CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football head coach Russ Huesman adressed the media on Tuesday in his weekly luncheon held at McKenzie Arena. Sophomore linebacker Wes Dothard and junior running back Chris Awauh added thier thoughts on the Jacksonville State victory and preparing for Eastern Kentucky.

Chattanooga travels to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. (E.D.T) contest. Fans can follow the action with live stats and audio on the football schedule page of GoMocs.com

Head Coach Russ Huesman
Opening Statement:
"It's always nice to sit up here after a win. A win that I thought was a really good win for our program and team. We beat a good team on Saturday. Jacksonville State has a lot of talent. They have good football players and are well coached. For us to come out with a big win was huge for our guys. We needed one. We were 0-1 and we needed to be 1-1. It was important that we played well and get a win for our home crowd. I thought we played well on the offensive side of the ball.

"Defensively, it was a sluggish start for us, but I think our guys got going a little bit. That's what good defenses do. When you see the blood in the water, you go attack and our guys did that. I am proud of them. Our linebackers are playing really well. D.J. Key is a monster out there. He's really good. Up front we were okay, but I thought both sides of the ball played well.

"Our kicking game was very average. We have to get better at that phase of the game.

"I think they had confidence coming out of Nebraska. I think they have confidence now. You want to have confidence, but you don't want to be too confident. They have to be humble and continue to work. If we want to have a great year, we have to come out there every single day and get better."

On the tough schedule ahead:
"We've got good enough players to play with anybody on our schedule and compete. We're athletic, our kids work hard and football is important to them. If we stay healthy, I think we can compete with everybody we are playing."

On the play of D.J. Key:
"We knew he had a lot of ability, but he is playing a lot better than we ever would have imagined. We thought D.J. Key could be a superstar player and he's playing like that. It is probably surprising a lot of people, but we knew he was one of our best football players on the team. It is not really a surprise, but he is playing like we thought he could play."

On moving up in the rankings:
"The FCS rankings are huge and we should put a lot of stock in them. They are huge because the top five ranked teams get seeds. They probably use some of those season rankings to place teams. The bottom line is you want to be a top-five seed and get home field advantage the whole time. If you are ranked, then you have probably won enough games to be in the playoffs."

Junior Running Back Chris Awauh
On his play this year compared to last year:
"The biggest difference between this year and last year is I am more humble. I had a lot of success coming off my freshman year, but things didn't work out as well during my sophomore year. Now that I have my opportunity here as a junior I have been taking it all in. I feel strong and fast."

On getting the starting tail back position:
"I came to Chattanooga as a tail back, but things didn't work out. It was great to hear I was going to be a tail back again, but you just have to be patient. You have to keep working hard every day at practice and wait for your time to come.

"Without my linemen I wouldn't have any yards. They are a young group, but they are a confident and hardworking group. I have to run and try to make the right reads, cuts and get my head down."

Sophomore Linebacker Wes Dothard
On the defense being able to put their opponent away this year:
"We have been focusing on finishing. Ever since those two first games that we lost last year to App and Jacksonville State, the focus has been on the defense finishing the game. We carried that over from last season to this season. In the second half, all that you could hear coming from us was finish the game."

On exceeding coach Huesman's expectations:
"From the spring, coach [Adam] Fuller and I sat down and he asked me about my goals for this upcoming season. One of my first goals was to make a 3.0 G.P.A. My second goal was to be an All-SoCon player. We just worked hard over the summer. I think that all of my work is starting to pay off as we are progressing during the season. We will see."