On one hand, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team’s 2018 season was a success. On the other, a late-schedule swoon will stick with coaches and players over the next eight months.
The Mocs’ 49-9 loss at South Carolina on Saturday night left them at 6-5 with their third consecutive loss. The six wins double last year’s total in coach Tom Arth’s first season, but they missed the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs for the second year in a row after making the postseason field three straight seasons.
“We have a long way to go,” Arth said early this past week. “It’s so interesting, I talked with some of the coaches about this last week. In some regards, we feel like we’re right there and we’re a possession away or a touchdown away on offense from coming into this one 10-0 or 8-2, whatever the case may be.
“The margin of error is so small. I can say we’re this close, which we are, but at the same time we’re that far away. It’s like last year, where we had to go through some adversity and challenges our players hadn’t had to face. We weren’t in many games, and we weren’t very competitive.”
Until Saturday, UTC either led late or had the ball with a chance to take a lead late in each of its first four losses. Offensive problems, particularly finishing drives, were prevalent in the losses. In the Mocs’ six wins, they averaged more than 30 points. In their losses, the average dipped to just more than 10.