Justin Rascati knew where he wanted to point fingers for Saturday’s loss to East Tennessee State.
At himself.
The second-year University of Tennessee at Chattanooga offensive coordinator laid the blame for the Mocs’ 17-14 defeat squarely on his own shoulders. They outgained ETSU 321 yards to 265 but failed to put points on the board on the game’s last drive, one that started at UTC’s 5-yard line with 1:27 to go.
The Mocs were able to run only seven plays from that point, with the game ending on a pitch that was fumbled and recovered at the ETSU 47-yard line.
“I let us down,” Rascati said. “I had poor clock management. We practice it at least once a week if not more; we get more practice at this situation as a coach and a player than anywhere I’ve ever been as a player and a coach. Coach (Tom) Arth does a great job of putting pressure on us coaches and players in practice, so it’s totally my fault. We had poor clock management and poor play selection.
“I let us down, and I’ve got to do a better job of it.”
Rascati said he told the team Sunday that the loss “was on him.” It didn’t help that the Mocs turned the ball over three times – one fewer than the number of turnovers they’d had in the first four games combined – and never developed a consistent running game, finishing with only 49 yards on 27 carries.
The Mocs did have a few positive runs, evidenced by 18-yard carries by both quarterback Nick Tiano and running back Tyrell Price, but Tiano also was sacked five times resulting in 35 yards worth of losses, including two times that led to fumbles recovered by the Buccaneers.
On both occasions, the fumbles came as Tiano was attempting to throw a pass but was stripped of the ball before starting his forward throwing motion.
The other turnover came on a lateral pass to freshman Lameric Tucker that was dropped, ruled a fumble and recovered by the Bucs, leading to a touchdown that made the score 14-0 early in the first quarter.
Despite shutting down the ETSU offense for the final three quarters, a Mocs defense that had forced multiple takeaways in every game this season was limited to one on a Brandon Dowdell interception in the third quarter.
The Mocs still lead the Southern Conference and are 15th in the country with a plus-1 turnover margin. Their opponent this week, seventh-ranked Wofford, is eighth in the conference with eight turnovers to only three takeaways, so a UTC defense that was limited last week in opportunities will be looking for chances this week.
Arth knows the importance of being on the right side of the turnover margin, and he preaches that to his team. He noted Tuesday that since 2001 the New England Patriots are plus-179 in turnover margin.
The next best margin in the NFL in that time? The Green Bay Packers at plus-78.
“If you watch any level of football, you can usually look at turnover margin and tell who won and who lost,” Tiano said. “We’ve done a good job of that this year. We didn’t Saturday and lost the game.
“We put a huge emphasis on protecting the ball, and we’ll continue to do that week in and week out. Unfortunately we lost a couple (Saturday) and sometimes it’s tough, but we’ll continue to focus on that and keep getting better.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.