Offense shines as Chattanooga Mocs hold off Bears

photo UTC quarterback Jacob Huesman rushes the football during the Mocs' home football game against the Mercer Bears on Saturday at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga.

It was a case of role reversal, but when the final curtain fell the result was the same as it has been all season against Southern Conference opposition for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team.

The offense picked up the slack for the usually reliable defense, which had its worst showing of the season Saturday afternoon, and the Mocs held off surging Mercer 38-31 in front of 10,763 at Finley Stadium.

The win improves UTC to 4-0 in the SoCon for the first time in program history and sets up next week's showdown at league co-leader Western Carolina.

"I made the defense clap for the offense (in the locker room after the game). I said to give them a round of applause in there," Mocs coach Russ Huesman said. "I was awful proud of our offense. (And) 4-0 is a huge positive. I told our kids to enjoy it. Wins are hard. I don't care who you're playing, when you're playing, where you're playing. To get a win in college football is hard.

"Defensively, probably one of the worst defensive performances in a long time. Not only couldn't tackle, we couldn't fill gaps, couldn't cover the right people and then to boot we get personal-foul penalties, just to put icing on the cake. That's extremely unacceptable. We've got to get it fixed."

The teams combined for 982 yards of total offense, with UTC quarterback Jacob Huesman setting a career high with 359 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also had 99 rushing yards and scored a touchdown, giving him a career high for total yards as well.

"I looked up in the first half at the scoreboard and saw our yard total up there, and it kind of surprised me a little bit just how well we were clicking," Jacob Huesman said. "We won't really talk about the historic aspect of it, but we want to play extra football after the regular season ends, and to do that we know we need to do whatever it takes to win out in the conference.

"So many times the defense has had to pick us up. This was kind of our chance to give back to them a little bit and repay the favor. That's what a good team does. The offense isn't going to be perfect every week. Neither is the defense."

UTC appeared to be in complete control after scoring on three straight possessions to take a 35-14 lead midway through the third quarter. But Mercer came roaring back and the Mocs wound up needing a fourth-down defensive stand with the Bears throwing into the end zone twice in the final minutes.

"It was disappointing that we let it come to that there at the end," said Mocs defensive end Davis Tull, who added to his sack streak. He had 1.5 sacks against the Bears, giving him 8.5 in his last six games, to get within 1.5 of tying the SoCon career record.

"Mercer is a really good football team," Tull added. "They're brand new and we didn't know what to expect. They came out and did some things we didn't expect, but also we played sloppy. We missed tackles and did things that we have to correct in practice. Luckily the offense played lights out."

The Mocs came into the game ranked No. 1 in the SoCon in nearly every statistical category, but a combination of missed tackles, bad angles and blown assignments helped Mercer average nearly 7 yards per play, including three plays of 45-plus yards, in rolling up 440 total yards.

After answering each of Mercer's first two touchdowns with tying scores, the Mocs went ahead just before halftime with an eight-play, 65-yard drive capped by Keon Williams' 1-yard TD run on fourth down. That drive was kept alive when UTC converted a third-and-7 with a 43-yard hookup from quarterback Huesman to Tommy Hudson.

Jacob Huesman also highlighted the Mocs' first score of the second half with a 48-yard run to the 2. Derrick Craine, who had 108 total yards, ended that drive with a 1-yard dive into the end zone, and Huesman then seemingly put the game away with a 61-yard TD pass to Xavier Borishade that gave the Mocs a 21-point cushion again.

But Mercer scored two TDs in a 25-second span to pull within seven, and the Mocs needed a clock-consuming 13-play drive that ended with a 45-yard Henrique Ribeiro field goal and two overthrown passes in the end zone by Mercer to secure the win.

"I was just happy to help get the win with my teammates" said Borishade, who had a career-best 94 yards on five catches. "Our defense does an amazing job in just about every game. They had some problems today, but when they needed us we came out and wanted to do what we could to help bail them out. They've bailed us out before, so it felt good that it was on us today."

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.

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