2025 Chattanooga Football
Postgame Notes & Records
Oct. 25 – at Samford – Hanna Stadium
 
SETTING THE SCENE
- The Chattanooga Mocs earned a 49-13 win at Samford in Hanna Stadium…the Mocs are now 4-4, 3-1 in the league…the Bulldogs are 1-7, 1-5 in conference play.
- You can call it a streak…three straight wins for the Mocs…eighth straight season with at least one 3-game (or better) win streak…one off the school record of nine set from 1977-85 under three different coaches (Joe Morrison, Bill Oliver & Buddy Nix).
- Rusty Wright has at least one in each of his seven seasons…extends his own school record by a single one head coach.
- Samford's Chris Hatcher is the dean of Southern Conference head football coaches with 11 years leading the Bulldogs…Furman's Clay Hendrix is second with nine followed by Wright in his seventh campaign.
- 9-1 in last 10 SoCon road games…17-7 under Wright.
- 6th straight win in Birmingham for the Mocs…won 12 of last 13 at Samford.
- 50th matchup with the Bulldogs all-time…series dates back to 1906…1st meeting was the 15th game for the Mocs…series notes below.
- Tied for third-longest series for Chattanooga (for now): 59-The Citadel, 55-Furman & 50-Western Carolina…the Mocs play the Catamounts next week before the home finale seven days later vs. the Paladins.
- 15-2 after the last four midseason byes for the program: 2-0 (2025), 5-0 (2024), 3-1 (2022) & 5-1 (2021).
- Wright is 4-0 as a head coach in Pete Hanna Stadium.
- Game captain: QB Camden Orth…7th straight game serving as a captain, third time alone…Chattanooga won toss & chose to defer... 2-3 when winning toss, 2-1 when losing it.
 
COACH RUSTY WRIGHT
- 41-31 in his seventh season…32-16 in SoCon play.
- 21-20 on the road…17-7 in the SoCon.
- 4-2 against Samford…4-0 in Birmingham.
- 19-5 all-time in the month of October.
 
SERIES
Meeting: 50
Record: 35-12-3 | As SoCon Members: 13-3
In Birmingham: 13-5 | As SoCon Members: 8-1
Last 5: 3-2 | Streak: +1 | Road: +6
 
TEAM NOTES
- Won in all three phases of the game…scored three rushing and three passing TDs as well as on the punt return while recording two turnovers.
- Recorded 429 yards of total offense…257 came on the ground with 172 by air…6.9 yards per play.
- Fourth time with 200+ yards rushing this season…3-1 in those games…257 is the third-highest total.
- 41st time under Wright/OC Joe Pizzo with 150+ yards rushing…32-9 in those contests.
- Back-to-back games with zero turnovers on offense.
- Defense held the Bulldogs to 342 yards on 83 plays (4.1 yds/snap)…Samford ran 21 more plays in the contest…even so, the Mocs were plus on time of possession with 32:19 to 27:41.
- Season-high five sacks…entered the game with six on the season...3.5 came by freshmen.
- Mocs entered the game scoring on 94.4 percent on red-zone entries (17/18)…ranked sixth in the nation…went 3-3 for the day, all touchdowns…80 percent of the season scored in the red zone have been TDs (16).
- Offensive line gave up its first sack in nine quarters in the second period today…had not allowed a sack since the last play of The Citadel matchup...ended up allowing just the one with three TFLs total…23 TFL and five sacks allowed in last seven after giving up 17 and six, respectively, over the first two games.
- 21 points in the final period for the Mocs…fourth quarter this season with 21 points: 1st (Stetson), 3rd (Stetson) & 4th (ETSU)…last time with four in a season? 2014: at Austin Peay, VMI, at Western Carolina & at Tennessee Tech.
- Samford got on the scoreboard first with a 1-yard Brady Stober run…1st time Mocs trailed in Birmingham since 2017…Bulldogs scored first in that one as well and led 21-20 late in fourth quarter…Mocs won a 39-yard Victor Ulmo field goal with 19 seconds on the clock.
 
PLAYER NOTES
- A.J. Little's 47-yard punt return for touchdown is his second of the season…1st with two-plus punt return scores since Tommy Hudson in 2014…Little ended up with 140 all-purpose yards…had four catches for 93 yards on offense…the TD was set up by punter Heath Jehu's 41-yarder being downed on the one by Keyshawn Jackson…the defense got a 3-and-out with zero yards given up on a QB run and two pass incompletions.
- Little also scored on a 15-yard pass in the third quarter…first career multi-score game.
- RB Solomon Locke got his first career 100-yard game as a Moc…five carries for 115 yards and two TDs, all in the fourth quarter…scores came on 35 and 31-yard runs between the tackles…had a long of 40 yards.
- Fourth Moc with a 100-yard game this season joining Justus Durant, Journey Wyche and QB Camden Orth…2nd time in school history with four or more in one season...1977: Mike Smith (6), Gwain Durden (5), I.V. Reeves (1) & Allen Johnson (1).
- Orth was 11 of 20 for 172 yards and three TDs…seven TD passes in the last two games…also ran for 50 yards on seven rushes and a touchdown.
- Orth topped 4,000 career passing yards in the third quarter…now has 4,102 with 31 touchdowns…30th was his connection with Little.
- WR Jamarii Robinson had the squad's long TD catch with a 42-yarder to start the fourth quarter making it a 35-7 game…has three TDs in his last 62 minutes of football.
- First start for DL CJ Smith…began the game at right end…24th Moc to make his first career start this season.
- Smith ended up with five tackles, 2.5 for loss including 1.5 sacks and a pass breakup.
- Another 10-tackle day for LB Zion Rutledge with 10 on the nose…third of the season…leads the Mocs with 66 stops on the season.
- P Heath Jehu had eight kicks and averaged 44.1 yards per punt, 43.2 net…long of 55...two were downed inside the 10 including the one on the one mentioned above…five fair catches.
- True freshmen DEs Xavier Parker and Andrew Wynn recorded their first career sacks.
- DE Orlando Daniels had three tackles with 1.5 for loss coming on sacks.
- First interceptions of the season for starting CBs Jeremiah Batiste and KJ Sejour…Sejour's came in Samford territory and preceded the drive that resulted in Little's TD catch…Batiste's came in the Samford end zone.
- There were five pass breakups…one each for Smith, Daniels, DJ Adams, Kamari Todd and Kristian Ozane.
 
SOCON SCOREBOARD
at Furman 24, The Citadel 14
at Mercer 62, VMI 0
at ETSU 14, Wofford 10
 
Click here for scores of games not completed at press time.