Tom Arth offered a one-word response Saturday night when asked if a Top 25 ranking for his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team would mean something to him.
"No."
After a 27-20 win over then 17th-ranked Samford, the likelihood that Arth's 4-0 Mocs would reappear in the polls for the first time in over a year was high. It became true Monday, when UTC was ranked 20th in the STATS (media) Football Championship Subdivision poll and 24th in the American Football Coaches Association list.
The Mocs immediately get another big Southern Conference challenge when they visit East Tennessee State (3-1, 2-0) this Saturday night at 7:30 in Johnson City.
After 46 consecutive games in which they were ranked in the polls from 2013 to 2017, this is the first time the Mocs have been in the polls since an 0-3 start to last season. And these rankings follow nonconference wins over Tennessee Tech and UT-Martin as well as SoCon victories over The Citadel and Samford.
UT-Martin blasted previously 24th-ranked Austin Peay 37-7 this past weekend, while The Citadel won 38-31 over the Mercer team that had knocked Samford out of the top 10.
But asked if that stuff matters, UTC defensive tackle Derek Mahaffey echoed Arth's thoughts about rankings.
"We're for real," he said. "The media can do what they want to do, that's fine. I'm here to enjoy my time with my brothers on the field. That's all I'm doing - just trying to win. We're not worried about the Top 25. We're just taking things one week at a time and not worried about the rankings."
Saturday's win was UTC's sixth in its last seven games - a far cry from last season's 1-7 start - but Arth's message has been just a call for consistent improvement.
"My mind is not on anything but this season, and what we need to do to get better," he said. "Whether we're 4-0 or 1-7, it clouds a lot of things both positively and negatively. We had to guard against that last year. Although we struggled in a lot of different ways, there were a lot of very good things that happened week to week to week to week throughout the course of that season.
"Certainly this year, we have a record of 4-0 and we're happy and we'll take it. We've had four opportunities and we've gone out and ultimately got the job done, but you can't let that cloud and mask some of the things you have to improve on. Our guys understand that, they realize that, and they know we've got a long way to go, but the potential's there for this group. You've got to keep working hard - just keep your nose down and keep working."
Cooper honored
UTC linebacker Marshall Cooper was named the SoCon defensive player of the week after an eight-tackle performance against Samford that also included a fourth-quarter interception and a forced fumble. He was the special-teams honoree after blocking a punt in the 2017 season finale against ETSU.
It's the Mocs' third honor of the season. Receiver Bryce Nunnelly was the offensive player of the week after the wins against Tennessee Tech and The Citadel.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.