Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / UTC football coach Rusty Wright looks down during a timeout in the Mocs’ home game against James Madison University on Saturday at Finley Stadium.Three weeks. Three losses. Three stretches of such poor play that University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Rusty Wright feels like Bill Murray in the movie “Scrooged.”
“It’s a bad dream right now,” Wright said with a wipe of his brow after Saturday’s 37-14 loss to James Madison University at Finley Stadium. “I hope we snap out of it.”
The Mocs (1-3), as Wright and UTC players noted Saturday, believe they have performed well enough in stretches to find optimism even during a three-game skid in which they have completed less than half of their passes, averaged less than 4 yards per carry and allowed a whopping 1,400 yards.
“We’ve shown flashes of doing great things,” senior quarterback Nick Tiano said. “It’s just getting over that hurdle, and doing it every play for four quarters and learning how to get a win in a tough game against a good team.”
The competition has no doubt contributed to the bad run, with games against Football Championship Subdivision powers JMU and Jacksonville State and the Southeastern Conference’s Tennessee Volunteers. Wright acknowledges it but isn’t about to make excuses.