UTC football season boosted by strong first halves at home

Staff photo by Robin Rudd / UTC quarterback Preston Hutchinson scrambles away from VMI defenders during an Oct. 15 game at Finley Stadium. The Mocs, 7-2 overall this season, are 4-0 at Finley and have led each of those games by at least 13 points at halftime. They've faced bigger challenges on the road, losing to Illinois and Furman and having to rally for wins in the other three games.
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / UTC quarterback Preston Hutchinson scrambles away from VMI defenders during an Oct. 15 game at Finley Stadium. The Mocs, 7-2 overall this season, are 4-0 at Finley and have led each of those games by at least 13 points at halftime. They've faced bigger challenges on the road, losing to Illinois and Furman and having to rally for wins in the other three games.

For the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, it probably wouldn't be a bad thing to hold true to form this weekend, when Samford visits for a game with implications in the Southern Conference title race and the Football Championship Subdivision playoff picture.

Throughout the course of this season, UTC has dominated the first halves of games at Finley Stadium in building substantial leads: 24-0 against Wofford, 27-14 against North Alabama, 31-7 against Virginia Military Institute and 27-14 against Mercer. Those halftime margins have allowed the Mocs to basically suffocate games away in the final 30 minutes, as UTC has scored a combined 45 points while allowing just 13 in the collective second half of its four home games.

Being in control of the scoreboard means more flexibility, including in developing depth and attempting to keep players healthy.

"If you're winning a game and you're comfortable in it, you've got to start thinking about the next one, because at our level we're all one or two guys away from being really bad," UTC coach Rusty Wright said. "You've got to pick and choose your battles. ... We're going to hand it off and get out of there, and that's all that matters."

Sometimes those second halves haven't reflected the first halves, but they didn't need to.

Things have been different on the road, where UTC has taken the best shots of Eastern Illinois, Illinois, East Tennessee State, Furman and, most recently, The Citadel. Each of those opponents led for at least a portion of the first half, and while Illinois turned a 24-0 halftime lead into a 31-0 win and Furman had a two-touchdown advantage early in the third quarter before holding on for a 24-20 victory, the Mocs stormed back in the second half to win by comfortable margins against the other three.

"We've had some games where we've been up a lot, and in some games we've been down," linebacker Kam Jones said. "It's a long game; if you have the lead or if you're down, you can't get out of the game, you have to stay locked in and steady. You have to stay focused and stay confident and just be consistent in what you do, because at the end of the day, there's Division I college players just like you on the other side, and the moment you slack is the moment they'll get a lead or an upper hand."

The Mocs have outscored opponents a combined 124-54 this season in the second half, not allowing a fourth-quarter touchdown until last week's 31-21 win at The Citadel.

The Mocs (7-2, 5-1) hope to stay on that path against Samford (8-1, 6-0) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The Bulldogs are ranked ninth in the FCS coaches poll and 10th in the Stats Perform Top 25, with UTC 11th (Stats) and 12th (coaches).

It's one of two SoCon games with postseason implications and matching ranked teams, with Furman (7-2, 5-1) at Mercer (7-2, 5-1) the other. A UTC win and a Furman loss this weekend would put the Mocs in the driver's seat to earn their first conference championship since 2015.

Samford's lone loss this season came in the second week and was against not only a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent but a reigning national champion. Georgia, No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, won 33-0 on Sept. 10, but Samford has scored at least 27 points in every other game.

Most teams facing the Mocs have tried to come in and start hot, so it wouldn't be a surprise for Samford to attempt to attack quickly — but the Mocs have been able to dole out big punches of their own while absorbing the blows of opponents in part because of Wright's constant harping to play a 60-minute game.

"I think sometimes we settle in and continue to play when everybody else tries to come out and knock our eyes out," Wright said. "One thing I can say is we don't lack anybody's best shot, but we don't get too high, we don't get too low, we just continue to play, and I think that's the one thing that's given us an opportunity.

"We might not be great for a whole game, but we're never out of a game and never lose control of the game. We keep ourselves in it, and I think that's the one thing this group has done a pretty good job of."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.

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