Mocs crunched in crunch time against JSU, 23-20

One play.

It became evident Saturday evening that the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s top-10 matchup against seventh-ranked Jacksonville State was going to come down to who could make a big play in a big moment.

The eighth-ranked Mocs didn’t. The Gamecocks did.

Miles Jones’ 1-yard plunge capped a 10-play, 79-yard drive with 2:41 to play, and the Gamecocks held on to defeat UTC 23-20 in front of 15,812 fans at Finley Stadium.

The Mocs were better offensively than in last year’s overtime loss to JSU but still had only 11 first downs and 196 yards of total offense. Quarterback Jacob Huesman was sacked four times, including the last play of the game with no timeouts and the team in need of some sort of miracle ending.

Jacksonville State had 411 yards of total offense, with 298 of those coming on the ground. Troymaine Pope finished with a career-high 173 yards on 15 carries, while Josh Clemons had 65 and quarterback Eli Jenkins had 33 while throwing for 113 yards.

Derrick Craine led the Mocs with 59 yards rushing, while Huesman had 50 on 19 carries.

The Mocs jumped out to a 3-0 advantage on the first of two Henrique Ribeiro field goals in the first quarter. The Gamecocks answered with Connor Rouleau’s first of three, but a 48-yard punt return by C.J. Board set up the Mocs at the Jacksonville State 23-yard line, and three plays later Huesman kept 7 yards up the middle for the score. The touchdown was his 31st, which breaks a tie for the school record he held with former teammate Keon Williams.

The Gamecocks tied the game with a seven-play, 78-yard drive keyed by a 52-yard run by Pope. Jenkins finished the drive with a 4-yard pass to Ruben Gonzalez on a slant pass to even the score with 9:04 to play in the first half.

The defenses held their ground in the second half, bending but not breaking. Despite big plays, the Gamecocks had a pair of field goals to UTC’s one and led 16-13 before redshirt freshman safety Montrell Pardue – starting in place of preseason All-Southern Conference Cedric Nettles, who was suspended for the game – ripped the ball out of Pope’s hand and ran 55 yards for a score that gave the Mocs a 20-16 lead with 8:16 to play.

“We emphasized getting a strip attempt – a turnover – the whole game, so when I finally got the chance and saw the ball loose in the guy’s arms, I took a strip at it. It fell in my arms, so I took off,” Pardue said. “It’s a big feeling (scoring in his first game); it’s real nice. Being a redshirt freshman, I thought all season of all the plays I wanted to make, and that was definitely one of the plays I wanted to make.

“I was glad I made a play to help the team out and put us in position (to win).”

The Gamecocks answered with their best drive of the game. Clemons started it with a 49-yard run to the UTC 30, and then the visitors converted a pair of fourth downs, the second – a completion from Jenkins to Josh Barge – setting up a first-and-goal. Two plays later, Jones plunged over the pile for the game-winner.

“This was huge for us,” Jacksonville State coach John Grass said. “We showed a lot of poise and experience, being able to go down late in the game and come back with a late drive. We got some stops defensively when it was crunch time as well. That (UTC) is a dang good football team, and tonight was like a (playoff) quarterfinal matchup. It was a great way to start the season, and it did both football teams good to be in a battle because it was dang sure a battle.”

The Mocs had two possessions after Jones’ score but were forced into a three-and-out in one, and Huesman was sacked by Darius Jackson on the final play of the game.

“I don’t think we played particularly well on defense or on offense,” UTC coach Russ Huesman said. “Our kicking game was fantastic, but the offense and defense didn’t play as good as they can. We’ll play better than that. They made some plays – some big, big plays – and somehow, someway we’ve got to make a play.

“Our guys play hard, they work at it and it’s important to them. This game isn’t going to define our season. We’re going to come back and we’re going to win. Our guys are committed to winning. I don’t think anybody doubts we’ve got a good football team that can win, but somehow someway we’ve got to make some plays in crunch time.”

The Mocs are back at home next Saturday, hosting NCAA Division II member Mars Hill at 1 at Finley Stadium.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.