Moments after Tom Arth’s University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team improved to 6-2 with a 34-27 victory Saturday over Virginia Military Institute, a local reporter started a question to the coach about his offense, which the reporter said had been “criticized for not being very efficient” this season.
“You know what? We scored 34 points today,” Arth fired back, essentially shutting down the thought.
The Mocs also gained 386 yards – the most in their past five games – in rising to 4-2 in Southern Conference play. The offense showed its explosiveness early, with quarterback Nick Tiano passing to Bryce Nunnelly in stride for a 64-yard catch and run in the first quarter. But as the game wore on, it appeared that VMI’s tempo had started to wear on the UTC defense, causing the offense to slow its pace and attempt longer possessions.
VMI has averaged 32.2 points per game in its last six.
The plan worked, with the Mocs grinding out touchdown drives of 8:34, 8:10 and 6:21.
“Our identity showed up in the second half,” said Nunnelly, who had 130 yards receiving and is now 47 yards from becoming the fourth receiver in UTC history to surpass 1,000 yards in a season. “If you look at the time of possession, we were on the field for a long time, converting third downs and fourth downs. That was huge in keeping their offense off the field.
“If we keep that up and the defense does their job because they’re getting the rest they need, that works out well.”
The rushing attack has been an issue and Saturday was no different, although there were sparks, as there have been most of the season. The Mocs finished with 101 yards on the ground – improving to 5-0 when they top that mark – and scored three times on runs, a season high.
Tyrell Price totaled only 44 yards but had a pair of scores. Tiano had 40 yards and Alex Trotter added 21, including his first collegiate rushing score on a 19-yard gain, UTC’s only double-digit run of the game.
“We do have the ability to go on long drives and grind out first downs, but when you’re able to hit that big play, when you’re able to hit Bryce for a 60-yard touchdown, it does a lot for your team and you’re able to take a deep breath for about 30 seconds on the sideline,” Arth said.
“People talk about being balanced, but what we want to do is what gives us the best chance to be successful. What we care more about is running the ball when we want to run the ball, and at times we ran well, but we struggled to consistently dominate the line of scrimmage and consistently gain positive yards and keep ourselves in favorable situations on second and third down.
“We have to keep hammering it, keep working it, but the thing about it is not every run is going to be a 10-yard gain. Not every run is going to be a 4-yard gain, but if stay committed to it, you’ll eventually start to wear the defense down.”
The second half became more about the Mocs establishing that identity, being effective rushing the ball (77 yards on 22 carries) and using that threat to go over the top in the passing game, which had been established in the first half when Tiano threw for 188 of his 285 yards. With the more balanced attack, the Mocs were able to hit on some of those downfield throws that had been missing in recent weeks.
In addition to the Nunnelly touchdown connection, Tiano was able to hook up with Price for a 25-yard gain on a screen pass, Joseph Parker for a 21-yard gain and Wil Young for a pair of 17-yard completions.
The primary receiving trio of Nunnelly, Parker and Young combined for 14 catches for 227 yards, one of their best group efforts of the season.
“We’ve got playmakers everywhere,” Tiano said. “The offensive line played great; they’re getting better every week in the run game and in the pass game. We thought we could run the ball and use that run game to create downfield passes for us. We feel when we get in a rhythm, we can do whatever we want to do.
“We can take what the defense gives us and move the ball downfield.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.