The Chattanooga Mocs football team cruised to a 31-3 win over Furman. It did so dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
 
The Mocs' defense, limited a Furman team that averaged 121.8 yards per game on the ground, to just 59 yards rushing.
 
"Coming into the game, Furman succeeded a lot in the run game against multiple teams, and we emphasized on stopping the run," senior linebacker Nakevion Leslie said. "We did a good job of that today by being aggressive and being where we're supposed to be. They tried to slow our defense down with seven-man protection, a bunch of play action and quick game stuff, and we had to play those out throughout the game."
 
From a momentum standpoint, the defense was able to set the tone of the game up front by the freshman pair of defensive tackle Isaiah Mack and defensive back C.J. Fritz, who stuffed the Paladins' ball carrier for a crucial fourth-and-one stop on their own 9-yard line.
 
"That play was huge because it would have given them (Furman) a momentum swing," Leslie said. "It would have put them in position for a touchdown or at least a field goal, so for us to get the stop and get our offense back on the field was huge. It builds confidence for us and allows us to keep going. We are able to build off a performance like this to make sure we are successful."
 
Offensively, UTC was able to control the line of scrimmage with 245 yards rushing, capped off by a 12-play, 94-yard touchdown drive that ate up 7:47 in the fourth quarter.  
 
"It was big for us to come out and make a statement," junior offensive lineman Corey Levin said. "We had two weeks to practice, and it showed with 245 rushing yards. This week, we really wanted to rush the ball like we have been doing. Our coaches challenged us to rush it and for two weeks we cleaned up our blocking schemes. It feels good to play a complete game and to have two good halves of football gives us a lot of confidence."
 
From a numbers standpoint, Chattanooga moved the ball consistently on the ground with 18 runs for 78 yards in the first half, and 30 for 167 yards in the second half. The line's play allowed the Mocs to control the clock with just four passing attempts in the second frame leading to a 19:30-10:30 time of possession advantage.
 
Led by the three touchdown and 138-yard performance by running back Derrick Craine, the Mocs offense was able to move the chains for an average of 5.1 yards per rush.
 
"Our front five of Corey Levin, Synjen Herren, Jacob Revis, Josh Cardiello and Hunter Townson were incredible today," said Craine, who averaged 6.6 yards per carry. "They started moving the defensive lineman to get our offense going and created some seams. They were then able to work up to the linebackers which made my job a lot easier. From there, it was really just trying to find the crease and being able to run.
 
"We got some tempo going, knocked off some clock as well, and we were able to play all aspects of football today."