The 22nd-ranked Chattanooga Mocs football team held a fourth quarter lead and nearly shocked college football fans around the country, but ultimately saw its upset bid come up short to unbeaten SEC-leader Kentucky, 28-23, on Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field in front of 55,214 fans. Chattanooga falls to 1-2 on the season while Kentucky, who received votes in the latest national top 25 polls, improves to 3-0. It was the slimmest of margins to an SEC foe since a 31-29 loss to Vanderbilt on November 22, 1980.
Attention to detail is always an important aspect in games of this magnitude.
One play here, one play there proved to be the ultimate difference.
"The kids played hard. We didn't make enough plays when we had a chance," said head coach Rusty Wright. "We didn't do anything crazy. We have to find a way to just make basic football plays.
"I don't care who we play. I expected to win today. Whether anybody though we had a chance or not, I expected to go out there and give ourselves an opportunity to win. And we did."
Kentucky received the opening kickoff and started the game's scoring after marching 70 yards down the field in nine plays totaling 4:11 to take an early 7-0 lead. The touchdown drive was capped off by a Josh Ali 11-yard rush, the first touchdown of his collegiate career.
The Chattanooga offense responded to the opening score in emphatic fashion. Ailym Ford broke off a 48-yard run on third down to put the Mocs at the UK 18 before Reginald Henderson hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass, also on third down, to tie things up 7-7 with 6:56 left in the first.
Kentucky regained the lead, 14-7, with 13:29 in the second quarter after quarterback Will Levis found a wide-open Isaiah Epps for a 20-yard score to cap off a 7-play, 68-yard drive. After an exchange in possessions, the Chattanooga defense stood tall as CaMiron Smith picked off a Levis pass and returned it to the UK 15 with 10:23 on the clock.
Aaron Sears drilled a 27-yard field goal after the short field drive stalled in just three plays, cutting the UK lead to 14-10 with 8:47 left before half. The defense showed its force again as Ty Boeck created the second turnover of the day behind a fourth down strip sack, recovered by Jay Person, at the UTC 38 with 3:39 left before half. The teams would head to the locker room with the four-point separation.
Chattanooga received the second half kickoff and put together an 11-play, 49-yard drive that ended in a career long 43-yard field goal from Sears to pull within one, 14-13. The Mocs continued to apply pressure and forced its third turnover of the game when Rashun Freeman stepped in front of a Levis pass at the UTC 34 with 1:03 left in the third.
The possession spilled over into the fourth quarter and ended with a Sears 30-yard field goal, his third successful kick of the day, to push Chattanooga ahead 16-14 with 13:27 remaining in the game. UK responded with a quick 7-play, 77-yard touchdown drive that took just over three minutes to regain the advantage, 21-16.
After a Ford carry for seven yards and a Chris James reception for 10, quarterback Cole Copeland connected with Kanore Mackinnon on an acrobatic 25-yard completion to put the Mocs in striking distance at the UK 33. Two plays later, Copeland saw a potential go-ahead score intercepted and returned 95 yards which gave the Wildcats a 28-16 lead with 7:40 on the clock.
UTC continued its push for heroics after the pick-six and rolled 75 yards down the field in 15 plays, capped off by a Copeland two-yard touchdown run, to pull within five at 28-23. The ensuing onside kick effort was hauled in by the hosts, who would run out the final 1:20 on the clock.
Chattanooga put up its most explosive offensive efforts in the young 2021 season, racking up a season-high 339 yards of total offense including 171 on the ground and another season-high 168 through the air. UTC held UK to a season-low 356 yards (102 rush, 254 pass) of total offense, the lowest output for the Wildcats against a non-conference opponent since January 1, 2019 (Penn State, VRBO Citrus Bowl).
Copeland finished 21-of-35 with 168 yards, two touchdowns (one rushing), and an interception. Copeland targeted Henderson a team-high 15 times that resulted in a career-high nine receptions for 75 yards and a score.
Ford carried the rock 21 times for a season-high 128 yards highlighted by a 48-yard trek in the first quarter, the second longest rush of his career and fourth of 40 or more yards. Tyrell Price added six carries for 41 yards and combined with Ford to average 6.4 yards per carry.
On the defensive side, Ty Boeck led all tacklers with 13 total which included nine solo, four assists, a sack and a forced fumble. Smith and Freeman each recorded an interception while the latter was responsible for an addition pair of pass breakups. In total, UTC collected 5.0 TFLs, forced two fumbles, picked off two passes and finished with three turnovers.
Sears connected on all three field goal attempts which were booted from 27, 43 (career long) and 30 yards. The redshirt freshman is now a perfect 5-of-5 on FG attempts this season.
RECORDS – CHATTANOOGA (1-2/0-0) | KENTUCKY (3-0/1-0)
SERIES – Kentucky leads the all-time series 1-0. Today was the first meeting between the two programs.
3 NOTES TO KNOW
- Season highs for total offense (339) and passing yards (168)… most rushing yards (171) allowed by the Wildcats defense…Missouri (104) and ULM combined for 121 yards rushing in UK's first two games or seven yards less than Ailym Ford had on his own today.
- Ford rushed for 128 yards today on 21 carries…8th career 100-yard game, second of the season…239 yards (43 totes) over the past two weeks… now 25 yards shy of 1,500 through 14 career games (1,475)…if he gets 25+ against Western Carolina in two weeks, it will be the fastest path to 1500 by a high school signee in school history.
- Aaron Sears' three field goals is the most since Victor Ulmo made three against Mercer on Nov. 10, 2018…starts his career 5-5 on FG after career-long 43-yarder in third quarter cutting deficit to 14-13 and the go-ahead 30-yarder at 13:26 in the fourth…hit from 26 and 38 in the week 2 win at North Alabama.
Check out all the extra info at the notes link at the top of the story.
QUOTABLE
"The kids played hard. We didn't make enough plays when we had a chance. Kicked too many field goals… simple as it gets. We just went out there and played. We didn't do anything crazy. We have to find a way to just make basic football plays. We need to figure out a way to do that." – Rusty Wright
"We practice to play in stadiums like this. High intensity. Defense showed out like every week. They gave the offense a chance to drive down the field. O-line was very confident. They were moving bodies. We have some good, discipline guys. They play hard and are experienced. All we have to do is run behind them and trust them." – Ailym Ford
NEXT GAME – Chattanooga vs. Western Carolina, 1:30 p.m. ET | Oct. 2 | 2021 Schedule
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Score by Quarters
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1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
Total
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|
CHATTANOOGA
|
7
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3
|
3
|
10
|
23
|
|
KENTUCKY
|
7
|
7
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0
|
14
|
28
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1st Quarter
10:43 UKY J. Ali 11 run (M. Rufulo kick), 0-7
06:56 CHA R. Henderson 12 pass from C. Copeland (A. Sears kick), 7-7
2nd Quarter
13:29 UKY I. Epps 20 pass from W. Lewis (Rufulo kick), 7-14
08:47 CHA Sears 27 Field Goal, 10-14
3rd Quarter
10:43 CHA Sears 43 Field Goal, 13-14
4th Quarter
13:27 CHA Sears 30 Field Goal, 16-14
10:18 UKY I. Cummings 34 pass from Lewis (Rufulo kick), 16-21
07:40 UKY T. Allen 95 pass interception (Rufulo kick), 16-28
01:20 CHA Copeland 2 run (Sears kick), 23-28
Yard Stick
CHA UKY
First Downs 16 20
Total Offense 339 356
Rushes-Yards 26-171 27-102
Passing Yards 168 254
Comp-Att-Int 21-35-1 23-35-2
Punts 5-46.8 4-50.5
Penalties-Yards 5-40 8-60
Individual Statistics
Chattanooga Rushing: Allyn Ford (21 for 128 yards); Tyrell Price (6 for 41 yards); Cole Copeland (1 for 1 yard, 1 TD).
Kentucky Rushing: Christopher Rodriguez, Jr. (13 for 46 yards); Kavosley Smoke (7 for 27 yards); Will Lewis (3 for 18 yards); Josh Ali (1 for 11 yards, 1 TD); Mike Lennon (2 for 1 yard).
Chattanooga Passing: Cole Copeland (21 of 35 for 168 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT).
Kentucky Passing: Will Lewis (23 of 35 for 254 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT).
Chattanooga Receiving: Reginald Anderson (9 for 75 yards, 1 TD); Tyson Arnett (3 for 21 yards); Chris James (3 for 21 yards); Allyn Ford (3 for 15 yards); Kenore McKinnon (1 for 25 yards); Jamoi Mayes (1 for 9 yards); Tyler Smith (1 for 2 yards).
Kentucky receiving: Warn’dale Robinson (8 for 111 yards); Josh Ali (5 for 53 yards); Justin Rigg (3 for 18 yards); Isaiah Epps (2 for 21 yards, 1 TD); Brenden Bates (2 for 2 yards); Izayah Cummings 91 for 31 yards, 1 TD); DeMarcus Harris (1 for 10 yards); Mike Drennen (1 for 8 yards)).