The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team defeated The Citadel 31-23 to win the Southern Conference’s automatic bid to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
The eighth-ranked Mocs (8-2, 6-1) gained 489 yards of total offense, led by quarterback Jacob Huesman. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound senior, who celebrated Senior Day with eight fellow seniors and three others that won’t return to the program next season, finished with 310 yards of total offense (192 passing, 118 rushing) and two touchdowns on the day.
Derrick Craine had 82 yards rushing, putting the game away with a career-long 46-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. C.J. Board and Xavier Borishade had 116 and 107 yards receiving, respectively, becoming the first UTC duo to go over 100 yards receiving in the same game since 2008.
The Mocs had 161 yards of total offense in the first quarter and 293 in the first half. They struck on the first play of the game on a 75-yard double pass from Huesman to backup quarterback Alejandro Bennifield to a wide-open Borishade.
Huesman scored from a yard out late in the first quarter, then again from 9 yards out with a minute to play in the second quarter as the Mocs built a 21-0 lead at the break.