During the preseason, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga center Devin Lively said he wanted the offense to line up behind him and run the football.
On a soaked Saturday afternoon at Finley Stadium, the Mocs barely did anything else.
UTC threw five passes, rushed for 200 yards on 58 carries, and held the ball for 38 minutes, 16 seconds of game clock. Veteran kicker Jude Kelley made all four of his field-goal attempts, and the defense held Samford to 137 total yards in a 19-3 Southern Conference win in front of 3,308 fans who sat through steady rain.
UTC (4-3, 3-1) has allowed 32 points in four league games. Samford dropped to 1-5 and 1-2.
“That’s my dream,” said Lively, a 6-foot-2, 289-pound junior from Lebanon, Tennessee. “I don’t know about any other offensive lineman, but that’s my dream for sure. I think us controlling the game, controlling the clock, running the ball, I think that gives us the best chance to win with the way our defense is playing.”