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UTC has return to FCS playoffs in sight with SoCon surge

Staff photo by Robin Rudd / UTC football coach Rusty Wright talks to players before the season opener against Austin Peay on Sept. 2 at Finley Stadium. The Mocs lost that night as part of a 2-3 start, but they have won four straight since then and are in contention for the SoCon title with two games remaining in the regular season.
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / UTC football coach Rusty Wright talks to players before the season opener against Austin Peay on Sept. 2 at Finley Stadium. The Mocs lost that night as part of a 2-3 start, but they have won four straight since then and are in contention for the SoCon title with two games remaining in the regular season. Staff photo by Robin Rudd / UTC football coach Rusty Wright talks to players before the season opener against Austin Peay on Sept. 2 at Finley Stadium. The Mocs lost that night as part of a 2-3 start, but they have won four straight since then and are in contention for the SoCon title with two games remaining in the regular season.

By Gene Henley 3 min read

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga continued its surge in Southern Conference football with Saturday’s 35-10 win at Wofford.

The Mocs (6-3, 5-1) have their first four-game winning streak since stringing together five victories over a two-year span in their last game of 2017 and their first four of 2018, when they finished with a 6-5 record for the program’s most recent winning season.

With wins in their final two regular-season games – against Mercer (6-2, 5-1) at 3 p.m. Saturday in Macon, Georgia, and against The Citadel (2-7, 1-5) on Nov. 20 at Finley Stadium – the Mocs would clinch the SoCon’s automatic bid for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs and advance to the postseason for the first time since 2016.

Here are three observations about the current streak.

Defense ballin’: In the past three games, the Mocs have allowed an average of 62.3 passing yards and 100 rushing yards, with Samford’s offense – which leads the SoCon in scoring – the only one in that stretch to reach the end zone, and the Bulldogs did so only once. The Furman and Wofford offenses aren’t exactly prolific, but Furman did just score 42 points against Western Carolina on Saturday, a week after managing only a field goal against UTC.