Football Falls at No. 3 Tarleton State 52-24 on Saturday

Saturday, September 20

Stephenville, Texas

7 PM

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

1-3 , 0-0

Tarleton State

5-0 , 1-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Chattanooga	14	0	3	7	24
Tarleton St.	10	20	15	7	52

Justus Durant heads back to the bench after a first quarter score at Tarleton State

Photo by: Laura O'Dell

9/20/2025 11:01:00 PM | Football

Box Score

The Chattanooga Mocs football team showcased a strong offensive running attack against one of the top defensive units in the FCS ranks.

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (September 20, 2025) --- The Chattanooga Mocs football team amassed nearly 300 yards on the ground and held a pair of early leads before eventually falling to FCS-power No. 3 Tarleton State 52-24 in the first-ever meeting between the two programs on Saturday night inside Memorial Stadium in Stephenville, Texas.

Quick Records & Series
Chattanooga: 1-3 | #3/3 Tarleton State: 5-0
Series: Tarleton State leads 1-0 after today's inaugural meeting.

Breakdown

Chattanooga jumped ahead twice (7-3, 14-10) in the first quarter following lengthy touchdown runs from Justus Durant (27 yards) and Ryan Ingram (22 yards).
Tarleton State answered with four second quarter scores which included a pair of long touchdowns (48 & 39 yards) and two long field goals (50 & 49 yards) to create a 30-14 lead at the halftime break.
The Mocs received the second half kick and put together a nine-play, 56-yard scoring drive that ended with a 37-yard Jude Kelley FG to stop the TSU scoring run and make it 30-17 early in the third.
Tarleton responded with 15 unanswered points in the third to build a 45-17 lead before capping off the eventual 52-24 decision… Journey Wyche recorded a 33-yard touchdown rush to account for UTC's final score.
All nine combined touchdowns in the game came from at least 22 yards out… seven from 30+ yards… three from 40+.

Scoring Plays
1Q 11:21 (TSU) · B. Larson 27-yd FG · 3-0 (TSU)
1Q 9:40 (UTC) · J. Durant 27-yd TD rush (XP) · 7-3 (UTC)
1Q 8:13 (TSU) · P. Kramer 68-yd TD rec. from V. Gabalis (XP) · 10-7 (TSU)
1Q 5:05 (UTC) · R. Ingram 22-yd TD rush (XP) · 14-10 (UTC)

2Q 11:14 (TSU) · T. Page III 48-yd TD rush (XP) · 17-14 (TSU)
2Q 4:46 (TSU) · P. Kramer 39-yd TD rec. from D. Greek (XP) · 24-14 (TSU)
2Q 2:26 (TSU) · C. Poston 50-yd FG · 27-14 (TSU)
2Q 0:07 (TSU) · C. Poston 49-yd FG · 30-14 (TSU)

3Q 9:19 (UTC) · J. Kelley 37-yd FG · 30-17 (TSU)
3Q 8:43 (TSU) · P. Kramer 38-yd TD rec. from D. Greek (XP) · 37-17 (TSU)
3Q 1:30 (TSU) · T. Rawls 50-yd INT TD return (2PT GOOD) · 45-17 (TSU)

4Q 9:45 (UTC) · J. Wyche 33-yd TD rush (XP) · 45-24 (TSU)
4Q 2:45 (TSU) · C. Lewis 35-yd TD rush (XP) · 52-24 (TSU)

Resources: Stats | Notes | Quotes | Series

Chattanooga Top Performers
QB Camden Orth: 7-of-14, 117 yards, 11 rushes, 99 yards
RB Justus Durant: 11 rushes, 88 yards, TD
RB Journey Wyche: 9 rushes, 75 yards, TD
RB Ryan Ingram: 6 rushes, 30 yards, TD
WR Josh Williams: 3 catches, 64 yards
LB Zion Rutledge: 13 tackles (6 solo; 7 asts), 1.5 TFL

Notes to Know

Chattanooga and Tarleton State met for the first time on Saturday… first game in the state of Texas for Chattanooga since 2016's playoff game at No. 1 Sam Houston State… last game in Texas before that was 11/19/1966 at North Texas.
292 yards rushing is a season high against Tarleton State…exceeds the 280 by Army in double overtime…16 yards more than the 276 combined by three previous FCS opponents (Portland State/Mississippi Valley State/Central Arkansas).
Back-to-back weeks with 200+ yards rushing...last done Oct. 30-Nov. 6, 2021 with 515 total yards in wins over Furman (245) and at Wofford (270)...did it three straight weeks earlier in the season (Oct. 2-16) against Western Carolina (271), at VMI (242) and ETSU (231)…737 for the last two weeks…averaged 8.0 per carry (92-737) over that span.

Quotable
Rusty Wright, Head Coach – "For the most part, we battled. We figured that part out. We have some good players and we have kids fighting their tails off. That was the best team we've played in the FCS since I've been here. By far. We have to do a lot of things better, that's for sure. I can tell you next week is going to be just as hard as this one, so we have to be ready and get ready. Our guys poured their guts out tonight, some things just aren't controllable."

Zion Rutledge, LB-Sr. – "The biggest thing was trying to set the tone. We didn't want them to run the ball and we did that for the most part. It was encouraging. We still have to improve in that area, but the thing I'm most proud of is that we came out and competed. These guys are just ready to compete. This is a strong-minded group and there's never any complaints. We just care about getting better day-by-day."

Up Next
Chattanooga returns home to open Southern Conference action as the squad welcomes The Citadel for a 6 p.m. (ET) matchup inside Finley Stadium. Fans can purchase tickets in advance HERE or catch the game LIVE on ESPN+. All game coverage links are available at GoMocs.com.

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