Jay Person couldn't believe it.
It's not often that the 6-foot-4, 229-pound University of Tennessee at Chattanooga outside linebacker doesn't finish the job when he gets to the quarterback, but somehow Western Carolina's Carlos Davis escaped his grasp before tossing the football out of bounds in UTC's 45-17 home win over the Catamounts on Saturday.
After the play, Person, hands on hips, stood at the Western Carolina 24-yard line in disbelief.
"That's one I should have had for sure," Person, who has five sacks and 11 tackles for loss in his Mocs career, said with a laugh after the game. "That's one I'm going to be thinking about for a long time."
As has been the case for much of this season, there wasn't much negative to say about the defense Saturday in the Mocs' Southern Conference opener.
The Catamounts (0-5, 0-2) returned the opening kickoff to the UTC 7-yard line, but the defense held them to a field goal. The visitors' two touchdowns came on a deep ball thrown into the wind - it was misplayed by safety Brandon Dowdell and fell into the hands of Terrence Horne - and a one-handed catch in the end zone by Raphael Williams after UTC's Cole Copeland was intercepted in Mocs territory.
For the game, the Catamounts finished with 277 yards of total offense; they'd gone over 500 yards in three previous games against Football Championship Subdivision competition. The Mocs (2-2) also forced four turnovers, which gives them 11 for the season; at 2.75 takeaways per game, they're tied with Alcorn State and Montana for third in the FCS.
Since a poor showing in the season-opening loss to Austin Peay, the defense has allowed averages of just 15.0 points and 254.7 yards in the past three games, with nine takeaways.
"We've got guys who can play on defense," UTC coach Rusty Wright said. "It doesn't matter where they are on the field. That's how they should play when they're locked in and not messing around.
"They're pretty good."
Here are some other observations from the lopsided win as the Mocs prepare to continue their SoCon schedule with Saturday's 1:30 p.m. game at reigning league champion Virginia Military Institute (3-2, 1-1).
Offense makes progress: Full disclosure: Everybody gets 500 yards of total offense against Western Carolina. The Catamounts have allowed four straight opponents to do so, and it's notable that the last time UTC had reached the 500-yard mark before this game was against Western Carolina (with an entirely different coaching staff) two seasons ago. However, a UTC offense that is immensely talented but has a quarterback who is still gaining college experience needed some success, and it's safe to call 518 yards, 7.1 yards per play and 21 first downs just that.
Special teams needs to improve: UTC was able to get away with some pretty horrendous kickoff coverage. The Catamounts had the 87-yard return to open the game, but they also had a 101-yard return for a touchdown waved off due to a penalty and another for 48 yards. The Mocs also had a muffed punt waved off due to a holding call. The miscues didn't hurt them against the Catamounts, who were picked to finish last in the SoCon. But in upcoming games against VMI, East Tennessee State and Samford - picked second, third and fourth, respectively, behind preseason favorite UTC - those types of mistakes will come back to haunt them.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.