but Mercer came back to cut the lead to a touchdown by the end of the period.
The UTC coaching staff put reminders in the lockers of the defenders about that game, with a picture of the scoreboard depicting the point and yardage totals allowed.
"That definitely left a bad taste in our mouths," Davis said. "With how we played last year and how we've played this year, we feel we were a lot better defense than that. We want to have a stronger performance and keep our momentum going forward."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.