Rusty Wright constantly talks about how hard it is to win football games.
After the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s 27-20 victory last week over Kennesaw State, those were the first words out of his mouth during the postgame news conference.
And that was just one victory for the Mocs and their fifth-year head coach, albeit a solid one because it came against the Owls, who will transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision next season and are 69-23 since their launch in 2015. In fact, they have been more successful than UTC in that time span, with four seasons of at least 10 wins and four appearances in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
Last week’s win at Finley Stadium also showed UTC’s ability to bounce back from a disappointing season opener, but now both that 41-27 loss at North Alabama and the victory against Kennesaw State are in the past. And for the Mocs to become the program they want to be and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2016, the next eight weeks of Southern Conference football — starting with a home game against The Citadel at 6 p.m. Saturday — are far more important than anything that happened in the past two.
(READ MORE: UTC star Ailym Ford, Mocs feel prepared and conditioned to combat November woes)