The words still resonate in the minds of most of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football players.
“We’re going to put you in your place.” “You guys are overrated.”
Those were statements made by Western Carolina players prior to the teams’ first-place showdown last Nov. 1. The Mocs responded with a 51-0 win, rushing for 386 yards as a team.
The Catamounts didn’t speak as boisterously prior to Saturday’s game at UTC, but the fourth-ranked Mocs hadn’t forgot. And it showed.
For the second straight season, the Mocs made a powerful statement to the opponents from Cullowhee, N.C. The final score was 41-13, but it could have been much worse considering UTC rolled up 384 yards of total offense in taking a resounding 35-6 lead at the break, with quarterback Jacob Huesman completing all 10 of his passes for 169 yards and Derrick Craine rushing for 80 yards and four scores.
In the last two meetings, the Mocs have outscored the Catamounts 92-13, rushing for 742 yards.
“Coming out last year, they were trash-talking and they said some things that didn’t settle with us,” said Craine, who finished with 103 yards Saturday. “Our team is great with trash talk, because you can say whatever you want, but we’re just going to come out the next play and beat you whether you like it or not, but Western said some things that didn’t really settle with us, so they fueled our fire by doing stuff like that.”
But that was last year. Is that still fueling your fire in 2015?
“Yes, it’s a reminder,” linebacker Nakevion Leslie said. “Stuff like that sticks to you, and it’s a reminder every time you play them on your schedule.”
UTC also was aided by a homecoming crowd of 11,495, which included a number of students who made the trek over to Finley Stadium for the game. Of course, some of that crowd may have been in attendance to catch a glimpse of former UTC and NFL standout Terrell Owens, who was in the crowd to watch his alma mater play.
“Seeing the crowd helps give us the game energy we need to win games,” receiver C.J. Board said. “A big part of that was T.O. coming out, because the crowd wanted to see him, but that helped us out in today’s game for sure.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.