CLINTON, S.C. - Well, that streak is over.
The eighth-ranked University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team racked up 400 yards of offense and controlled most of the game in a 21-0 win over Presbyterian in front of 3,582 Saturday night at Bailey Memorial Field. The win was the Mocs' third straight, as well as the first on the road at night in the Russ Huesman era, snapping a five-loss streak.
"I didn't even know that," Huesman said. "I don't think about those things at all, but I'm glad we got the win. It's a tough place to play here."
Quarterback Jacob Huesman finished with 239 yards of total offense - including 132 yards rushing - and had both a rushing and a passing touchdown for the second consecutive game.
The Mocs defense limited the Blue Hose (1-3) to 117 yards of total offense and forced a pair of turnovers, each of which led to touchdowns. Keionta Davis had three sacks, two pass breakups and a quarterback hurry, while Josh Freeman had a sack, two tackles for loss and a pair of pass breakups.
Toyvian Brand had a 44-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, which put the game away. It was his first touchdown since his senior year of high school.
It was also an exciting moment for the defensive linemen, who were credited with their second interception of the season. Vantrel McMillan had a pickoff that sealed UTC's victory at Samford last week.
"My first thought was 'Run!'" defensive end Keionta Davis said. "I was looking for somebody to block, but there were already some guys downfield and he (Brand) was going faster than I thought he was going to go.
"I was surprised; he did a lot better than me."
Davis had an interception during the 2014 season against Furman. His return netted 8 yards.
After 109 yards of offense in the first half, the Blue Hose had 8 in the second half, averaging 0.4 yard on 18 plays. They finished with seven first downs for the game.
In the Mocs' last two games the defense has allowed 132 yards on 58 carries, with 10 sacks.
"We're getting better, and that's what matters," Freeman said. "Our effort is better every week, and we're doing things better we didn't do the previous week and getting better every day, every week. I think after the Mars Hill game we were embarrassed. We weren't happy at all with our performance, so we've made it a point to come out and dominate games."
The UTC offense, which has averaged 456.7 total yards in the last three games, had 265 in the first half Saturday night and benefited from the defense's strong play. Freeman forced a fumble in the game's first possession, and it was recovered by Davis. Three plays later, Jacob Huesman rushed around the right side and fought his way to the end zone.
The Mocs doubled their lead as the second quarter began, when Huesman passed to a wide-open Xavier Borishade streaking down the right sideline for a 38-yard score.
The Mocs became conservative in the second half but still finished with 293 yards rushing, their third consecutive game with at least 250 on the ground.
Presbyterian was led offensively by former Ridgeland High School standout Darrell Bridges. The sophomore running back had 91 yards on 12 carries, with all but 7 of those yards coming in the first half. The Blue Hose's 33 plays that didn't involve Bridges netted the team 26 yards, or 0.8 yard per play.
"Our defense gets a lot of credit for how they played," Coach Huesman said. "Offensively, we got really conservative in the second half, but we were playing good enough 'D' that we didn't want to give them a chance.
"I'm proud of our whole football team. I'm proud of what we did today."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.
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