The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team produced its most complete performance of the season Saturday in a game it had to win.
Making big plays all over the field on offense, while allowing very few on defense, the Mocs drilled Samford 48-14 in UTC's home finale at Finley Stadium. The Southern Conference victory assured UTC a second straight winning season and keeps its playoff hopes alive.
There was very little postgame celebration from the Mocs (6-4, 5-2), who quickly turned their attention to this week's finale at No. 4 Wofford - a game UTC must win to have a shot at an at-large bid.
"[A winning season], that's not good enough," said left tackle Chris Harr, one of 11 seniors recognized before the game. "We want to win seven and go to the playoffs."
Posting consecutive winning seasons is no small thing for the program. The last time that happened was in 1990-91.
"It may not be a goal of the team, and I understand why it wouldn't be, but I think when you're trying to build a program, consistency is necessary and is needed," said athletic director Rick Hart, who hired coach Russ Huesman after UTC went 1-11 in 2008.
The Mocs' offense shredded Samford (4-6, 2-5) from the start and finished with 550 total yards, 319 through the air and 231 rushing.
Quarterback B.J. Coleman threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns on just 12 completions. Brian Sutherland had five catches for a career-high 167 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Erroll Wynn led the ground attack with 100 yards on 21 carries.
"We went into this week knowing it was do or die," Coleman said.
The 34-point win was the biggest against a SoCon opponent since 2003, and 48 points are the most Samford has allowed in a conference game since joining the SoCon in 2008.
While UTC's offense has been productive in nearly every game this season, the Mocs' defense has had its struggles. It was shredded the past two weeks against Elon and Auburn, but after a tough week of practice the defense dominated Saturday.
Samford running back Chris Evans came in averaging 106. 4 yards per game. The Mocs held him to 57 on 18 carries.
The Bulldogs ran the ball 32 times for 70 yards and managed 232 yards of offense, and 51 of those came on a long touchdown pass when UTC already had the game in hand.
"I thought defensively we looked like a defense again - made plays, tackled, broke on the football, played aggressive," Huesman said.
Evans has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his four seasons at Samford. In the past two games against UTC, however, he's managed a combined 121 yards on 39 carries.
Huesman said he didn't know why the Mocs had shut Evans down the past two seasons. Defensive tackle Nick Davison had an explanation for Saturday's performance.
"We were just able to get penetration, get up the field, and any time you make a great back like that stop his feet and start over, there are going to be people rallying to him," Davison said. "Up front, all across the board, we did a great job of that."
The Mocs led 21-7 late in the first half when Samford went for it on fourth-and-3 at the UTC 35-yard line. Safety Jordan Tippit jumped in front of a Dustin Taliaferro pass and returned it 66 yards for a touchdown that essentially sealed the win.
On his way across the goal line, Tippit did a flip going into the end zone that drew the ire of Huesman and an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty.
"I told [cornerback Buster Skrine] a long time ago, my first pick-six I'm going to flip into the end zone," Tippit said. "I got in so much trouble and I'll never do that again."
The Mocs were credited with only two sacks, but they were in the Samford backfield much of the game. Linebacker Ryan Consiglio had 2.5 tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries. UTC finished with 10 tackles for loss and six hurries.
Saturday's attendance was 9,207, the lowest of the season, yet UTC's total for its five home games is a school-record 63,494.