University of Tennessee at Chattanooga linebacker Ryan Consiglio summed up the feelings of the Mocs after Saturday's 62-24 loss at No. 2 Auburn.
"More than anything I'm just ready to get these next two games going so we can get to the playoffs," he said.
The Mocs went to Auburn knowing they have two critical Southern Conference games remaining, two games UTC (5-4, 4-2 SoCon) has to win to be considered for an at-large bid into the 20-team FCS playoff field.
Does that mean the Auburn game, which earned the athletic department a much-needed $425,000, was an unwanted distraction?
"You don't want to look at it like that," Consiglio said, "but I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't more interested in playing Samford and Wofford these next two weeks."
The Mocs competed hard against the undefeated Tigers and had some offensive success. B.J. Coleman threw for 210 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown pass to tight end Garrett Hughes, in three quarters of action, and UTC produced 334 yards of offense.
Defensively, against one of the best offenses in the bowl subdivision, UTC had few answers for Heisman Trophy frontrunner Cam Newton and the rest of the Tigers.
Newton threw for 317 yards and four touchdowns in the first half and Auburn finished with 628 yards of offense. The Tigers had 16 plays of 15 or more yards and six touchdown drives of four plays or less.
"We've tackled pretty well all year, but we didn't tackle well [Saturday]," defensive coordinator Adam Fuller said. "The tackling, it got into our kids' heads. They were stopping within three or four yards of the player and trying to just wait for him to do something."
The Mocs produced some big plays, too. They had five offensive plays of at least 15 yards and got a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Brian Sutherland, who finished with 254 all-purpose yards.
Mocs coach Russ Huesman said the his team got through the game without any significant injuries and liked that UTC was able to get a lot of backups some extended playing time.
On Sunday, Huesman was pretty perturbed about what he saw while reviewing the game film. Auburn might have size and speed advantages, he said, but that doesn't exempt the defenders from taking the right angles and using proper technique.
"I just thought we could have played better in certain areas," he said, a point he expressed to the players in their team meeting. "They know I'm not happy."
The Mocs now their attention to this week's home finale against Samford (4-5, 2-4). The Buldogs put up a fight against No. 7 Wofford on Saturday but fell 10-3 to the Terriers, the only SoCon team without a league loss and UTC's final opponent on Nov. 20.