Now, it seems, the fun begins for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on the football field.
Mocs coach Rusty Wright went with experience in his team’s first two games of the spring semester schedule, Southern Conference wins over Wofford (24-13 on Feb. 27 at Finley Stadium) and The Citadel (25-24 on Saturday in Charleston, South Carolina). That was especially true for the latter game with UTC forced to limit the number of players who made the trip.
But Wright has been adamant since the announcement of the eight-game spring schedule that he considers this time better used for development rather than attempting to earn accolades. So while the Mocs’ No. 18 national ranking in the Football Championship Subdivision – which could improve this week – is nice, it’s not his primary goal for this season.
The Mocs, who are 2-1 overall in 2020-21, have an open date this week before returning to competition March 20 at Furman. It’s quite possible the traveling roster looks different at that time.
“We’re getting ready to throw some more young guys in there the next couple of weeks and see what happens,” Wright said Saturday on the postgame radio broadcast. “We’re going to see what happens to them and give some of these older guys a break. We’re going to grow this football team.”