University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs football head coach Russ Huesman waits as the FCS playoff bracket is announced at UTC’s University Center auditorium on Sunday.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football players Cedric Nettles, Chaz Moore and Derrick Lott, from left, wait as the FCS playoff bracket is announced Sunday.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs quarterback Jacob Huesman reacts as the FCS playoff bracket is announced at UTC’s University Center auditorium today. The 8-4 Mocs were one of the first teams out of the postseason.The silence among the 100 or so in the University Center auditorium said it all.
First it was a silence of hope and nervousness. Would the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Southern Conference co-champions, make the 24-team Football Championship Subdivision playoff field? It was the best season in nearly 30 years, but was it good enough?
Then, as the pairings were shown on the ESPNU broadcast with no mention of UTC, and the 8-4 Mocs’ chances dwindled, it was a silence full of tension.
Until finally, when Tennessee State’s name was announced last, it was a silence of crushing disappointment, broken only by coach Russ Huesman reminding his players about a 3 o’clock team meeting.
The players slowly and sullenly headed for the exits, while Huesman wondered how his team wasn’t one of the 13 to receive an at-large bid, to go along with the 11 teams that earned automatic bids for winning their conferences.