NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS

CHATTANOOGA (Nov. 4, 2023) --- The 13^th-ranked Chattanooga Mocs football team found itself on the wrong side of three fourth-quarter lead changes and ultimately dropped a 17-14 critical Southern Conference contest to No. 2 Furman on Saturday afternoon in front of 9,201 at Finley Stadium.
 
Following the loss with an FCS Playoff automatic bid and at least a share of the SoCon title on the line, Chattanooga moves to 7-3 overall and ends league play with a 6-2 tally. Furman captures the league's automatic bid and share of the league title (as of now) after the win, improving to 8-1 overall and 6-0 in conference.
 
Furman scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:44 left in the contest before Chattanooga's final attempt at securing at least field-goal position to tie the contest ended with an unsuccessful fourth down.
 
"We had a chance to make some plays and we just didn't make them. Give them credit, those guys played great," said head coach Rusty Wright following the game.
 
"We had a chance to make plays and we didn't make them."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Although the first quarter ended in a 0-0 draw, the first 15 minutes was filled with action that included turnover on downs from both teams, a missed field goal by UTC, a Furman punt, a targeting ejection, and a UTC punt that was blocked right before the quarter whistle.  
 
The blocked punt eventually led the game's first points when the Paladins broke the ice with a 37-yard field goal at the 13:34 mark of the second after Jay Person came up with a crucial third-down sack to force the triple.
 
After a pair of exchanged possessions, Chase Artopoeus connected with Javin Whatley over the middle for a 67-yard catch and run to notch the game's first touchdown, giving UTC a 7-3 lead with 3:38 left before the half. The game eventually went to the break with the four-point separation.
 
Much like the first quarter, the third frame went scoreless as the two teams combined for just 93 yards of total offense and two turnovers. The largest turnover of the contest, arguably, came right before the third quarter break as a trick-play throw attempt from Whatley to Zaire Thronton on third down in Furman territory was picked off in the endzone and returned to near midfield.
 
Furman immediately capitalized on the turnover, going 54 yards in just four plays and 1:14, ending with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Carson Jones to Colton Hinton to take a 14-10 lead. A few minutes later, an Artopoeus pass attempt was tipped near the line of scrimmage and found the hands of Jamoi Mayes, who took it all 70 yards to the house to put UTC back ahead 17-14 with 8:53 left and sending Finley into a frenzy.
 
Chattanooga was forced to punt the ball away at the 4:42 mark of the fourth quarter and gave Furman a starting drive directly at midfield. The Paladins were surgical on its game-winning, using 2:58 off the clock to amount a nine-play, 50-yard touchdown effort to eventually secure the 17-14 final score.

SCORING SUMMARY
1^st Quarter
None

2^nd Quarter
FUR – 13:34 – I. Williams 37 yd field goal – 3-0 FUR
UTC – 3:38 – J. Whatley 67 yd touchdown reception thrown by C. Artopoeus (XP GOOD) – 7-3 UTC
 
3^rd Quarter
None
 
4^th Quarter
FUR – 14:08 – C. Hinton 27 yd touchdown reception thrown by C. Jones (XP GOOD) – 10-7 FUR
UTC – 8:53 – J. Mayes 70 yd touchdown reception thrown by C. Artopoeus (XP GOOD) – 14-10 UTC
FUR – 1:44 – W. Anderson, Jr., 9 yd touchdown reception thrown by C. Jones (XP GOOD) – 17-14 FUR

RECORDS – No. 13 Chattanooga 7-3, 6-2 SoCon ∙ No. 2 Furman 8-1, 6-0 SoCon
 
SERIES – Furman now leads the all-time series 32-21.
 
3 NOTES TO KNOW | MORE
1. 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... 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.
2. 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.
3. Sam Phillips 42 yards gave him 520 for the season… joins Javin Whatley (802) & 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.

QUOTABLE | MORE
LB Alex Mitchell on the team's grind through the season.
"It's been a long season and we've [played] 10 in a row; it's been rough on our bodies. This week was the most important and we really stuck together in practice, and we all came together. We really showed out there on defense how we can come together as a team. We just kind of let up towards the end of it, but that's a good ball club over there. It was a tough, hard-fought game, we just didn't do enough to win."
 
HC Rusty Wright on stating Chattanooga's case for a playoff bid.
"My group's battled for as long as they can, so we'll see if somebody gives us an opportunity. Look here, I'm not taking anything away from these kids this year. We've been through a lot in 10 weeks. They've played their tails off, they played their tails off today, and they've got nothing to hang their heads about. I know they're all disappointed; I'm disappointed for them. There are probably things I could do better, but at the end of the day it is what it is. That's a good football team over there, there's no doubt about it. We went toe to toe with them and we had our opportunities to take care of it and we just didn't do it."

NEXT GAME – Saturday, Nov. 18 – Chattanooga (7-3, 6-2 SoCon) at Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC) – 12:00 p.m. ET – Tuscaloosa, Ala.
 
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