University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Rusty Wright had said he was interested to see how his young team handled things on the road for the first time in Saturday night’s game at Eastern Illinois.
The Mocs were far from perfect, but the end result was definitely in their favor.
The Mocs, ranked 10th by Football Championship Subdivision coaches and 11th in the Stats Perform Top 25, got a big game from quarterback Preston Hutchinson and another dominant performance from their defense, leading the way to a 38-20 win over the Panthers in Charleston, Illinois. It’s the program’s first 2-0 start since 2018.
“This was a tough place, so it feels good to come out here as a group and keep playing,” offensive lineman McClendon Curtis said. “It wasn’t the best we could have played, but we kept growing and played well against a very good team.”
Hutchinson finished with 278 yards passing and 64 rushing, with three total touchdowns and an interception on the Mocs’ first offensive play of the game. Ailym Ford matched Hutchinson with a pair of touchdowns, finishing with a team-high 73 yards on the ground despite the Panthers (0-2) gearing to stop him. Most of Gino Appleberry’s 56 yards came in the fourth quarter on a 41-yard run.
UTC’s senior quarterback spread the ball around, with eight receivers catching passes from Hutchinson. After just one catch last week, Jamoi Mayes had a team-high six for 61 yards. Javin Whatley led the team in receiving yards, with 51 of his 79 coming on his first career touchdown catch.
Defensively, UTC limited its hosts to 260 yards a week after the Panthers had 441 against Football Bowl Subdivision opponent Northern Illinois. The Mocs also forced a pair of turnovers, with Josh Battle picking off a pass and fellow freshman Quay Wiggles recovering a fumble.
“There were definitely some mistakes on defense that we’ve got to clean up next week,” said team captain and linebacker Ty Boeck, who had 11 tackles and a sack. “There’s a lot of good things we can take away from this game. We had one drive where we really lost focus in the third quarter, and after that I think we really locked in and finished the game the right way.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.