The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football defense was carved up last Saturday by Furman.
It hasn't happened much this season, but the Mocs failed to have an answer for the Paladins' option-rushing attack, which was spearheaded by quarterback P.J. Blazejowski. Furman gained 292 yards on the ground, the most the Mocs allowed all season, and had 441 yards of total offense.
"They dominated the line of scrimmage," UTC coach Tom Arth said. "They came off the ball, had a lot of movement up front and did a great job of knocking us back. We'd make some good stick tackles, and everything was falling forward for another 2-3 yards. I felt like every run was 4-6 yards at a time.
"We didn't defend as well as we'd hoped."
Before going out of the game with an injury, Blazejowski did a great job of keeping the UTC defense off balance with his decision-making. He ran for 51 yards on seven carries. When he pitched to Darius Morehead, the latter did his job, with 47 yards on six totes. Handoffs to Antonio Wilcox netted 64 yards and a score.
And of course, there was 6-foot, 244-pound Kealand Dirks, who slammed into the line again and again and again, to the tune of 101 yards on 19 carries. His best asset was falling forward, with defensive linemen usually hitting him at the line of scrimmage but Dirks gaining yardage anyway.
"Their offense is in a good place," said UTC defensive lineman Taylor Reynolds, who was in on 10 tackles. "They came out and had a great plan; they just kept trying to punch us in the mouth with the dive. The running back played well; there were a couple of times I was right there at him and he fell forward for a couple more yards. It was different than what we've seen in the past from Furman.
"We've just got to keep improving. That's the bottom line."
The Paladins had only one negative-yardage run Saturday, a 2-yard loss by backup quarterback Harris Roberts, when defensive tackle Derek Mahaffey blew up the play in the backfield and linebacker T.J. Jenkins came in and made the stop.
After starting the season strong defensively, the Mocs have given up 86 points, 514 yards rushing and 833 yards of total offense in lopsided Southern Conference losses to Western Carolina and Furman. Next up is a road game at Mercer, which just went on the road and defeated then-17th-ranked The Citadel 24-14, holding the Bulldogs scoreless until the fourth quarter.
UTC defensive lineman Isaiah Mack, who matched Reynolds and linebacker Tavon Lawson with 10 tackles, spoke about the defense Saturday, but he could have been talking about the team in general when he spoke of the collective psyche after their second straight big loss.
"I feel like we're still here, but there's a lot of stuff we need to work on," Mack said. "It's just a matter of time before we start clicking all together. We still have a chance; we kind of play better on the road, less distractions.
"All we can do is go up. We can't do down."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.