University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Russ Huesman was a gambler last season. He took risks with surprise onside kicks and trick plays, he said, because he felt he had to.
“Doing those things you try to gain possessions, and we’re a lot better on offense this year than we were last year,” Huesman said. “So you don’t have to try to generate opportunities to get more possessions.”
The Mocs ran a variety of trick plays last season and converted all five of their surprise onside kicks. One of the kicks was the opening kickoff against Furman last season.
Craig Camay’s kick was recovered by J.D. Dothard at the UTC 39-yard line, which had the crowd of 11,201 on its feet. The fans sat down quickly, however, as Furman rover Max Lerner intercepted B.J. Coleman’s first-down pass and returned it for a touchdown.
Through six games this season, UTC has had running back Chris Awuah throw a few passes – he’s 1-for-3 with a 9-yard touchdown. Huesman also called an onside kick late in the first half against Eastern Kentucky. The Mocs were leading 21-9 and Mike Hammons’ kick was recovered by the Colonels at the UTC 48. Fortunately for the Mocs, their defense held.
“That was probably the dumbest call I’ve made in about 12 years of coaching football,” Huesman said.
Even though UTC still works on the “gadget” plays, as coaches often call them, there hasn’t been much of a need for them since the Mocs have had the lead for most of their games.
“You’ve got to watch yourself and pick and choose and see how the game’s going,” Huesman said. “When you’re ahead and you’ve got a lead, you don’t want to do something that’s a gamble.”
Mocs in TV mix
The Southern Conference announced Tuesday that the Nov. 13 matchup between No. 9 Wofford and top-ranked Appalachian State has been selected as the “wild card” game that will air on SportSouth.
This season, for the first time, the league left the final two weeks of the season open for choosing key games to televise.
SoCon commissioner John Iamarino said the UTC-Wofford game on Nov. 20 is “clearly” one of the games in play for the final weekend of the regular season.
Iamarino said the SoCon can wait until about two weeks before the game to decide which one to telecast. The Mocs opened their season on SportSouth against Appalachian State, losing a 42-41 thriller, and likely will appear on TV when they face Auburn on Nov. 6.
Fifteen in a row
The last time UTC defeated Furman was on Nov. 19, 1994, in the final game of Buddy Green’s first season as coach. Furman has won 15 straight in the series, but the streak isn’t something Furman coach Bobby Lamb or Huesman is concerned about this week.
“We haven’t even addressed it,” Lamb said. “It’s pretty remarkable that one team could beat another one 15 times, I don’t care who you are. … We’ve been on the fortunate end of winning it so many times, but I think you throw all that stuff out the window.”
Huesman is 0-1 against Furman, which handed him his first defeat, 38-20, last season.