The home-opener for new Chattanooga football coach Tom Arth didn’t turn out quite like he had planned.
Facing a really good UT-Martin team at Finley Stadium Saturday night, Arth’s UTC Mocs came out on the short end of a 21-7 score against the Skyhawks and the game really wasn’t that close.
The Mocs have struggled offensively in losses to Jacksonville State and LSU to open their season, but those struggles reached a new level in the non-conference defeat.
Chattanooga was limited to 23 total yards in the first half with 12 yards on nine rushing attempts and 11 yards on four pass completions. As you might expect, there were no first downs in the first 30 minutes either.
Arth was very matter of fact in his post-game comments and he surely isn’t ready to push the panic button.
“Martin has a great football, but we just have to do a better job of executing,” he began.
“We’re upset and disappointed to be 0-3 at this point, but we aren’t quitting. We had some opportunities in the fourth quarter, but we just didn’t make enough plays. We have to be able to run the ball, but we struggled all game to put any drives together.
“We made more plays in the second half than the first, but it still wasn’t good enough,” the first-year UTC coach added.
UT-Martin coach Jason Simpson was obviously really happy with the outcome and the way his team had played against a ranked team on the road.
“I’m really proud of our defense as we take a lot of pride in that unit, but we hit them with a couple of big plays and that was enough,” he said after his team had improved to 2-1 overall.
“It feels really good to beat a ranked team on the road, but our defense gave us good field position all game. We feel like we should be ranked, but when I pick up the paper this morning and see that Chattanooga is picked to win, I really didn’t have to do much to motivate my players.
“We came out ready to play and got good results. We’ll celebrate this win tonight, but we have to get ready for our first conference game next week,” he said in reference to next week’s home game with Tennessee State.
The Mocs got their first first down in the first minute of the third quarter and it came on a Martin penalty with 14:05 showing. The second one also came on a Skyhawk penalty while the first one recorded by the UTC offense happened with 4:11 left in the third stanza when quarterback Nick Tiano connected with Darrell Bridges on a 13-yard pass play.
While the Skyhawks had scored touchdowns in each of the three quarters to build a seemingly-comfortable 21-0 lead, the Mocs finally got on the scoreboard when Tiano completed a 59-yard pass to Bingo Morton down the left sideline with 3:05 left in the third.
Victor Ulmo’s kick made it 21-7 and for all practical purposes, the Mocs were still very much in the game.
The Mocs got the ball back early in the fourth quarter and were driving, but a short fourth-down conversion was stopped at the Martin 14 when Tiano’s pass to Alex Trotter fell to the turf incomplete.
UTC never threatened again.
Skyhawk quarterback Cook accounted for all three Martin TDs and all came through the air.
The first was a completion to Caylo Weathers from the 2 with 4:54 left in the first. The second was a three-yarder to Jaylon Moore with 7:03 left in the second. The final one was a nine-yarder to Brett Thompson with 12:08 left in the third.
Cook completed 16 of 21 passes for 183 yards while Ladar Galloway’s 79 yards on 21 carries helped Martin tally 110 yards on the ground for a total of 293.
Chattanooga countered with 150 total yards, including a paltry six yards rushing on 23 attempts and 144 yards passing on 13 of 27 by Tiano.
Morton was the leading receiver with three grabs for 75 yards, including the 59-yard TD strike. Richarde Bagley also had three catches for 26 yards, including a long of 18.
Punter Colin Brewer, who celebrated his birthday on Saturday, was UTC’s most effective offensive weapon as he averaged 42.1 yards on seven kicks, including a long of 48.
While the Skyhawks will be at home next week to face Tennessee State, the Mocs will be back on the road for a conference game at VMI.
UT-MARTIN 7 7 7 0 -- 21
UT-CHATTANOOGA 0 0 7 0 -- 7
UTM – Caylo Weathers 3 pass from Troy Cook (Mitch Mersman kick), 4:54 left in first;
UTM – Jaylon Moore 2 pass from Cook (Mersman kick), 7:03 left in second;
UTM – Brett Thompson 9 pass from Cook (Mersman kick), 12:08 left in third;
UTC – Bingo Morton 59 pass from Nick Tiano (Victor Ulmo kick), 3:05 left in third.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)