MACON, Ga. - The walk back to the locker room was another long, quiet one for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team.
Some heads were down, while other players - such as injured quarterback Alejandro Bennifield - remained positive, offering encouragement to teammates after another frustrating result.
The Mocs sustained their third consecutive loss, 30-10 to Mercer in front of an announced attendance of 9,864 at Five Star Stadium. Mercer improved to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the Southern Conference, while the Mocs fell to 1-6 and 1-3.
A week after allowing 292 yards rushing to Furman, the UTC defense had a much better performance, holding the Bears to half their season average in rushing (84 on 35 carries), but allowed 232 yards passing and a pair of first-half scores to redshirt freshman quarterback Kaelan Riley from Calhoun High School.
The offense had a solid start, with true freshman Cole Copeland leading a drive that ended in a career-long 44-yard field goal by Victor Ulmo, but after that, the Mocs had six consecutive possessions that resulted in punts and a seventh that ended in a Malique Fleming interception in the end zone.
UTC finished with 250 yards of total offense, with Copeland throwing for 206 yards. The Mocs attempted to get their rushing attack off the ground and had some success, with Darrell Bridges gaining 58 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown, but three sacks totaling 34 yards in losses knocked the total rushing yards down to 44 - the team's sixth game of the season with less than 100 yards on the ground.
"I made some bad reads, took some sacks I shouldn't have took," Copeland said. "We got behind the chains. Second-and-17 is hard to convert. It doesn't matter what kind of football you're playing, you can't take sacks.
"I put us in a bad position a couple of times."
After the Mocs took a 3-0 lead, the Bears ran off 23 consecutive points. They took advantage of some favorable matchups in coverage, with Marquise Irvin and former Calhoun standout Chandler Curtis hauling in touchdown passes of at least 20 yards. C.J. Leggett added a touchdown run and Cole Fisher a 23-yard field goal before the Mocs closed to within 23-10 on Bridges' scoring run with 6:24 to play.
After the scoring run, the Mocs attempted an onside kick that the Bears recovered in UTC territory. UTC forced a three-and-out, but Grant Goupil's punt was downed at the 1-yard line by Mercer's Eric Jackson, and after four unsuccessful plays, the Bears had the ball again inside the Mocs' 10-yard line.
Tee Mitchell scored on the first play of that possession from 6 yards out for the final tally.
Bailey Lenoir led the Mocs with six catches for 56 yards, while Joseph Parker - who had three catches total in the past four games after 12 in the first two - had three for 42. Bridges added 40 on five catches.
Derek Mahaffey led the Mocs with nine tackles, including a pair for loss, but the Mocs failed to force a turnover for the third consecutive game.
They played without quarterbacks Bennifield and Nick Tiano, running back Richardre Bagley, linebackers Tae Davis and Tavon Lawson and defensive back Markell Lawson. Defensive back C.J. Fritz and linebacker T.J. Jenkins missed time during the game with injuries but returned.
"We've faced some incredible challenges," UTC coach Tom Arth said. "We continue to face challenges, and it continues to get harder and it continues to get tougher for us. It's hard to explain; I don't have the answers, but we're going through this and it's testing us. It's testing every single one of us - testing our character, testing our resolve.
"I've told our seniors, right now we're in a tough spot. Mathematically, you never know what happens, but we've put ourselves in a bad spot. It can be one of two things: We're either going to build a foundation on this floor we've hit and they're part of that legacy, or they're not, because we're going to get it right.
"We will get it right. We've got enough guys that we're going to get it right and it's going to make us tougher. Everything we're going through here is going to make us stronger, make us closer and we will get it right, and they have a choice to be a part of it or not be a part of it. And I feel very strongly that they'll continue to be the same guys they've been and continue to fight through this and leave an incredible legacy behind them, which in the win-loss column may not be much, but what they have the opportunity to build I think is really special."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.