Quick takeaways from UTC's football win at Furman

Gene Henley, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.
·3 min read

Mar. 20—Skyler Wilson kicked a pair of field goals for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and the Mocs overcame some poor execution on offense and special teams to beat Furman 20-18 on Saturday afternoon at Paladin Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Mocs (3-1, 3-0 Southern Conference), ranked 11th in the Stats Perform FCS poll and 12th in the AFCA coaches poll for the Football Championship Subdivision, return home to host Mercer (2-5, 2-2) next weekend, with up to 5,000 fans now allowed at Finley Stadium. The Paladins (3-2, 3-2), 11th in the AFCA poll and 13th in the Stats poll, are off.

Here are some quick takeaways from UTC's win.

Defense, defense, defense: Not enough can be said about what UTC has done on that side of the ball this season, and against a team that entered Saturday ranked second in the SoCon in total offense, the Mocs forced four turnovers and held the Paladins to just 170 yards. It felt unlikely that a team allowing an average of just 231 yards per game could play even better, but UTC did just that on defense.

Copeland's rust is off: Until Saturday, the last time junior quarterback Cole Copeland was on the field in a UTC game, he was leading the Mocs to a 10-3 win over East Tennessee State in the 2017 season finale. Due to some struggles by senior Drayton Arnold, Copeland found himself back in action. Copeland wasn't perfect — he was 5-for-9 pasing for 93 yards and threw an interception on his first series — but the Bradley Central graduate also helped engineer the winning drive in the fourth quarter.

Penalty problems: Not to quibble on how legitimate the Mocs' 11 penalties were, but for a team that had entered Saturday with 13 in three games in 2020-21, it just seems unlikely. Regardless, the flags were thrown and nearly cost the Mocs the game, and it's something that will have to be cleaned up.

Special teams give and take: Let's address the bad first. Punter Gabe Boring was unavailable Saturday, which thrust Wilson — who has handled place-kicking this spring — into dual duties. On two of his first three punts, a bad snap was dropped and led to a 16-yard loss and resulted in Furman's first score. Another bad snap led to Wilson's knee touching the ground before the punt, which resulted in the Paladins taking over at UTC's 11-yard line and scoring a quick touchdown that put the home team up. On the ensuing kickoff, miscommunication led to the Mocs taking over at their own 2-yard line. But there was good: Wilson's winning field goal came from 42 yards (he made a 22-yarder in the first quarter). He also made both of his extra-point tries, something that couldn't be said for Furman, which had a PAT blocked by Devonnsha Maxwell. That led to the Paladins going for two after their second score, an attempt the Mocs negated.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.