For a moment, things looked settled Saturday night at Finley Stadium.
In the second quarter of what would become a 28-10 loss for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team in its Southern Conference opener against The Citadel, UTC quarterback Camden Orth threw what appeared to be an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Nathaniel Eberly-Rodriguez, which would have tied the game at 14 with an extra-point kick.
Eberly-Rodriguez and the offense celebrated in front of the contingent of former Mocs who were in attendance while being honored for their three-year run of SoCon championships from 2013-15, but there was a problem: a penalty on the play, which wiped out the touchdown.
The Mocs settled for a field goal to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to four.
Only something seemed to happen from that point forward. Maybe it was the Bulldogs adjusting to the Mocs, or maybe it was lack of execution for the home team. Either way, UTC never got its offensive rhythm back — and the win stayed out of reach, too.