2025 Chattanooga Football
Postgame Notes & Records
Sept. 20, 2025 – at Tarleton State – Tarleton Memorial Stadium
 
SETTING THE SCENE
- The Chattanooga Mocs was defeated 52-28 at No. 3 Tarleton State Saturday night at Tarleton Memorial Stadium…the Mocs are now 1-3, while the Texans move to 5-0.
- The Texans entered the game ranked third in the nation in both major FCS polls…0-2 this season against ranked opposition, both on the road…4-5 on the road vs ranked FCS opponents under Coach Rusty Wright.
- 2-2 all-time against the fledgling United Athletic Conference football association…2-0 against Austin Peay & 0-1 vs. North Alabama as members at the time of kickoff.
- The Mocs have one Texas native on the roster…WR Erik Bussman almost gets a trip home…he's a native of Southlake which is roughly 100 miles from Tarleton Memorial Stadium…last native Texan on the roster prior to Bussman? CaMiron Smith (2018-22)…the corner was nearly a 5-year starter from Cedar Hill playing 48 games with 22 passes defensed (5 INT/19 PBU)…2-time CoSIDA Academic All-District and FCS Academic All-Star selection.
- Final of four straight non-conference matchups to start the season…2021 (Austin Peay, at North Alabama, at Kentucky) is the last time the non-conference portion was cleared before beginning conference play.
- First time starting with three road games in the first four contests since 2011…opened 2-2 losing at No. 10 Nebraska (7-40) before topping No. 10 Jacksonville State (38-17) in week 2..followed by a win at Eastern Kentucky (23-14) before the heart-breaking loss at No. 3 App State (12-14).
- Game captains: QB Camden Orth and DT Montrell Henderson…1-1 when the duo serve as captains…won the toss and deferred... 0-3 when winning toss, 1-0 when losing it…have started on defense in all four games.
 
COACH RUSTY WRIGHT
- 38-30 in his sixth season…9-15 in non-conference play…9-6 against FCS opponents.
- 0-1 against Tarleton State…0-1 on the road.
- 4-13 in non-conference road games (4-4 FCS).
 
SERIES
Meeting: 1
Record: 0-1
In Stephenville: 0-1
 
TEAM NOTES
- Coach Rusty Wright led the Mocs out for the 68th time as head coach…tied for fifth-longest tenure with former Texas Tech Heisman Trophy candidate Rodney Allison (2003-08)…Joe Morrison (1973-79) looms in fourth with 77.
- Scored on first possession for second straight week…trailing 3-0, the Mocs quickly scooted 67 yards in three plays with a 27-yard Justus Durant run serving as the TD play…big play was a second down 39-yard pass and run from Camden Orth to Josh Williams…career-long reception for Williams.
- Mocs led 14-10 after first quarter…Texans took control of the contest with 20 unanswered points in the second.
- 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.
- 7.9 yards per carry tonight is second-highest total in school history behind last week's 8.1 against Stetson.
- 1-1 in the red zone tonight (FG)… entered the contest tied for the NCAA DI lead in red zone offense scoring on 100 percent of their incursions inside the opponent's 20…on the flip side, Tarleton leads the FCS allowing scores on just 44.4 percent of opponent entries into the red zone…that included just one touchdown and 16 total points.
- Entered the contest 23rd in the nation in 3rd down conversions (44.4%)…held to 1-9 tonight.
- Allowed just one sack and six TFLs…42nd game with one or fewer sacks allowed in the Wright Era.
- 27:50 in time of possession…first time this season without holding more possession than opponent.
 
PLAYER NOTES
- QB Camden Orth led the rushing attack for another week…11 carries for 99 yards…117 passing yards on seven of 14 passing.
- 58-yard first quarter run by Orth is the longest by a Mocs QB since Jacob Huesman '15 rumbled for 60 in the Oct. 31, 2015 win over Western Carolina.
- RB Justus Durant with 88 yards tonight on 11 carries with one score.
- Three RB TDs in back-to-back contests with Durant (27 yds), Ryan Ingram (22) and Journey Wyche (33) finding the end zone...1st time since the 2021 win at Wofford with Ailym Ford, Tyrell Price and Gino Appleberry getting one each.
- Wyche ended with 75 yards on nine rushes.
- P Heath Jehu's first effort was a 66-yard boomer, a career long that hit the two and dribbled into the end zone for just his third career touchback…broke that high with a 70 yarder in the second half.
- Jehu had a career-high four 50+-yard punts with two downed inside 20.
- Career-high 13 tackles for LB Zion Rutledge…season high by a Moc…1.5 tackles for loss led the squad.
- DB KJ Sejour had one of the squad's three pass breakups…team-high five for the season.
- DT Isaiah Harvey collected his first career sack.
 
SOCON SCOREBOARD
at Virginia Tech 38, Wofford 6
Mercer 38 at The Citadel 0
at Richmond 38, VMI 14
at Western Carolina 50, Samford 35
Elon at ETSU
Click here for scores of games not completed at press time.