Photo by: Laura O'Dell
Postgame Quotes - ETSU
10/3/2026 6:14:00 PM | Football
2026 Chattanooga Mocs FootballÂ
Postgame QuotesÂ
October 3 – at ETSU
Johnson City, Tenn. | WIlliam B. Greene Stadium
Rusty Wright, Head Coach
Opening thoughts after defeat.
"We had some opportunities to do a couple of things. We had a chance, as crazy as it was, we had a chance to take the lead in the third quarter while playing the field position game. We got the ball down there and did some good things, but we didn't take advantage of those opportunities. We have to do a lot of things right. I've said it since day one. We have to do a lot of things right, both sides of the football and also in the kicking game, to be a good football team. They made a couple of more plays than we did. That was the difference."
On today's game plan.
"We were trying to play the field position game and get some things going that way. When you do that, you can't turn it over. That was hard to overcome [Alberson fumble near the redzone]. There's momentum and all those things, but those are things we cannot do and get away with. We cannot turn the ball over, especially in that situation down there. In a game this tight with two good defenses playing each other, you can't turn it over. We can't make mistakes like that against talented football teams and win games."
On moving forward.
"I just told those kids, it's one game. You can let it define the season, or you can respond to it and figure things out. It's been a long haul. It's been a long haul for this bunch, but that's the whole deal of this thing. We have to go play, and play better, and do things better to win games. Give credit to these guys here [ETSU]. They went and figured out a way to win a football game. I give them a lot of credit. They figured how to win a football game. I told our guys, we had opportunities to change that narrative. And that's the thing. It's like every Saturday is completely different. And we have to figure it out along the way. It's just a matter of getting things done and doing those things correctly. We have to take advantage of the field position stuff, the turnovers, the penalties, the basic things. We just can't miss out on those opportunities."
Ryan Bell, DL-Jr.
On the defensive's quality effort.
"It just comes down to practicing a lot of situations. We can't have a perfect defense, that's obvious, no one can, we really succeed in fighting and being aggressive. Even when things happen negatively, we always bounce back and still swing. We just have a cohesive group who knows their assignments and we play with confidence."
On the unit's aggression.
"Coming in, we had an emphasis on stopping the run and being aggressive. As soon as I got here to UTC, we were preached of being the most aggressive defense in the league. That's what we try to play towards. We have great guys all around and we just want to play aggressive and play fast, and I think we've done that so far."
Devin Lively, OL-Sr.
On the offense's fast start.
"Yeah, it's important to come out and start fast. We done a better job at that today than we have all year. We just couldn't sustain that today. It's unfortunate."
On what made ETSU defense effective.
"They shoved some extra guys in there. We have to find a better way to execute up front and spring those guys. We had some chances to get some blocks out there to create space, we just did not execute to the ability we should and know how to."
On tough breaks and adversity.
"Those things are going to happen. We had opportunities to go down and win the game today. Those things are going to happen, we just have to find a way to take advantage of what the defense is giving us."
Â
Ashton Schumann, WR-Sr.
On what didn't click for the offense today.
"It's execution. The coaches put us in the right calls, and situations, we just have to execute and make plays. That's the biggest thing for us, execution."
On moving forward.
"The best thing that we can get out of this, is that feeling of losing. It's that bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. You just have to take that feeling and move forward. We'll wash it out and use it as fuel."
Â
Postgame QuotesÂ
October 3 – at ETSU
Johnson City, Tenn. | WIlliam B. Greene Stadium
Rusty Wright, Head Coach
Opening thoughts after defeat.
"We had some opportunities to do a couple of things. We had a chance, as crazy as it was, we had a chance to take the lead in the third quarter while playing the field position game. We got the ball down there and did some good things, but we didn't take advantage of those opportunities. We have to do a lot of things right. I've said it since day one. We have to do a lot of things right, both sides of the football and also in the kicking game, to be a good football team. They made a couple of more plays than we did. That was the difference."
On today's game plan.
"We were trying to play the field position game and get some things going that way. When you do that, you can't turn it over. That was hard to overcome [Alberson fumble near the redzone]. There's momentum and all those things, but those are things we cannot do and get away with. We cannot turn the ball over, especially in that situation down there. In a game this tight with two good defenses playing each other, you can't turn it over. We can't make mistakes like that against talented football teams and win games."
On moving forward.
"I just told those kids, it's one game. You can let it define the season, or you can respond to it and figure things out. It's been a long haul. It's been a long haul for this bunch, but that's the whole deal of this thing. We have to go play, and play better, and do things better to win games. Give credit to these guys here [ETSU]. They went and figured out a way to win a football game. I give them a lot of credit. They figured how to win a football game. I told our guys, we had opportunities to change that narrative. And that's the thing. It's like every Saturday is completely different. And we have to figure it out along the way. It's just a matter of getting things done and doing those things correctly. We have to take advantage of the field position stuff, the turnovers, the penalties, the basic things. We just can't miss out on those opportunities."
Ryan Bell, DL-Jr.
On the defensive's quality effort.
"It just comes down to practicing a lot of situations. We can't have a perfect defense, that's obvious, no one can, we really succeed in fighting and being aggressive. Even when things happen negatively, we always bounce back and still swing. We just have a cohesive group who knows their assignments and we play with confidence."
On the unit's aggression.
"Coming in, we had an emphasis on stopping the run and being aggressive. As soon as I got here to UTC, we were preached of being the most aggressive defense in the league. That's what we try to play towards. We have great guys all around and we just want to play aggressive and play fast, and I think we've done that so far."
Devin Lively, OL-Sr.
On the offense's fast start.
"Yeah, it's important to come out and start fast. We done a better job at that today than we have all year. We just couldn't sustain that today. It's unfortunate."
On what made ETSU defense effective.
"They shoved some extra guys in there. We have to find a better way to execute up front and spring those guys. We had some chances to get some blocks out there to create space, we just did not execute to the ability we should and know how to."
On tough breaks and adversity.
"Those things are going to happen. We had opportunities to go down and win the game today. Those things are going to happen, we just have to find a way to take advantage of what the defense is giving us."
Â
Ashton Schumann, WR-Sr.
On what didn't click for the offense today.
"It's execution. The coaches put us in the right calls, and situations, we just have to execute and make plays. That's the biggest thing for us, execution."
On moving forward.
"The best thing that we can get out of this, is that feeling of losing. It's that bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. You just have to take that feeling and move forward. We'll wash it out and use it as fuel."
Â
Players Mentioned
Saturday, October 10
Tuesday, October 06
Tuesday, September 29
Tuesday, September 22
