UTC Mocs defensive back Chaz Moore (blue) hits wide receiver Davis Howell (white) causing a fumbler during practice at Scrappy Moore Field.
UTC head coach Russ Huesman, right, shouts from the sidelines in this file photo.You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
That’s the tagline of the iconic 1980s Head and Shoulders Shampoo commercial. But should the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team bring a victory home from Georgia Southern on Saturday night, the Mocs just might challenge that premise.
Defeat the Eagles and UTC just might watch a sweeping case of amnesia overtake its fan base regarding its disheartening opening-game loss to UT-Martin. Knock off GSU, senior defensive back Chaz Moore noted, “And we’d come home 3-1. It would be great. The fans would all be excited again.”
Moc Maniacs the region over rarely have been more excited than they were the afternoon of Aug. 29, the kickoff to this season only hours away. Then the game arrived, Martin won 31-21 and a sort of malaise set in around the UTC fan base, the notion that the Mocs might again fail to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1984 suddenly more likely than unlikely.
Fifth-year UTC coach Russ Huesman says he hasn’t paid much attention to those concerns, quite possibly because his Mocs have looked very much like a playoff team in their two games since them — a 42-14 victory at Georgia State and a 42-10 home win over Austin Peay.