NOTES | QUOTES | STATS | PHOTOS
 
CHATTANOOGA---The Chattanooga Mocs rolled to a 34-10 season-opening win over visiting Tennessee Tech at Finley Stadium. The Mocs used a quick-strike offense and sticky-fingered defense.
 
Defense set the tone early. Kareem Orr got the first takeaway of the contest. With Tech pinned deep in their own territory, he picked off a Bailey Fisher offering at the Eagles 27. The TTU defense held leading to the Mocs first points of the season on a 37-yard Victor Ulmo field goal. Ulmo added another from 20 yards out on the next possession for a 6-0 lead.
 
Tech's defense answered. Nick Tiano's pass in the flat to Bingo Morton was deflected and landed in Josh Poplar's hands. Fourteen yards later it was a 7-6 deficit.
 
Mid-way through the second quarter, the Mocs had an improbable strike. Tiano hit Bryce Nunnelly with a screen pass. The sophomore got past a tackler and sprinted 89 yards down the right sideline to get the lead back, 13-7.
 
Jerrell Lawson made it a 20-7 advantage early in the third stanza. He picked off Fisher's pass across the middle of the field and brought it back for the 26-yard score. Tyrell Price added a 40-yard run, with Wil Young's 63-yard catch-and-run sandwiching a 37-yard TTU field goal by Nick Madonia wrapping up the scoring at 34-10 through three quarters.
 
With 10:25 to play, storms hit. Two hours, 50 minutes later play resumed at 12:35 a.m. The Mocs held strong inside their own 10 turning the ball over on downs cementing the final tally.
 
QUOTABLE
Check out all we heard at the quotes link at the top of this story.
 
"Well it was an interesting game. I thought it was a game that we came out and played well. We forced a turnover on defense and then unfortunately missed some opportunities on offense in the redzone. I was really happy in the way we continued to respond. There was a couple moments in that game, after that pick-six interception, you weren't quite sure where the team was going to go. We were able to come back after really putting ourselves in bad situations with bad penalties. We converted a third-and-long and that turned into a touchdown. I thought that was the story of the night for me, it was how we responded." – Head Coach Tom Arth.
 
"Five yards past the sideline, I could see up on the video board that no one was really close. That was pretty cool to look up and see how far they were behind me. I really didn't have to do anything, the line held up, Nick made a great throw, so all I had to do was catch and run." – Sophomore wide receiver Bryce Nunnelly.
 
NOTABLE
Three notes from today's contest. Check out the full complement of facts and figures in the link above.

• The 89-yard touchdown play from Nick Tiano to Bryce Nunnally is the fifth longest in UTC history and longest since Stefpon Hawkins caught a school-record 94-yarder from Brian Hampton at Georgia Southern on Sept. 27, 1997.
• The Mocs had six splash plays with two rushes of 20+ yards and four receptions of 30+ on the night. Those six are just two less than the eight the offense had in all of 2017 (three 20+ runs/five 30+ catches). Tyrell Price's 40-yard TD run came right after Nick Tiano had a 24-yard scamper. Tiano found Bryce Nunnally on passes of 42 and 89 yards, Price for 30 on the number and Wil Young for 63.
• This is the first win in a season opener for the Mocs against a DI opponent in 12 years. The last was also at home Tennessee Tech on Aug. 31, 2006.

 
STATS
Check out the final stats at the link above. Here are three stats of note…

• Three takeaways for the Mocs led to 10 points. Seven of those points came on Jerrell Lawson's pick 6. The team was +2 for the night on takeaway margin.
• Tiano had a career-high 318 yards passing. It's the most in a season opener since B.J. Coleman's 340 in the 42-41 shootout loss to No. 3 Appalachian State on Sept. 4, 2010.
• Derek Mahaffey tied his career high of nine tackles.

 
NEXT UP
The Mocs start Southern Conference play next weekend at The Citadel. Game time is 6 p.m., at Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston, S.C. The Bulldogs' production airs on ESPN+. Tennessee Tech's returns to Cookeville to host Kennesaw State.
 
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