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University of Tennessee at Chattanooga: Big plays continue to torment Mocs

By: John Frierson
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Rodney Allison

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — On Wofford’s second play from scrimmage Saturday, quarterback Ben Widmyer went untouched on a 75-yard touchdown run. It was the first of many big plays by the ninth-ranked Terriers in their 56-7 win over the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, which has lost five games in a row.

While racking up 564 yards of total offense — way more than the Mocs (1-6, 0-3) allowed earlier this season against either Oklahoma or Florida State — Wofford (4-1, 2-0) also got a 35-yard touchdown run by Widmyer and touchdown passes of 28 and 50 yards.

“Option football creates 1-on-1s, and I just thought that he took advantage of it,” UTC defensive coordinator Dick Hopkins said. “We missed some tackles sometimes when we were in position to make a play and I take full responsibility for it. That’s my job, to get it done right.”

Widmyer wasn’t the only Wofford player in the triple-option offense breaking big plays against UTC’s defense. Third-string quarterback Robby Davis had a 44-yard run, while Travis Boyd and Arsenio Parks, who hadn’t carried the ball all season before Saturday, had runs of 51 and 20 yards, respectively.

In the seldom-used passing game, which is part of what makes it effective, Wofford completed five of its eight passes, and four of them went for 28 yards or more.

“Sometimes you get a play and the (defender) might be a little bit out of position and you make a play,” Wofford coach Mike Ayers said. “We were able to make some of those plays, which made it easier, but to be 100-percent truthful, I was as fearful of this game as any game I’ve coached in the Southern Conference.”

That may be true, but UTC’s defense has been giving up big yardage and big plays all season — and not just to the Sooners and Seminoles.

In UTC’s first game against an FCS opponent, Jacksonville State, the defense gave up a 35-yard touchdown run, a 39-yard run and a 37-yard halfback pass for a touchdown, while allowing 481 yards of offense, including 322 on the ground.

The following week at Furman, a big chunk of the Paladins’ 402 yards of offense came on two pass plays to tight ends Chris Truss, who had receptions of 71 and 69 yards.

Two weeks ago against Georgia Southern, the Eagles gained 425 yards and produced several big plays. On their opening drive, quarterback Antonio Henton ran for 18 yards on the first play and three plays later completed a 36-yard pass that helped put the Eagles in command early.

“You can’t just play and say we’re going to stop them defensively,” Mocs coach Rodney Allison said after the Wofford game. “It’s got to be a total team effort to hold them down on points.”

Senior defensive end Neil Brown said it isn’t a lack of effort from the defense that is the problem, he said it all boiled down to the Mocs hurting themselves with mistakes.

“We’re making too many mistakes and it’s costing us. You got the two or three quarterback runs (Saturday) and if it didn’t get them the touchdown on that play, it set them up for it on the next one,” Brown said. “We have to get rid of the mistakes because they’re killing us.”

The defense will need to be close to mistake-free this Saturday when 12th-ranked Elon (6-1, 4-0) comes to Finley Stadium. The Paladins are fourth in the SoCon in scoring offense (29.9 points per game) and third in total offense (413.4 ypg).

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