Tom Arth speaks constantly to his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team about handling adversity. In an offseason that included coaching changes and player suspensions, there was plenty to deal with.
So to see how well his team handled what was presented to them Thursday night was good for the second-year Mocs coach to see.
The Mocs easily handled Tennessee Tech 34-10 in front of 9,020 at Finley Stadium Thursday for the program’s first season-opening win against a Division I opponent since 2006. The game had a nearly three-hour weather delay, which caused the game not to end until 12:56 Friday morning.
“I had one other one in 2015, had lightning delays four or five times on-and-off, but never had to sit in the locker room for three hours before coming back out,” Arth said of the weather delay. “I was really proud of how we came out, even after we let them drive inside our five yard line. For our defense to come up with a goal-line stand there at that point in the game, under the circumstances we were in, really tells you about the character and the resiliency of this team.”
The Mocs (1-0) will travel to The Citadel on Sept. 8 for a Southern Conference game before a non-conference road test at UT-Martin a week later. They return home on Sept. 22 to face Samford.
The Mocs’ offense had its best performance of the Arth era, piling up 455 yards of total offense behind the arm of quarterback Nick Tiano and the legs of Tyrell Price. Tiano threw for 318 yards and a pair of scores, while Price finished two yards shy of 100 for the evening rushing, while adding 56 yards on five catches.
“It was a great night for us,” Tiano said. “It was a good start, but we missed some opportunities early that we want to really capitalize on moving forward. We did a lot of good things tonight and we’re ready to get this thing rolling.”
The Mocs moved the ball well in the first quarter, but could only manage a pair of Victor Ulmo field goals despite 121 yards of offense. The Golden Eagles briefly took a 7-6 lead in the second quarter after a big hit on a Bingo Morton pass catch by former Notre Dame standout A.J. Flemister led to a 14-yard interception return by Josh Poplar. The Mocs quickly answered, with Bryce Nunnelly scoring on an 89-yard touchdown catch-and-run. Facing a 3rdand 20 from his own 11, Tiano fired a quick screen pass to the sophomore receiver, who sprinted down the sideline untouched.
Nunnelly finished with 161 yards receiving on seven catches. His yardage total is tied with former Moc Alonzo Nix for the 20thbest performance in school history.
Wil Young had a 63-yard touchdown reception for the game’s final points with 6:36 to play in the third quarter. He finished with 73 yards while Joseph Parker had six catches.
The Mocs had eight “big plays” (20-yard runs or 30-yard passes) in 2017. They had six such plays against the Golden Eagles, including a 40-yard run by Price.
The defense held TTU to 328 yards of total offense, with 121 coming in the final quarter against primarily UTC backups. The Golden Eagles drove down inside the UTC 5-yard line after the storm, but Khayyan Edwards and Jabril Malone combined for a tackle on first down. Derek Mahaffey and Isaiah Mack had stops on the next two plays before quarterback Bailey Fisher’s fourth-down pass sailed out of bounds.
The Mocs forced a pair of interceptions, including one by Jerrell Lawson that the sophomore safety returned 26 yards for a touchdown. Telvin Jones forced a fumble deep in UTC territory that was recovered by Kareem Orr, who had the team’s other interception.
Mahaffey finished with a team-high nine tackles. Marshall Cooper added seven, including his first career sack. Devonnsha Maxwell had a sack and another tackle for loss.
Contact Gene Henley atghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.