In a game lacking offensive positives for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Bingo Morton was a bright spot.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound junior finished with three catches for a career-high 75 yards. Also a career record was his 59-yard catch and run, the lone touchdown in the Mocs' 21-7 loss to UT-Martin at Finley Stadium on Saturday.
Morton, long thought of as a potential breakout player for the Mocs, put himself in position to do so with a strong spring, which culminated in a strong spring game and a good preseason.
In addition to his touchdown grab, his other two catches resulted in first downs for a team that finished with only seven of them against the Skyhawks.
"Bingo continues to show up," UTC coach Tom Arth said. "The opportunities he gets he continues to take advantage of, and I hope that we can continue to get him involved in the game and get him some more opportunities, because I think he can be a really good player for us."
Morton said when he came out of his break on the touchdown grab, he received a "great ball" from quarterback Nick Tiano and was able to coast into the end zone.
"It was a bunch formation and I was the inside guy," Morton said. "The line had great protection and I was able to make a play."
The offense's struggles continued Saturday. The Mocs didn't get a first down until the third quarter and didn't run a play on UT-Martin's end of the field until their 32nd play of the game and third of the fourth quarter.
For the season they are averaging 10 points, 50 yards rushing and 228.7 total yards per game.
"There are just a lot of mistakes we're making ourselves, mental mistakes," Morton said. "It's a lot of things that can be fixed over time with practice. We've made strides; we've still got everything ahead of us with conference play coming up.
"We can still make big things happen."
Notes
UTC sophomore linebacker Michael Bean had a career-high six tackles. Running back Darrell Bridges went out with an injury in the second half and didn't return. The Mocs had 6 rushing yards, their third consecutive game under 100 rushing this season.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.