Mocs were more than ready for Samford

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team picked up a 55-13 win at Samford on Saturday to improve to 4-3 this season, including 3-1 against Southern Conference competition.

The Mocs never trailed against the Bulldogs (3-4, 2-3) on their way to a statistical performance that ranks among the best under Rusty Wright, who is in his third season as UTC’s head coach. It marked the second-most points scored in 24 games under Wright — the Mocs beat Western Carolina 60-36 in 2019 — and the 42-point margin is the biggest of his tenure.

The Mocs, who are in a four-way tie for first place in the loss column in the SoCon, host Furman (4-3, 2-2) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Finley Stadium in a “White Out” game for homecoming.

Here are three next-day takeaways from the lopsided win in Birmingham, Alabama.

› Locked in from the jump: The Mocs’ biggest challenge this season has been maintaining the same intensity level from week to week, especially on the road — and a failure to do so cost them at Virginia Military Institute in an overtime loss on Oct. 9. But a week after taking down previously unbeaten East Tennessee State at Finley, intensity wasn’t lacking against the Bulldogs. By the time one minute had ticked off the clock at Samford, UTC’s defense had forced a threeand-out series and the offense had scored on a 42-yard completion from Cole Copeland to running back Tyrell Price. By the time the first quarter ended, UTC led 14-3, and it was 31-3 at halftime. On Saturday the Mocs looked like the team that was voted the favorite to win the SoCon, but that hasn’t been the case for much of the season. That’s why the Mocs are basically in mustwin, playoff mode the rest of the way — seemingly to prove they are what they were projected to be.

› Big plays in the air: Games like Saturday reinforce a previously emphasized point: The Mocs must

show explosiveness in the passing game to be a good offense this season. A quick look at the stats shows the Mocs rushed for 193 yards and four touchdowns, suggesting everything is fine, right? But Samford’s defense sold out up front for much of the afternoon to stop the ground game, and the Mocs averaged only 3.3 yards per run — and 20% of the rushing total came on a 43-yard gain by Ailym Ford. That put more of an onus on the passing attack to move the ball, and Copeland averaged 23.8 yards per completion, highlighted by connections of 48, 42, 41, 35, 29 and 22 yards. More teams will try to make UTC beat them through the air, but as Copeland and offensive coordinator Joe Pizzo continue to mesh, the Mocs will be more than willing to take advantage of those opportunities.

› Another defensive masterpiece: How good was the UTC defense at Samford? In 72 games under head coach Chris Hatcher, the Bulldogs have topped 400 yards 48 times. In that span, no Football Championship Subdivision team has held a Hatcher-coached team to fewer yards in a game, and only one — Kennesaw State in 2019 — held the Bulldogs to fewer points than the 13 they scored Saturday. The only team to hold Samford to fewer yards? Auburn, which limited the Bulldogs to 114 yards in a 52-0 win in 2019.