CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football head coach Russ Huesman and freshman Jacob Huesman met the media on Tuesday afternoon to discuss last week's win over Furman and the Mocs' upcoming game against Samford.
Kickoff for Saturday's Southern Rail Rivaley is set for 1:30 p.m. at Finley Stadium. Video is available through MocsVision and live audio is available on ESPN 105.1 FM.
Head Coach Russ Huesman
Thoughts on the Mocs win over Furman
"To go on the road and win a conference game against a team that has been good for a long time and has great tradition is really good. For our guys to go get back-to-back road wins is huge. I thought we played really well in all three phases of the game. Offensively I thought Coach Satterfield called a really good game, did a good job of putting us in a bunch of different formations and getting the ball in the playmakers' hands. Defensively we played pretty solid. Probably the biggest disappointment was the lack of turnovers. We had a lot of opportunities. We dropped six interceptions. We have to get that corrected or it will come back and haunt us. I was extremely proud of Nick Pollard on special teams. I think he kicked four out of five kick-offs for touchbacks, and he averaged 48.5 yards a punt with four down inside the 20 and two down inside the five. He's doing a really good job with our pooch also. And the coverage was excellent. Overall it was a good win for us."
Thoughts on hosting Samford
"Obviously we have Samford coming in on Saturday. I know they are good. They lost to Georgia Southern in a really good game and lost to Appalachian State this past weekend, but they could very easily be 6-1. They dropped an interception on App's last drive with 40 seconds to go. If they make that play, they could be 6-1 and top 15 in the country. So we have a good team coming in. I don't see any weaknesses in any phase of their game. So we're going to have to play well this week to get a win."
On what has been the difference in the defense the past two games
"I think we are tackling better and taking better angles to the football. We're actually playing better in the secondary. I think in the last two games we haven't given up any real big plays. I think we gave up too many big plays against App. We're just getting better every week on defense and I like the direction we're going."
Thoughts on where the change started on defense
"I thought we were going to be pretty good at the beginning of the year, but the one thing that was hurting us was our secondary wasn't playing very well in the beginning. They've come along and have gotten better. Anytime there is a 20-yard gain or more or anytime there is a big play normally the secondary is involved. I've coached secondary my whole life, so I told our guys if there is a big play, somebody in the secondary was wrong. To be good you have to be good back there and they're doing a better job."
On what the defense is doing to be better
"We were kind of thin and playing a lot of nickel and dime, so we needed to get more athletic players in there to defend the spread. We put Semaji Kendall back there playing some corner or free, and Chaz Moore was also playing corner in the nickel. So we were doing a lot of mixing and matching in the beginning to where as now we have settled in. Getting Dean Haynes backed has helped us so now we can practice in our specific spots. Overall a little bit less of mix and match and letting guys settle in to where they play their best."
Jacob Huesman, freshman, Quarterback
On how much he enjoys running this offense
"It's a lot of fun, especially what we were doing against Furman. We were doing some crazy stuff. I would start in shotgun and bump out to wide receiver and Terrell would throw it. We even let Chris Awuah throw one. It was a lot of fun. There are so many possibilities that it keeps the defense guessing. I even got to catch a couple of passes which was pretty fun because it is something that I do not really get to do."
On the purpose of all the trick plays
"A lot of times we will manipulate it so that we have numbers and then motion someone across the formation to get a mismatch. Obviously a lot of it is stuff they have never seen before so there is going to be confusion on defense. I guarantee you that they did not expect Chris Awuah to be the only one in the backfield and both quarterbacks are spread out wide. Before the snap you could tell they did not have that great of a grasp of what was going on. You can't win games off of just trick plays, just like you can't win games just running the ball or just throwing ball. You can put together a couple of wins but you can't win consistently. It's a nice change of pace though."
On the momentum UTC has after winning two conference games on the road
"It's huge. I think we've built a lot of momentum. I think the Southern Conference is one of the best conferences in FCS football. There is never going to be an easy game, let alone an easy road game. To go on the road against two tough football teams and win is a pretty big thing for anybody, especially coming off the situation we were in two weeks against The Citadel. We were coming off a lost against App and it was kind of a must-win for us. We scrapped that one out and won that one, and then we built off that momentum and went to Furman and beat them. Hopefully we can keep that going, but it just depends on how it goes in practice every week. I thought we had two of our better weeks of practice in those weeks of the wins."
