Five days from today. That's all that remains between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs and the start of their 2015 football season.
Five days from today, these (hopefully) Mighty Mocs open what many believe could be the first national championship season in school history by hosting visiting Jacksonville State.
Five days from today, that showdown between the No. 8 (Mocs) and No. 7 teams in the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision will, in the words of UTC junior defensive lineman Keionta Davis, "Set the tempo for the rest of the season."
But as he stepped onto UTC's Scrappy Moore Practice Field on Sunday, Davis sounded like most college football players this time of year, his desire to hit someone other than a teammate at an all-time high.
"(The opener) feels like forever," said the Red Bank High School product. "This has been the longest month of my life. We're definitely ready to get started."
Today is the last day of the longest month of most college football fans' lives when the calendar dictates the season doesn't begin until September.
But waiting for the start of this season was always going to feel longer because of how last season ended in a playoff loss to New Hampshire in snowy New England, the Mocs knocked out in the national quarterfinals.
"By the time January arrived, we were focusing on this season," Davis said. "We want to go further this year. Jacksonville is a good way to measure how good we are."
How good the top of the FCS is this season was on display Saturday evening, when Montana upset four-time defending champ North Dakota State 38-35 on a last-second touchdown. It was just the fourth loss in the past 62 games for the Bison, and it may have been as enjoyable a game to watch as any we'll witness all season, regardless of which level of football you prefer - NFL, FBS, FCS, Pop Warner.
"Tremendous," UTC coach Russ Huesman said. "It got the juices flowing a little bit. It showed just how well we play football at the FCS level. The quality of play, the quality of coaching was just fantastic."
And though there's always a chance the Mocs could face either the Bison or the Griz in the postseason, Huesman said the game also provided an immediate benefit.
"Some things that happened in that game, you go to your staff and say, 'We've got to be prepared for that,'" Huesman said. "You do look at certain things, certain situations."
Veterans such as Davis want UTC's freshmen to understand certain things about this upcoming season before it begins.
"They talk to us a lot," said first-year running back Kyle Nalls, a freshman from Fayette, Ala., who was heavily recruited by Jax State. "They want the (Southern Conference championship) ring again this year. They want to be even better."
Five days from today, and everything seems in place to be better, possibly much better. Senior quarterback Jacob Huesman seems more than ready to make his dad a national champion-winning coach. The defense has the athletes to be special. Injuries have been few, and Coach Huesman said Sunday that he hopes to have everybody healthy for the opener.
There's also much buzz about a special crowd at Finley Stadium, maybe as many as 15,000 for a 6 p.m. kickoff despite Big Brother Tennessee beginning its season but two hours earlier a little more than two hours up I-24 in Nashville against Bowling Green.
"I hope we get a ton (of fans)," Coach Huesman said. "It makes a difference with our football team. But when it's all said and done, we've got to play a football game."
It's also worth noting that whatever happens, it's just one game. The Mocs lost to the Gamecocks to open last season, yet went on to run the table in the SoCon, earn a home playoff game (which they won) and barely lose at New Hampshire in the quarterfinals.
"What we've done after Game 11 is what's important," Huesman said six days from the start of his seventh season as head coach. "It's where you are at the end of the year."
But five days from the start of the schedule, this opener seems very important for more than the players or their head coach.
"I'm trying to find tickets," Davis said. "I need a bunch, and we only get four. I'm trying to get the freshmen to help me out."
Just don't ask Nalls.
"I'm not sure I've got enough for my family," he said.
Not having enough tickets five days from today could mean that these (hopefully) Mighty Mocs finally have enough fans in the stands to look like national championship contenders from Game One forward for the first time ever.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com