It’s not grabbing leads that’s been an issue for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team this season.
It’s been maintaining them.
The Mocs have jumped out to double-digit leads in all three games. They’ve ultimately finished them on their way to a 3-0 start, but the only outcome that never was in doubt was the season opener against Tennessee Tech – a game the Mocs largely controlled but secured with a 21-0 third quarter.
Against The Citadel and UT-Martin, the Mocs took 14-0 and 20-0 leads on the road but needed overtime to defeat the Bulldogs and had to have a late stop in the red zone to preserve a 10-point margin over UTM.
“This group needs to learn how to handle that situation,” UTC coach Tom Arth said after Saturday’s win. “It’s not a situation we were in a whole lot a year ago. We’ve found ourselves in that situation a few times this season, and we have to learn how to execute and not watch the scoreboard, not watch the clock.
“We played not to lose in the second half, and doing that allowed them to come back, make some plays and make it far too interesting. I don’t know the issue, but we need to get it corrected moving forward.”
The Mocs led 34-17 after a 40-yard run by Tyrell Price with 5:26 to play in the game, but the Skyhawks responded with a 24-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open receiver and then recovered the onside kick with under two minutes to play. The home team drove downfield, but Marshall Cooper and Hawk Schrider combined for a fourth-down stop at the Mocs’ 1-yard line with 1:08 to play.
A week earlier against the Bulldogs, the Mocs didn’t score in the second half and needed a 5-yard scoring run by Price in overtime and a two-point pass from Bryce Nunnelly to Jordan Giberti to pull out the win.
“It’s just a mentality,” quarterback Nick Tiano said. “We have to erase the score of the first half. Whether we’re up 20 or down 20, we’ve got to come out and play two more quarters of football. Good teams are going to come back and beat us there.
“We’ve got to finish these games out and seal the deal on these victories.”
Yet regardless, the Mocs are off to their best start since 2016, when UTC started 6-0 but lost four of its last seven games. The 3-8 record last year was aided by a 2-1 finish and helped springboard this season’s hot start.
The 2017 Mocs upset Samford 23-21 in Birmingham. The Bulldogs, who fell from No. 9 to No. 17 in the STATS Football Championship Subdivision poll after a 30-24 loss Saturday to Mercer, play in Chattanooga this Saturday night.
“The biggest thing we’ve done is step up our mentality in the offseason,” said linebacker Schrider, who had eight tackles and two sacks and forced a fumble against the Skyhawks. “We won in the offseason. We won on Tuesday, when we prepare for our opponent. We’ve stepped up so much in terms of our intensity in practice and intensity in the offseason.
“Our start is the payoff for our work. We’re intense on Tuesdays, and hopefully this offseason pays off. We’re going to keep rolling with it.”
Schrider earned SouthernPigskin.com’s X-Factor honor for the week. The website covers the SEC, ACC and Sun Belt leagues as well as the Southern Conference.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.