It's always nice to see Russ Huesman with a smile on his face following a UTC football game.
The Mocs head coach, now in his seventh season here, quickly admits that he doesn't smile much and he laughs even less.
All of that changed on Saturday afternoon following the Mocs' 31-3 victory over Southern Conference foe Furman.
The Paladins took the opening kickoff and marched 69 yards in nine plays before getting a 25-yard field goal from Jon Croft Hollingsworth with 11:38 left in the opening stanza.
Furman had 50 yards on the ground in that initial drive, but only had nine yards net the rest of the afternoon as Chattanooga's defense did a little bending, but never broke while the Moc offense finally came to life.
Furman still had that 3-0 lead when the first quarter ended, but the Mocs took charge with three touchdowns in the second quarter.
Derrick Craine, who finished the day with 138 yards on 21 carries and three TDs, scored on a pair of four-yard runs while the third score came when Lucas Webb intercepted a Furman pass and returned it 35 yards for a score.
The Paladins never recovered.
Furman got into the red zone on two occasions, but were turned away both times.
The first came at the end of the first half following Webb's spectacular return.
A 27-yard kickoff return by Richard Hayes gave the Paladins good field position at the 42. Quarterback Reese Hannon completed five of six passes the drive for 49 yards, but the Moc defense got a crucial stop on fourth-and-one from the nine inside the last minute and went to the dressing room more confident than ever.
Then early in the fourth quarter, Furman had a 14-play drive that moved from the 22 down to the 6, but Chattanooga's Sema'je Kendall intercepted another Hannon throw in the end zone and the Mocs regained possession at the 6.
The score was 24-3 at the time, but Chattanooga covered those 94 yards in a dozen plays, more importantly taking almost eight minutes off the clock.
Xavier Borishade picked up five yards on a key fourth-and-3 from the 12, giving the Mocs first-and-goal from the 7. Craine then got the final distance in two trips, the last one covering four yards with 1:13 to play.
Henrique Ribeiro, added his fourth extra point to conclude the scoring as the Mocs posted their fourth straight win after a season-opening loss to Jacksonville State.
Coach Huesman was happy and smiling when he came into the press box for his post-game radio show.
"We finally played a complete game at home, but I thought all three phases of our game were solid today," he began.
"Our first two drives of the day weren't real good, but we got the ball back and scored. Holding them at the end of the half was huge and that interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter was also big.
"Give our defensive coaches a lot of credit. They worked on a few things this week and it was nice to see us able to take advantage of that. But I thought we played really well on defense and we shut down the run after their first drive.
"We also need to give credit to our offensive line as they knocked them off the line. Jacob didn't have his best game and he knows it, but Derrick Craine had another good game and Henrique Ribeiro did too," he continued.
"And it was really nice to see us go 94 yards for that last touchdown. I wanted to ask them to eat about eight minutes off the clock, but I was afraid to do that, so I was really happy when they did.
"We're 2-0 in league play and I feel like we've beaten two of the better teams, but we have to play well at VMI next week or we'll get beat," Huesman said after his career record at UTC improved to 45-30 overall.
Furman coach Bruce Fowler didn't sugarcoat any of his post-game comments.
"They just outplayed us in every phase of the game. They controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. We got in the red zone a couple of times and didn't score either time, so we have to convert there if we hope to be successful.
"Chattanooga played great defense and they ran the ball well. They were just better than us today as they just wore us down," he added.
Senior quarterback Jacob Huesman, who surpassed 10,000 yards in total offense for his career in the second half, wasn't very pleased with his own performance, but he was happy with the way his teammates responded.
"I missed a lot of easy throws as my timing was off and I didn't feel like I played very well, but what you see on the scoreboard is 100 percent thanks to the job our offensive line did. Derrick Craine kept racking up yards and it's nice when others pick you up
"Holding Furman to just three points is incredible and I wasn't aware of the 10,000 yards until a few minutes ago. I guess the yards start piling up after a while," he concluded with a smile.
The Mocs finished with 349 total yards after gaining 148 in the first half. Most came on the ground as Craine helped his team finish with 245 yards on the ground.
Furman finished with 235 total yards after collecting 144 in the first half.
Huesman followed Craine with 68 yards rushing on 17 carries.
James Stovall and Craine both had three catches each with Stovall gaining 42 yards and Craine 23.
Furman's 176 passing yards included 87 yards on eight receptions by Jordan Snelling. Andrej Suttles had 50 yards on four grabs.
Former Ooltewah standout T.J. Warren was credited with eight tackles for the Paladins while John Mackey, a star from Baylor, had a quarterback sack that was a loss of 10 yards.
Furman, now 3-3 after its three-game winning streak was snapped, is off next Saturday befoire hosting The Citadel on Oct. 24. Chattanooga goes to Lexington, Va. for its next game with VMI.
FURMAN 3 0 0 0 -- 3
CHATTANOOGA 0 21 3 7 -- 31
FUR -- Jon Croft Hollingsworth 25 field goal, 11:38 left in first;
UTC -- Derrick Craine 4 run (Henrique Ribeiro kick), 12:13 left in second;
UTC -- Craine 4 run (Ribeiro kick), 5:25 left in second;
UTC -- Lucas Webb 35 interception return (Ribeiro kick), 5:15 left in second;
UTC -- Ribeiro 36 field goal, 7:52 left in third;
UTC -- Craine 4 run (Ribeiro kick), 1:16 left in fourth.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)