Some of the mistakes the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team made in its season opener against Jacksonville State, the coaches already had seen last week in practice.
Now without a game until Sept. 9 at LSU, the Football Championship Subdivision’s 12th-ranked Mocs will have an opportunity to clean up some stuff.
They returned to the practice field Tuesday after Saturday’s 27-13 loss to the sixth-ranked Gamecocks. This provides a chance for the coaching staff to get some extra work in with some of the younger players, such as true freshman quarterback Cole Copeland, who went from likely redshirt to No. 2 behind Nick Tiano after the four-game suspension of senior Alejandro Bennifield.
After this week, UTC will play nine consecutive weeks before an off week on Nov. 11.
“We got a chance to see where we are and what do we need to do to improve,” head coach Tom Arth said before Tuesday’s practice. “We were able to find out what we can do to get better, what we need to work on and what do we need to do to improve. I’m happy we’ve got the bye week now and we can focus on those things, so we can look to make sure the next time we get a chance to get out there, we can execute at a higher level.”