The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team hosts Mercer for Senior and Military Appreciation Day on Saturday with kickoff slated for 1:00 p.m. ET inside Finley Stadium. 

Below are excerpts from today's press conference with photos.  The full videos are attached to the story.  Today's press conference included remarks from head coach Tom Arth, senior wide receiver Bingo Morton and senior linebacker Tavon Lawson.

Tickets are on sale now on GoMocs.com, or by calling the UTC Ticket Office at (423) 266-MOCS (6627).

Tavon Lawson, Sr.-LB
On getting through injuries.
"It is really tough mentally, but with the training staff and coaches behind you it makes it easier to overcome the fight back. It is a mindset thing to not let it overcome you for the rest of the season and take away your fight. It was important to me to stay active with the players. I was on the sideline telling the players what I was seeing. For me being a senior, I didn't want the underclassman to see me getting down about being injured. This is my senior year so I just took it upon myself to be a positive role model for the team even though I wasn't out on the field."

On holding Furman to FG on a short field.
"It is more like a win or victory for us because they have a good offense. They score a lot of points and put together a good drive, and for them to only put up a field goal in the position they had on the field it comes out as a victory for us."

On the defensive unit.
"The guys on defense, I love them. At the start of the season, when we entered camp, we had the mindset we wanted to be the best defense in the SoCoN. We approached every practice on improving. Everyone just building that dominant mentality to be the first ones to the ball."
 

Bingo Morton, Sr.-WR
On winning final home game with the senior class.
"It is a big goal, a lot of the younger guys and coaches are talking about wanting to send us out on a high note. For us seniors, it would be so special to get that win."

On being healthy and helping the offense.
"It feels good knowing I can go out on the offensive side of the ball and help the guys out and make plays when the time comes. Being a factor on the offense and having the guys count on me again is a good feeling."

Best memory playing for UTC.
"Really just being able to spend a lot of time with the guys I have been here with. We always have a good time and I have formed great relationships. We have so many great memories together. On the field, I would say my favorite memory is scoring my first touchdown during RS-Sophomore year against VMI. That was a really big moment for me and I will probably remember that for the rest of my life. It was my first collegiate touchdown."
 

Tom Arth, Head Coach
On last week's close 16-10 loss at Furman.
"Last week, obviously it was a disappointing game for us. At the end of the day, we didn't coach well enough and we didn't play well enough, everyone has to do better. Looking back, it's not an easy one to swallow but we have definitely moved on. Our responsibility is to go out there and play a great game this week. We have to do that because we have a very good team in Mercer coming here. We expect them to be at full strength and we're excited for that chance to get back out there to compete on Senior Day. It's a great opportunity for our program to show our seniors what they really mean to them."

On running struggles in losses this season.
"This game might have been a little different than ETSU and Wofford. I thought we ran it fairly well this past Saturday. Looking back at the tape, I thought our offensive line did a good job of changing the line of scrimmage and had some movement at the point of attack. We had some positive runs. The third quarter comes around and we recover the fumble on the kickoff, and only got a field goal out of it. After that, we didn't see the ball again until the fourth quarter. We just didn't have as many opportunities with the ball to put some numbers up."

On the game plan Saturday against Mercer.
"I think every game has its own unique personality and you kind of find that our fairly early on in the game. We want to be as balanced as can be. We want to be able to drop back and throw it when the situation dictates it, we also want to run the ball when that situations dictate that. We want to have efficiency in both of those categories. With how the game plays out, that's kind of up in the air."