Chattanooga running back Keon Williams (33) has the ball stripped from him by Wofford’s Blake Wyle (3) in first-quarter action Saturday Nov. 20, 2010 at Gibbs Stadium in Spartanburg, S.C. (AP Photo/Willis Glassgow)SPARTANBURG, S.C. – When the Southern Conference sent out its all-conference nominees to voters this week, Wofford’s Mitch Allen was listed among the candidates at quarterback.
The junior wasn’t nominated for his passing acumen. He was there because he’d rushed for 579 yards and helped lead ninth-ranked Wofford to within a win of a share of the SoCon title.
Saturday at Gibbs Stadium, Allen showed off his arm in the Terriers’ 45-14 win over the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Allen used play-action well and completed 7 of 9 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown.
“Heck, they only probably threw the ball five or six times, it felt like, but it seemed like every time they did they completed it,” UTC linebacker Ryan Consiglio said.
Before Saturday, Allen’s best passing performance this season netted 106 yards against Georgia Southern.
Wideout Brenton Bersin had 15 catches for 388 yards coming into the game. Against the Mocs, the 6-foot-4 junior, who used his size well against UTC’s secondary, caught six passes for 146 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
“They did some really good things on offense that kept us off balance,” Mocs coach Russ Huesman said. “They’re good and we’ll get better.”
‘Out of sync’
The Mocs offense started the game with a three-and-out and seldom looked like the explosive unit that four times this season gained more than 500 yards.
Wofford’s defense, which was holding teams to a SoCon-low 282.4 yards per game, affected UTC’s production, but the Mocs’ timing also appeared off. Quarterback B.J. Coleman finished 15-of-34 passing for 210 yards and was held without a touchdown pass for the first time all season.
“For the most part they did a good job of keeping us out of sync,” Coleman said. “Sometimes there’s just days that you don’t have it, and today I take full responsibility.”
The defense’s timing also seemed off. The Mocs jumped offside several times and appeared to get away with being offside on a few other occasions.
Proud seniors
For the 11 UTC seniors whose careers ended Saturday, the lopsided loss isn’t indicative of the turnaround in the program that they helped produce.
The Mocs won two games in 2007 and one in 2008. After Huesman replaced Rodney Allison as coach, UTC went 6-5 in the seniors’ final two campaigns.
“We’re proud of what we’ve done here, from where we’ve come from,” said tight end Garrett Hughes, who walked on in 2006 and had two catches for 25 yards Saturday. “It will probably take a little time to get over [the loss].”
Solid starts
In his first start at linebacker, Mocs redshirt freshman D.J. Key had a game-high 10 tackles. Key had started two games at safety earlier in the season, but he replaced junior J.D. Dothard in the lineup this week.
Making his first career start, in place of sophomore Shane Heatherly (concussion), was redshirt freshman Wes Dothard, who was second on the team with nine tackles.
Extra points
The Mocs’ pep band, at least part of it, made the trip. The band attended the Furman game earlier in the season and normally makes only one road trip, but the university paid for them to make the drive. … Keon Williams led UTC in rushing with 33 yards, but he fumbled on both of his carries.
Contact John Frierson at jfrierson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6268. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mocsbeatCTFP.