Staff photo by Robin Rudd / UTC’s Sam Phillips, right, stretches for extra yards after making a catch during Saturday’s home win against SoCon opponent VMI.With more than 600 yards of offense and a defense that limited Virginia Military Institute to minus-2 yards rushing, there probably shouldn’t be much for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Rusty Wright to complain about.
And yes, there is a value in winning, which the Mocs did comfortably Saturday afternoon at Finley Stadium against the undermanned Keydets, 41-13, for Wright’s first victory against VMI as a head coach in three tries.
But that’s not the only standard that Wright, in his fourth season leading his alma mater, wants the Mocs aspiring to.
For all the superlatives — and there are many — that can be heaped upon UTC (5-1, 3-0 Southern Conference) after this performance, there’s just enough meat on the improvement bone for Wright and his staff to point out, fix and adjust going into next Saturday’s battle against Mercer (6-1, 4-0) at Finley. The Bears are currently ranked 11th by Football Championship Subdivision coaches and 12th in the Stats Perform Top 25, while UTC is ninth and 10th.
On special teams, the flaws for the Mocs included missing two field-goal attempts — one from 25 yards — and allowing Jahleel Porter to return a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter as VMI (1-5, 0-3) pulled even at 7. An otherwise dominant defense did allow the Keydets to essentially walk down the field for a touchdown to start the second half, and the offense was solid for the most part, although Wright could easily point to the Mocs’ 4-for-11 rate on third-down conversions and a pair of missed snaps.
But that’s just what coaches do.
“Right now we’re a better football team than them,” Wright said. “We have to understand, we were good today offensively because we didn’t turn the ball over. There are things we can control … there’s a lot of things we can get a lot better at and control ourselves. I can promise you that, but I’m happy for those guys.”
What the Mocs did well was, well, a lot.
Preston Hutchinson threw for 295 yards and a pair of touchdowns with no interceptions, with freshmen Javin Whatley and Camden Overton the recipients of those two scores. The Mocs had two players go over 100 rushing yards for the first time this season, with Ailym Ford (172 yards, touchdown) joined by Gino Appleberry (109 yards, two scores). Defensively, the minus-2 rushing yards tied for the fewest allowed by the Mocs all season and their fewest overall since holding VMI to minus-16 in 2018.
“It’s great knowing we can win by 28 with so many mistakes,” Hutchinson said. “It’s awesome knowing that we have room for improvement.”
Wright speaks about practicing the right way, and he credited All-America defender Devonnsha Maxwell with doing just that. Maxwell was rewarded with his 34th career sack, putting him just three behind Davis Tull for both the UTC and SoCon records.
UTC senior Austin Collier had a pair of sacks, with one each for Maxwell, Ben Brewton and Jay Person, who had a team-high 2.5 tackles for loss. Kam Brown had an interception, his second of the season, as the UTC defense allowed 158 yards through the air.
The Mocs were coming off an open date that was preceded by a 24-16 comeback win at East Tennessee State, where they trailed 13-0 at halftime and scored 21 points in the fourth quarter. The Mocs led 31-7 at halftime against VMI before giving up the quick touchdown, and they completed the scoring in the fourth with two lengthy drives for Overton’s 4-yard touchdown catch and Aaron Sears’ 27-yard field goal.
“We are right on the cusp of putting the whole game together. We just have to come out of halftime a little stronger,” Maxwell said. “A lot of times we come out sluggish and we don’t take our stretching seriously, but that’s on me as a leader to tighten guys and make sure we come out stronger, so eventually we’ll put a whole 60 minutes together.”
Jamoi Mayes led UTC in receptions with four for 64 yards. Sam Phillips had three for 66, while all of Whatley’s 72 yards came on his lone catch.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.