Chattanooga's Xavier Borishade stretches out for the catch as The Citadel's Cody Richardson gives chase during their game Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014 at Johnson Hagood Stadium.CHARLESTON, S.C. - With the backdrop of a cloudless, blue-sky fall afternoon in one of the South's most picturesque cities, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team was nearly perfect Saturday.
Putting together their most complete game of the season, the Mocs thoroughly dominated The Citadel, 34-14, in front of 8,037 fans at Johnson Hagood Stadium and improved to 3-0 in the Southern Conference for the first time since 1983.
"Right now the only thing that matters is we're 3-0 in the league," UTC coach Russ Huesman said. "We control our own destiny, and that's all I care about. Offensively we had several guys who stepped up and played well, and we got after it pretty good defensively in the first half.
"I'm really proud of our effort. The only thing we're concerned with is how to claw scratch and fight to get to 4-0 next week."
No. 15-ranked UTC, 4-3 overall, outgained the Bulldogs 478-236 in total yards and wasted no time in taking control. On the first play from scrimmage, Jacob Huesman carried out a fake for what looked to be an option run to the right, breaking one tackle before pulling up and finding C.J. Board wide open for a 66-yard touchdown pass. The fake worked so well that there wasn't a defender within 30 yards of Board.
"That was big, no question, but we set the tempo with that second drive when we ran the ball," Coach Huesman said. "Our offensive line made some good blocks, and we set the tone with that second and third drive to score."
UTC put together a nine-play, 80-yard drive on its second possession, helped along by two third-down conversions by Jacob Huesman, including a 27-yard TD pass to Marquis Green. The Mocs scored on the first play of the second quarter when Henrique Ribeiro kicked a 33-yard field goal, and they put points on the board on their first five possessions to build a 31-0 halftime lead.
Besides his two TD passes, quarterback Huesman ran for a 15-yard score and finished with 244 yards of total offense.
Sophomore Derrick Craine led the ground game with a career-best 135 rushing yards, and Keon Williams added 88 to give the Mocs three players with 80-plus rushing yards as they outgained The Citadel 315-198 on the ground.
Coming into the game, the Bulldogs were averaging 325.3 rushing yards per game, tops in the SoCon and second among FCS teams. However UTC's league-best rushing defense allowed just 66 first-half yards on the ground, and 75 of The Citadel's rushing total came on the first possession of the third quarter.
"It's pretty tough to stop a triple-option team, especially one that's so good at it like The Citadel," said Mocs linebacker Nakevion Leslie, who made a team-high 10 tackles. "We worked really hard all week on pursuing the ball and on our angles to get there. We also did a lot of film study to make sure we were sound and could execute. We put in a lot of time to be able to come out and get wins like this. This is the payoff.
"The way the offense started with a big play motivated us to go out and get the ball back in their hands so they could put more points on the board. It's a big win and gives us a lot of confidence. But today could've gone a lot better. We had a lot of missed tackles out there, so we could've played better. We'll go back and work to get better."
After The Citadel (2-5, 0-2) opened the second half with the long scoring drive, UTC answered with a 15-play drive that took more than eight minutes off the clock and salted away the win.
"That first play was an immediate momentum swing, but one of the drives I was really happy with was the one that answered their score," Jacob Huesman said. "At that point in the game, taking nine minutes off the clock was just as big as getting points.
"We did a lot of good things today. We always want to get better, but there were some things we can build on and feel good about."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.