The stats are right there in plain sight.
Forty-one rushing attempts for 79 yards. No carry of more than 9 yards. Twelve carries that went for no gain or a loss of yardage.
It was a humbling experience for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team’s offensive line last season against Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks were the only Football Championship Subdivision opponent that the Mocs had trouble rushing the ball against, with three former Southeastern Conference players starting on the defensive line.
“It was quite an experience,” UTC center Jacob Revis said. “One of the best defensive lines we played last year was Jacksonville State. It was a tough game, but we learned a lot from it and got better from the experience. We learned that we have to play as a team – all five together. We didn’t do that last year, and we didn’t have any rushing yards last year. We know we have to play as a unit to be successful, and after that game we meshed together and we think we’re at a different level than we were last year.
“It all comes with preparation. It’s not that we weren’t prepared last year, but we weren’t prepared for that. I think preparation makes you more confident, and we weren’t confident in ourselves at that point.”
Mocs glance
* No. 8 UTC vs. No. 7 Jacksonville State * Finley Stadium * Saturday, 6 p.m. * SoCon Digital and 96.1 FM
Revis, a true freshman last season, was making his second start. The same for redshirt freshman Hunter Townson, while 2014 left guard Chris Mayes was a converted defensive lineman.
The UTC front doesn’t expect to have the same negative results this season.
A year wiser and a year better, the line looks to be in better – and more stable – shape as they prepare for the top-10 showdown Saturday at Finley Stadium at 6. Only two starters return to the positions they inhabited a year ago, but that was due in part to the early-season shuffling that came as a result of preseason All-Southern Conference selection Synjen Herren tearing an ACL in the team’s final scrimmage.
Herren has returned to the left guard position, which allows 2014 Jacobs Blocking Award winner Corey Levin to move to left tackle. All-SoCon Freshmen selections Revis and Townson are a year wiser, while the unit has benefited from the transfer of Josh Cardiello from Georgia.
For depth, Brandon Morgan has started 32 games in his career.
“This is a totally different unit than last year,” UTC offensive line coach Chris Malone said. “They’re a pretty cohesive group and they stick together pretty well. Their work ethic has been good and their attitude has been good, so I feel really good about the starting five.
“You could see on tape that the guys might have been a little bit intimidated, but we’re telling the guys not to dwell on last year – to just play our best and see how it works out. We’re going to let the chips fall where they may; we don’t want to come in and see we wished we’d done this or done that.
“We just want the guys to play as well as they can and see how it ends up.”
The Gamecocks feature Devaunte Sigler and Chris Landrum, who transferred from Auburn, and LaMichael Fanning, a transfer from Alabama. Those three lived in the UTC backfield a season ago, with 14 tackles including six for loss, with a pair of sacks.
Townson, Revis and Levin all used the word “mesh” at least once while being interviewed, so the expectation is that the group is a lot more cohesive than it was at this time a year ago.
“That game really stands out for me,” Levin said. “We don’t want to get embarrassed like that again. We watch (the video) every day, and we know the coaches watch it every day, but all we can do now is learn from our mistakes, come out there and put on a much better show for our fans. There weren’t big mistakes – it wasn’t necessarily all five of us doing something wrong at one time – but on every play, one or two people made a mistake that eventually killed the play and killed the outcome of the game.
“I feel great about this season. Everyone has a season under their belt now, and we’ve meshed well together and played together and are a lot more confident. We’re used to Coach Malone now and we’ve had a couple of years with (offensive coordinator Jeff) Durden, so we should be great.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.