2023 Chattanooga Mocs Football
vs. #2 Furman – Nov. 4 – Finley Stadium – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Postgame Notes
 
GENERAL
- The 13th-ranked Chattanooga Mocs dropped a nail-biter 17-14 vs. #2 Furman Paladins Saturday afternoon at Finley Stadium…now 7-3, 6-2 in the Southern Conference…the Paladins are 8-1, 6-0 in SoCon play.
- Loss clinches at least a share of the SoCon title for Furman and the league's automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs…UTC can still tie for the title with Furman losses to VMI and Wofford to close out the year.
- Entered the game ranked tied for 13th in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll and 14th in the Stats Perform Top 25…Furman was No. 2 in both.
- 26th ranked week under Rusty Wright, 164th all-time…Russ Huesman's 52 (32-20) holds the program lead ahead of Scrappy Moore 44 weeks…however, neither came close to Wright's total in first five seasons at the helm…other coaches (ranked weeks): Buddy Nix (19), Harold Wilkes (9), Bill Oliver (8), Tom Arth (4) & Buddy Green (2).
- 84-80-1 as a ranked team (59-53 at the FCS level)…51-22-0 at home, 34-15 at FCS level…8-2 vs Furman as a ranked team, 5-1 in Chattanooga.
- 14-27 when both teams are ranked…11-7 at home (7-6 at Finley)…3-2 when both teams ranked in Furman series including 21-14 win over No. 1 Paladins on Sept. 29, 1984, the last time both teams were in a ranked matchup in Chattanooga.
- 9,201 announced attendance...largest crowd in a regular season home finale since Nov. 14, 2015 with 11,594 for the 31-23 win over The Citadel.
- All-time SoCon record at 170-168-2…1st SoCon matchup was in 1977…won championships in 1977*, 1978*, 1979, 1984, 2013*, 2014, 2015* (*co-champs).
- Game captains: DB Reuben Lowery III, Edge Jay Person & OL Reid Williams.
 
SERIES
All-Time Meetings: 53
Record: 21-32 | Home: 9-19 | Away: 12-13 | SoCon: 16-30 | Streak -2

• Last 5: 2-3 | Last 10: 5-5 | Last 20: 8-12
• Series dates back to 1928…5-1 outside of SoCon membership.

 
COACH
Rusty Wright (Chattanooga '96)

• Record: 29-20 | Home: 15-8 | Away: 14-12
• vs. Furman: 2-3 | Home: 1-2 | Away: 1-1
• vs. SoCon: 24-12 | Home: 12-6 | Away: 12-6
• When Ranked: 16-11
• vs. Ranked Opp.: 5-8

 
TEAM
- Held Furman to 244 yards of total offense with 68 on the ground and 176 in the air…averaged just 3.8 yards per play.
- The 68 rushing yards is a season low for the Paladins…previous bottom number of 80 came at South Carolina on Sept. 9…fewest since 66 against Mercer on April 2, 2021.
- 10 of the Paladins 17 points came off a block punt (FG) and interception (TD)…the longest drive of the game for Furman was just 54 yards.
- Mocs gained 357 yards of total offense running for 68 and throwing for 289…most yards offense against the Furman defense since Kennesaw State's 490 in September.
- Mocs scoring drives were of 87 and 70 yards…held advantage in time of possession 32:46 to 27:14.
- Just 33 first downs combined in the game with 18 for the Mocs and 15 by the Paladins.
- Two passing TDs for the Chattanooga offense giving it 21 for the season…just the ninth time in school history with 20 or more…most since 2016 (26).
- 2,739 passing yards on the season rank seventh in school history and most since 2,805 in 2014 with a game to play.
 
INDIVIDUAL
- WR Javin Whatley moved into the season top 10 with his 67-yard catch-and-run TD in the second quarter…his eight matches four others – Larry Stokes (1973), Joe Burke (1978), Michael Johnson (2006), Joel Bradford (2010) & Xavier Borishade (2016).
- Whatley registered his third 100-yard game of the season with 102 on seven catches…3rd 100-yard game…career high for receptions.
- QB Chase Artopoeus threw for 289 yards completing 20 of 39 passes with two scores…20 TD passes on the year…7th Mocs QB with 20 or more in a season and first since Alejandro Benifield's 26 in 2016.
- DB Kam Brown picked off his 11th career pass in the third quarter…tied for sixth all-time with David McCrary '85, Kadeem Wise '13 and former teammate Brandon Dowdell '21.
- WR Sam Phillips collected three passes for 42 yards…his third was No. 50 on the season, the first Moc with 50 or more in a campaign since Bryce Nunnelly's 57 in 2019.
- Phillips 42 yards gives him 520 for the season…joins Whatley (802) and Jamoi Mayes (924) with 500+…1st Mocs trio since 2004 – Alonzo Nix (819), current assistant coach Tyrus Ward (660) and Emanuel Hassell (647) – to pass that number in the same season.
- Mayes joined Phillips with his 50th catch in the second quarter…last time the Mocs had two receivers with 50 or more catches in the same season? 2010: Joel Bradford (81-1,284) & Brian Sutherland (50-729)...Bradford was curiously a second team All-SoCon pick that season.
- Mayes ended up with 105 yards on five receptions…moved into the top 10 in season receiving yards with his 924 passing Stepfon Williams (885 in 1997)., Joe Burke (844 in 1978) & Terrell Owens (836 in 1994)…Whatley is now 42 yards shy of Burke in 10th-place.
- Edge Jay Person (25.0) moved into fourth on the Mocs career sacks list passing Josh Williams (23.5) with his first of the contest…ended up with 2.0 sacks…now 6th multi-sack game…54.0 TFLs is third on career list behind Davis Tull '14 (60.0) and Devonnsha Maxwell '22 (55.5).
- Safety Clay Fields III had two more pass breakups…seven in his last three games.
- Game-high 10 tackles for Alex Mitchell…3rd time in double digits.
 
OPPONENT SCOREBOARD
VMI 31, at ETSU 24
(25) Mercer 38, at The Citadel 16
(20) Western Carolina at Wofford, 3 p.m. | Live Stats