GREENVILLE, S.C. — The clock finally struck 12 on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team.
It came in the 13th game of the Mocs’ 2023 season.
UTC had dealt with significant injuries since the preseason — that’s when offensive lineman Bryce Goodner, a 2022 Southern Conference All-Freshman selection, was lost for the year — but the Mocs both returned to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs and won a postseason game for the first time since 2016 despite key players going down in November.
It all finally took a toll Saturday, though, when the Mocs lost 26-7 to Furman in a second-round game — and a rematch from the regular season — at Paladin Stadium to finish Rusty Wright’s fifth season as head coach with an 8-5 record.
It wasn’t just the injuries. The Paladins (10-2), who also beat UTC 17-14 on Nov. 4 at Finley Stadium to clinch the SoCon’s automatic bid for the FCS playoffs and were No. 7 among the eight seeds in the 24-team bracket, were the better team. Wright said so after Saturday’s game.