University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Rusty Wright said all the expected things Saturday afternoon in the aftermath of the Mocs’ 35-24 home loss to Southern Conference leader Samford. So did the UTC players who spoke.
The Mocs had entered the game as 4.5-point favorites against the one-loss Bulldogs, with the winning team in pole position to secure the SoCon’s automatic bid for the 24-team Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. UTC had become known for its dominant first halves at home this season, and with 15 seniors being honored before what could have been their final game at Finley Stadium, the Mocs were bound to come out of the gate hot, right?
Except they didn’t. It was the Bulldogs who scored 21 consecutive first-half points to build an 18-point lead at intermission. It was the visitors’ defense that looked fast and athletic while making plays all over the field.
It was Samford (9-1, 7-0) that had 28 points, 318 first-half yards and 21 first downs in the first half against an opponent that had the SoCon’s top scoring defense entering the week, while UTC (7-3, 5-2) piled up a lot of first-half yards but struggled to get the ball in the end zone.
In short, it was stunning.