Football Posts 3rd Consecutive SoCon Victory - University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletics

Saturday, October 31

Chattanooga, Tenn.

1 PM

Chattanooga

6-3 , 5-1

VMI

0-9 , 0-5

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
VMI	3	0	7	0	10
Chattanooga	0	14	3	7	24

Notes Quotes

Montrell Henderson

Photo by: Laura O'Dell

10/31/2026 3:18:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

The Chattanooga Mocs football team continued its winning ways and improves to 5-1 in SoCon action after handling the VMI Keydets on Saturday.

CHATTANOOGA (October 31, 2026) --- The Chattanooga Mocs football team displayed a balanced effort and earned a 24-10 victory over VMI during Southern Conference action on a beautiful Halloween Saturday afternoon inside Finley Stadium. Chattanooga has now won its last three games and improves to 6-3 overall and 5-1 inside league play. VMI falls to 0-9 overall and 0-5 in SoCon action after the defeat.

Quick Records & Series
Chattanooga: 6-3, 5-1 SoCon
VMI: 0-9, 0-5 SoCon
Series: 40th all-time meeting… UTC now leads the all-time series 30-9-1… now leads 12-3-1 in Chattanooga.

Game Breakdown

VMI struck first after a 14-play, 82-yard drive (7:40) ended with a Jack Joyce 29-yard field to give the Keydets an early 3-0 lead with 1:31 left in the first.
Chattanooga answered on the ensuing drive as QB Battle Alberson capped off a 10-play, 66-yard scoring drive with a 14-yard touchdown run to put the hosts ahead 7-3 with 11:46 remaining before half.
Chattanooga took a 14-3 halftime lead after an explosive 66-yard touchdown catch and run from WR Taylor Crumedy with 1:08 left before the break.
VMI answered on the first drive of the second half as QB JoJo Crump connected with WR Zion Trump on a 40-yard touchdown to trim its deficit to 14-10 at the 10:28 mark of the third.
K Jude Kelley knocked through a 46-yard field goal to extend Chattanooga's lead to 17-10 with 1:16 left in the third quarter. The Mocs capped off the 24-10 victory with a Journey Wyche three-yard touchdown run late in the fourth.

Inside the Stats

Chattanooga accumulated 353 total yards of offense… limited VMI to 241… earned a 218-117 (+101) advantage on the ground… posted a +7 edge in total first downs (22-15).
QB Battle Alberson went just 5-of-8 through the air but totaled 135 passing yards with a touchdown… recorded 35 yards and a touchdown on seven rushes… WR Taylor Crumedy caught four passes for 124 yards and a TD… RB Journey Wyche ran it 15 times for 56 yards and a TD… RB Kevin Lalin led all rushers with 88 yards on 16 attempts.
Chattanooga did not attempt a punt during the victory… VMI only punted once and won the TOP battle 32:10-27:50… UTC went 6-of-9 (67%) on third downs… did turn the ball over twice (both interceptions).

Game Notables

Offense tallied a season-high 22 first downs…one better than last week's 21 at Western Carolina…third time this year with 20+ first downs.
Sixth time in nine games allowing 250 yards or less to an opponent after today's victory.
Chattanooga has allowed just 60 points over the last six games (10.0 ppg)... fewest in a 6-game stretch since the final six games of 1957 (53-8.83).

Postgame Quotes
HC Rusty Wright on finding ways to win games: "I mean for turning the ball over twice, we're lucky. Very lucky to go win a football game, but you know the biggest thing is, we found a way to play and win a football game when we didn't play our best. I don't care what their record is. Doesn't matter. Every Saturday you have to figure it out."

DL Montrell Henderson on this week's prep: "This week we just preached on shooting our gaps, maintaining our gaps, and just doing our jobs at the point of attack because that's where they want to hit the ball."

Up Next | Buy Tickets
Chattanooga caps off its home slate next weekend for a Homecoming matchup against Southern Conference foe Mercer on Saturday (November 7). Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. (ET) inside Finley Stadium. Fans can watch the game live on ESPN+, follow live stats at GoMocs.com, or listen on WFLI 96.1 FM/100.3 FM/1070 AM.

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