SCHEDULE | TICKETS
 
CHATTANOOGA---The 10th-ranked Chattanooga Mocs are back in action against an FBS opponent Saturday. This time it's Georgia State on the ledger with a 7 p.m., kickoff on ESPN+.
 
It's just the second matchup between the two schools despite the close proximity. The first was in 2013, the Panthers' first season as a FBS program playing in the Sun Belt Conference. The good guys rolled to a 42-14 triumph, the last FBS win for the Mocs.
 
The Mocs could call Atlanta a second home. A vast majority of the roster comes Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. If you took a protractor (sorry dated reference) and put a 3-hour circle around Atlanta, the numbers are staggering.
 
Week 2: (10) Chattanooga (0-1) at Georgia State (0-1)
Game Time: 7 p.m. | Center Parc Stadium (25,000); Atlanta, Ga.
Series: 1-0 (History) | Media: ESPN+; Mocs Sports Network; Live Stats
Game Notes: GoMocs.com
 
ICYMI – Monday | Tuesday
 
Coaches
Chattanooga: Rusty Wright (UTC '96) | UTC: 30-23 (6th) | Career: Same | vs. Georgia St.: 0-0
Georgia State: Dell McGee (Auburn '95) | GSU: 0-1 (1st) | Career: 1-1 (1st) | vs. UTC: 0-0
 
Media
TV: ESPN+ - Matt Stewart (PxP), Sam Crenshaw (Analysis) & Kevin Barnes (Sideline)
 
Radio: WFLI Chattanooga (96.1 FM, 100.3 FM & 1070 AM) & 99.1 FM Cleveland - Jim Reynolds (PxP), Todd Agne (Analysis) & Will Poindexter (Sideline). Also available online at GoMocs.com.
 
App: Go Mocs & Varsity Network
 
What We're Hearing
"Everything we want to do is right in front of us. Win or lose last Saturday, we have to get better. We knew that going from Week 1 to Week 2 and how important it is to clean some things up and get better as a football team. But I told this team in the locker room after the game, everything we want to do is right in front of us." – Rusty Wright on bouncing back from week 1
 
"They looked good in their first game. They have good players. The QB is good, and they have guys who can run. It was their first game under a new head coach and the second for Georgia Tech, but they battled them from the start. They will be a tough test for our football team." – Wright on Georgia State
 
"Our team looks at it that the greatest growth in a team is from Week 1 to Week 2. We can't look so much at the opponent. It has to be about how we can improve and give ourselves a chance to be successful." - Reuben Lowery on turning the page to Saturday
 
vs. Georgia State
- 2nd meeting. First came in 2013, a 42-14 win for the Mocs.
Chattanooga rushed for 401 yards and amassed 509 yards total offense. The Panthers were limited to 30 yards on the ground and 303 total.
- The 401 rushing yards ranks No. 14 all-time at Chattanooga.
- The Mocs scored 42 points scroing twice in the first and third quarters and once each in the second and fourth to build a 42-0 advantage. GSU scored on two Albert Wilson TD receptions in the fourth to end it at 42-14.
- Mocs TD scorers: Faysal Shafaat (2), Jacob Huesman (2), Keon Williams (1) & Derrick Craine (1).
- GSU Head Coach Dell McGee is in his first year as a collegiate head coach. His record is 1-1 including a win in 2015 as the interim at Georgia Southern.
- Less than 120 miles separate the two campuses.
 
Openers
- Chattanooga Sack Exchange: The Mocs are regularly among the nation's best at pursuing the quarterback. The D-line boasts the last four full season SoCon stat leaders: 2019-Devonnsha Maxwell (7.0), 2021-Maxwell (12.0), 2022-Maxwell/Jay Person (8.0), 2023-Person (9.5). Three of those seasons saw the team register the second (36-2023), third (35-2022) and sixth best (32-2021) campaigns in program history.
- QB Chase Artopoeus is one completion shy of 200 for his career and 187 yards from 3,000. He needs 48 yards total offense to reach 3,000 yards in that category.
- The Mocs have rushed for 8,909 yards in 53 games under Wright, a shade under 170 yards per game.
- WR Javin Whatley (1,468) is 32 yards shy of 1500 for his career.
- LB Alex Mitchell's sixth (of 7) tackle in Knoxville was the 100th of his career.
- Six have career starts in the secondary: Jordan Walker (22), Josh Battle (21), Reuben Lowery III (19), Demetrius Coleman (3), Taylor Smallwood (1) & D'Arco Perkins-McAllister (1).
- Judging by game one and preseason camp, the specialists are taking aim at Scot Kielbock's (1995-98) school record 53-yard field goal against Samford in 1998. Alen Karajic just missed wide left from 55 at Tennessee. He and Jude Kelley have both demonstrated enough leg in practice to easily exceed the distance.
 
Tickets on Sale
Season Tickets are the best option for Mocs fans. Prices start at $60 for general admission. Mocs Club members have the option for reserved seats beginning at the $250 donation level which includes a season parking pass to go with the season ticket. Other choices:

• 3-game mini-plans | Link
• Single Game | Link
• A voucher for tickets is at each of the five branches of the Chattanooga Public Library.

 
SoCon Favorites
The Mocs claimed five first-place votes for a total of 61 points in a preseason poll of Southern Conference head coaches. A maximum of 80 was available as the Mocs were either one or two on every ballot. Furman was second including three top votes with Western Carolina in third with the other. Mercer was next followed by Samford, ETSU, VMI, Wofford and The Citadel. Ten student-athletes made the preseason all-league squad with four on the first team: DT Marlon Taylor (Preseason DPOTY), OL Reid Williams, DB Jordan Walker and WR Javin Whatley.
 
Preseason All-America Teams
Stats Perform: DT Marlon Taylor (2nd), WR Javin Whatley (2nd)
FCS Football Central: DT Marlon Taylor (1st), WR Javin Whatley (1st), OL Reid Williams (2nd)
Phil Steele: DT Marlon Taylor (1st), WR Javin Whatley (2nd), OL Reid Williams (2nd)
 
Watch Lists
Walter Payton Award: QB Chase Artopoeus, WR Javin Whatley
Senior Bowl: DT Marlon Taylor, DB Reuben Lowery III
Shrine Bowl 1000: DT Marlon Taylor, WR Javin Whatley
 
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