The Chattanooga Mocs football team suffered a back-and-forth narrow 24-21 defeat at FBS-foe Georgia State on a gorgeous Saturday night inside Center Parc Stadium in Atlanta, Ga.
Following the defeat, Chattanooga drops to 0-2 on the season after facing two bowl division teams in the first two weeks. Georgia State evens its mark to 1-1 following its home-opening win.
A game that featured seven total scores and seven lead changes between the two teams, it was Georgia State who ultimately scored last to escape with the victory.
UTC led the Panthers 21-17 with 11:33 left in the game before the hosts put together a touchdown drive with 7:01 remaining to gain a 24-21 edge.
"Bottom line, we didn't play well enough to win. I didn't do a very good job with them. We didn't learn enough from last week to this week on some basic football things," said head coach Rusty Wright.
"We gave ourselves a chance to win, but you have to make the plays and overall, we just didn't get it done."
Georgia State won the opening toss and deferred to the second half before both teams went scoreless on each of their first offensive possessions. GSU intercepted a Chase Artopoeus pass near midfield on the ensuing drive and cashed in on a 44-yard field goal to forge an early 3-0 lead with 7:16 left in the first.
Chattanooga immediately responded with an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive, capped off with an Artopoeus one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dalton Restelli on fourth down to give UTC a 7-3 lead with 1:27 left in the opening frame. The reception and touchdown were both career firsts for Restelli.
The Panthers answered with a nine-play, 64-yard touchdown drive that needed just 3:56 of clock to allow the hosts to regain the lead, 10-7 (12:31 2Q). The score remained the same at the halftime break as GSU missed a 40-yard field goal attempt (4:09) and was stopped on fourth down (1:02) at the UTC27 in the half's final moments.
The Mocs created an initial second-half spark when Leroy Harris III scooped up a loose ball on an E.J. Thomas strip-sack, allowing the offense to set up shop at the GSU10. Three plays later, Reggie Davis punched it in from two yards out to give UTC a 14-10 lead (10:56 3Q).
Georgia State once again answered in quick fashion, stringing together a 75-yard touchdown drive in just seven plays to jump ahead 17-14 with 7:35 left to play in the third. Sam Phillips created electricity after racing away with an 84-yard touchdown reception to give UTC a late 21-17 lead with 11:33 left in the contest.
It was another quick scoring drive from the Panthers as a 12-yard touchdown rush capped off a nine-play, 59-yard effort in just 4:32 to put the squad ahead 24-21, and ahead for good. UTC earned a chance at a game-tying (or winning) drive in the final moments before an intercepted pass over the middle with less than a minute sealed the outcome.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Quarter
7:16 – GSU – FG – L. Rickman 44-yd field goal – 3-0 UTC
1:27 – UTC – TD – D. Restelli 1-yd reception from C. Artopoeus (XP GOOD) – 7-3 UTC
2nd Quarter
12:31 – GSU – TD – J. Ford 19-yd reception from C. Veilleux (XP GOOD) – 10-7 GSU
3rd Quarter
10:56 – UTC – TD – R. Davis 2-yd rush (XP GOOD) – 14-10 UTC
7:35 – GSU – TD – T. Hurst 22-yd reception from C. Veilleux (XP GOOD) – 17-14 GSU
4th Quarter
11:33 – UTC – TD – S. Phillips 84-yd reception from C. Artopoeus (XP GOOD) – 21-17 UTC
7:01 – GSU – TD – F. Brock 12-yd rush (XP GOOD) – 24-21 GSU
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 0-2 · Georgia State 1-1 · All-time series tied 1-1.