CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — For the first time in program history, the Chattanooga Mocs football team has been picked as Stats Perform’s FCS National Team of the Week, a reward for a lopsided 41-18 road win over Western Carolina.
Word of the award came Monday morning. It caps a weekend in which the Mocs leaned on the run game, piling up 295 yards on the ground and scoring five rushing touchdowns, something the team had not done since 2019.
Two backs carried the load. Kevin Lalin gained 135 yards and Journey Wyche added 105, the second game this fall in which both topped 100 yards.
The turning point came on special teams. Graduate kicker Jude Kelley drilled a 57-yard field goal just before halftime, the longest in school history, to knot the score at 10. Chattanooga then scored the next 27 points and never looked back. Coming out of the locker room with the ball, the Mocs needed just four plays to find the end zone and spoil the home team’s Homecoming in the Smokies.
The defense did its part against a Catamounts team that had been scoring 49 points per game at home. Western Carolina managed only 207 yards over the first 53-plus minutes before a late touchdown drive. That score came on an 88-yard march after the Mocs had already put the game away, and it was the only real damage the Catamounts did all afternoon.
Head coach Rusty Wright credited a strong week of practice and game plans from his staff on both sides of the ball.
Chattanooga now plays at home the next two Saturdays, with VMI visiting for Senior Day on Oct. 31. A week later, on Nov. 7, Mercer is the Homecoming opponent.
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