Football Falls in Season Opener at Tennessee Saturday Afternoon

NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (August 31, 2024) — The Chattanooga Mocs football team kicked off the 2024 season with a tough 69-3 defeat at in-state foe Tennessee during a blistering Saturday afternoon in front of a sold out Neyland Stadium crowd of 101,915 in Knoxville, Tenn.

 

Chattanooga, who entered No. 8 in the initial AFCA FCS Coaches Poll, opens the campaign 0-1. Tennessee, the No. 15 team in the initial USA Today Coaches Poll, begins 1-0.

 

“Props to Coach [Josh] Heupel. They have a good football team and do things like they’re supposed to. They play well on both sides of the ball, play at a high tempo and high rate, and they do a good job of executing,” said head coach Rusty Wright during postgame availability.

 

“We did too many things early, that you can’t do, against a good football team let alone a team like that. Hopefully we’ll learn from it and get better from it. That’s it.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

Tennessee took an early 7-0 lead after an 11-play, 65-yard touchdown drive following the game’s opening kick. After the Mocs offense moved the ball to midfield, the Vols capitalized on a lost fumble with a quick touchdown drive to make it 14-0 with 8:34 left in the first.

 

The hosts ended the first frame with a 24-0 lead following a 36-yard touchdown strike and a 36-yard field goal. The advantage grew to 31-0 with 14:03 in the second before the Vols ultimately entered the halftime break with a 45-0 lead.

 

Tennessee’s high-powered system was on full display in the opening half, averaging 9.9 yards-per-play on totals of 503 yards and 51 plays. UTC posted a 15:21-14:39 edge in time of possession but was limited to just 83 yards on 29 plays (2.9 yards per play).

 

Chattanooga received the second half kick and broke the shutout with a nine-play, 50-yard scoring drive, capped off by a 43-yard Jude Kelley field goal to make it 45-3 at the 10:10 mark of the third. The Vols would score 24 unanswered points from that point to run away with a 69-3 victory.

 

Kobe Joseph provided the biggest highlight of the day for the Mocs defense after intercepting a Gaston Moore pass at the UTC 19 and returning it 71 yards down to the Tennessee 10. The offensive output ultimately ended in a missed 25-yard field goal despite the stellar field position.

SCORING SUMMARY

1Q 11:09 – TENN – TD – D. Sampson 1-yd rush (7-0 TENN)

1Q 8:34 – TENN – TD – E. Davis 4-yd reception from N. Iamaleava (14-0 TENN)

1Q 7:18 – TENN – TD – D. Thornton, Jr. 36-yd reception from N. Iamaleava (21-0 TENN)

1Q 3:32 – TENN – FG – M. Gilbert 36-yd field goal (24-0 TENN)

 

2Q 14:03 – TENN – TD – D. Sampson 3-yd rush (31-0 TENN)

2Q 10:14 – TENN – TD – D. Thornton, Jr. 10-yd reception from N. Iamaleava (38-0 TENN)

2Q 6:43 – TENN – TD – D. Sampson 5-yd rush (TENN 45-0)

3Q 10:10 – CHATT – FG – J. Kelley 43-yd field goal (TENN 45-3)

3Q 7:15 – TENN – FG – M. Gilbert 42-yd field goal (TENN 48-3)

3Q 1:13 – TENN – TD – D. Bishop 22-yd rush (TENN 55-3)

 

4Q 4:06 – TENN – TD – K. Keith 1-yd rush (TENN 62-3)

4Q 1:07 – TENN – TD – J. Ross 13-yd punt return, blocked (TENN 69-3)

RECORDS – Chattanooga 0-1 ∙ Tennessee 1-0

 

SERIES – Tennessee now leads the all-time series 38-2-2.

NEXT UP – at Georgia State – Saturday, Sept. 7 – 7 p.m. ET – Atlanta, Ga. – ESPN+

3 NOTES TO KNOW | MORE

1 – Offensive line allowed just one sack today…breaks a string of three straight games without a sack – at Alabama, at Austin Peay & at Furman…just one sack and 11 total TFLs allowed over that stretch…allowed one or fewer sacks 36 times over that span.

 

2 – Defense recorded two sacks and four TFLs…1.0 for Joseph Bakhole and 0.5 shared by Jaden Gaines and Ky Tayo…23 sacks over the last eight contests (2.9 per game)…multiple sacks recorded in 35 of Wright’s 53 games.

 

3 – Kobe Joseph made his third career interception…career long 71-yard return to the UT 10…longest return since Kam Brown’s 78-yard pick 6 at Samford last Sept…has 131 career return yards on his three Chattanooga picks which is 22 yards outside the top 5 in program history behind D.J. Key’s (2010-13) 153.

QUOTABLE | MORE

“I really believe we have an opportunity to become a good football team, I love how these kids work, I loved how they handled themselves in the locker room after this one, I still think we can have a good football team, and we will have a good football team. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing Tennessee or whoever else, you can’t do the things we did today and go win.” – Coach Rusty Wright

 

“It was great to back first off. You take some things for granted when you play for so long and it gets taken from you. It was fun to be out there once again. As far as things to work on, I think there’s a lot, but mostly timing. It was a bit difficult, and that was a testament to the other team too. We were able to move the ball a bit in the second half and got more comfortable as the game went on, along with a lot of the other guys.” – QB Chase Artopoeus on return from last year’s injury.

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