GREENVILLE, S.C. — Marquise Freeman didn’t really know what to do.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive end just looked up and saw the football in his hands after defensive tackle Jamarr Jones had knocked down a pass by Furman quarterback Carson Jones. Freeman still appeared a bit stunned until all of his teammates started yelling at him.
“I thought it had hit the ground, so I was just going to hand it to the ref,” Freeman said. “Everybody started yelling, ‘Run, run, run’ so I just took off.”
All the way to the end zone for a 47-yard touchdown by the 6-foot-3, 226-pound redshirt junior.
It was a big moment in UTC’s 41-10 win against the Paladins on Saturday afternoon, but it was from the only one.
Freeman’s return — the first pick-6 by a UTC defensive lineman since Toyvian Brand’s 44-yarder against Presbyterian on Sept. 26, 2015 — capped a dominant day in all phases for the Mocs against the reigning Southern Conference champions. UTC improved to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in SoCon play while ending a three-game losing streak in the series with Furman, which beat the Mocs twice last year — in a de facto conference title game at Finley Stadium during the regular season and again in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs in Greenville.
The Paladins fell to 2-4 and 1-1 this season with the loss to the Mocs, who are No. 23 in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 poll.
UTC’s 31-point win is tied for its largest margin of victory in the series (which Furman still leads 42-33), matching a 45-14 win in 1979, and sets up a two-game homestand at Finley: against Wofford (3-3, 1-2) at 1:30 p.m next Saturday, then versus Virginia Military Institute (0-6, 0-2) for homecoming at 4 p.m. on Oct. 26.
Mocs coach Rusty Wright called it a “weird” game, but also one he felt was won by his team’s preparation throughout the week. Offensive lineman Dave Monnot III noted that the Mocs’ scout team — which got some playing time in a fourth quarter that started with the score 41-3 after Freeman’s touchdown — had the team ready for Saturday.
“Those guys, they work their butts off, because they give us exceptional looks in practice,” Monnot said. “There are times I look back on it during our practice where some of those plays were harder to run into our scout team than it was, respectfully, in today’s game.
“Those guys work their butts off, and I appreciate every dang second of it.”
GoMocs.com photo by Laura O’Dell / UTC kicker Jude Kelley (92) was 5-for-5 on extra-point attempts and had field goals covering 42 and 24 yards to help the Mocs to a 41-10 win against Furman on Saturday in Greenville, S.C.The Mocs’ depth and experience showed as the game wore on. They lost receiver Sam Phillips to a lower-body injury late in the first half, and left tackle Almarion Crim went down in the second half. The latter was replaced by junior Will Buchanan.
“That goes to a guy preparing,” Wright said. “We talk about it all the time: You don’t know when your number is going to get called, and that’s why everybody’s got to prepare a certain way to give themselves a chance. We were better than those guys (Furman) today. I knew we were, and we played like we should have played.”
Offensively, UTC rushed for 199 yards and threw for 244, with quarterback Chase Artopoeus passing for 232 yards and a 71-yard score to Javin Whatley, who finished with 168 yards on 10 catches to lead the team in receiving after the previously prolific Phillips — who entered the day leading the FCS at 118 receiving yards per game — had three catches for 39 yards before his early exit.
Running back Reggie Davis was close to his third consecutive 100-yard rushing game, finishing with 93 yards and a score, and Justus Durant (52 rushing yards) and Artopoeus also got in the end zone on the ground. The Mocs got the ball back for the last time with 8:59 to play, and the Paladins never touched it again as UTC finished with a huge edge in time of possession, 37:19 to 22:41.
Defensively, the Mocs forced five turnovers, highlighted by Freeman’s touchdown. Jermiah Batiste, Josh Battle and D’Arco Perkins-McAllister also had interceptions, while defensive end Joseph Bakhole recovered a fumble. All but the Freeman interception happened in the first half, which helped the Mocs build a 20-3 halftime advantage on the touchdown runs by Artopoeus and Durant and back-to-back field goals by Jude Kelley that covered 42 and 24 yards.
Davis scored on the first drive of the second half, with his 2-yard run capping an eight-play, 75-yard drive. Two minutes later, Whatley found himself wide open on a wheel route and scored untouched.
“We had a great week of practice,” Whatley said. “Practice falls into the game; they go together. I felt like we practiced good, so we played good. We came out here and had to handle business.
“We knew what type of game it was going to be, so we came out here and took off from the jump.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.