Football Falls to No. 12 Tennessee Tech 24-9 in Home Opener on Saturday

Saturday, September 5

Chattanooga, Tenn.

6 PM

Chattanooga

1-1 , 0-0

Tennessee Tech

2-0 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Tennessee Tech	0	7	10	7	24
Chattanooga	3	3	0	3	9

Photo by: Ray Soldano

9/5/2026 10:23:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

The Chattanooga Mocs football team struggled offensively during its 2026 home opener against the Golden Eagles.

Box Score | Notes | Quotes | Photos

CHATTANOOGA (September 5, 2026) --- Despite a strong defensive effort, the Chattanooga Mocs football team struggled to sustain scoring drives and was held out of the endzone during a 24-9 defeat to No. 12 Tennessee Tech on Saturday evening inside Finley Stadium.

Following the defeat, Chattanooga moves to an even 1-1 while Tennessee Tech improves to 2-0 on the young season. The contest was designated as a non-conference matchup despite TTU joining the SoCon this year as the game was originally scheduled before the conference realignment.

Quick Records & Series
Chattanooga: 1-1
No. 12 Tennessee Tech: 2-0
Series: 42nd all-time meeting between the two programs… UTC now leads the series 31-11.

Game Breakdown

Chattanooga opened the scoring with a 24-yard field goal from Jude Kelley late in the first to put the hosts ahead 3-0 after the first 15 minutes.
Tennessee Tech took a 7-3 lead late in the first half (1:11) after an interception turned into an eight-play scoring drive, capped off by a Marcus Harris II short TD plunge from the doorstep.
Chattanooga responded in the final minute of the half with a six-play, 59-yard scoring drive that ended with a Kelley 33-yard field goal at the buzzer, cutting UTC's deficit to just one at the break 7-6.
After UTC turned the ball over for the second time, Tennessee Tech extended its lead (10-6) with a 50-yard field goal with 6:38 left in the third.
The Golden Eagles opened a double-digit lead, 17-6 (3Q 1:01), after a 16-yard touchdown pass from Jax Leatherwood to Maury Sullivan capped off a quick three-play, 43-yard drive that consumed just over a minute.
Chattanooga pulled within a possession after Kelley's third field goal of the night, this one from 39 yards, made it 17-9 with 8:32 remaining in the contest.
TTU put the game away, 24-9, on an 11-yard touchdown connection from Leatherwood to Gabe Nunez with 2:44 remaining. The 15-point different would settle as the final.

Inside the Stats

Chattanooga (227) and Tennessee Tech (237) both struggled to total huge offensive outputs… UTC amassed 190 of its 227 total yards on offense via the ground attack… averaged 5.4 yards-per-carry while limiting TTU to just 76 rushing yards at a 2.6 per-carry average.
RB Journey Wyche returned to the lineup and racked up 113 rushing yards on just 12 attempts… averaged a blistering 9.4 yard-per-carry… RB Kevin Lalin went for 64 yards on 13 attempts.
Chattanooga totaled just 37 passing yards in the defeat… TTU threw for 161 yards and two scores… UTC also turned the ball over twice through the air with both interceptions leading to TTU touchdowns.

Game Notes

Defense held TTU to 237 total yards with 76 on the ground and 161 in the air…they averaged just 3.9 yards per play… 237 total yards are the fewest against an FCS opponent for the Golden Eagles since 229 against Gardner-Webb on Nov. 11, 2023.
Offense was limited to 227 yards of its own… the 190 rushing yards marked 26th time under Wright and offensive coordinator Joe Pizzo that the Mocs totaled 190+ on the ground.
RB Journey Wyche had 113 yards on 12 carries in his first appearance of the season… second career 100-yard effort… followed Kevin Lalin's 128 yards at West Georgia… last time with back-to-back 100-yard rushing efforts to start the season?... 2006 when Eldra Buckley began with five in a row: 18-204/3 TD vs Tennessee Tech and 24-105 at Memphis.

Postgame Quotes
Rusty Wright, Head Coach
Opening statement.
"Yeah, tough, tough night out there. I knew it was going to be. That's a good football team we just played. I knew we were going to have a hard time, but we gave ourselves a chance, we just didn't execute some things to play better. We just couldn't keep anything going. And then when we needed to get them out, we couldn't get them out. So we have to be better. We have to coach them better. We have to figure out how we can execute a little better and get some things done moving forward."

Up Next
Chattanooga will hit the road to Richmond, Ky., this Saturday (September 12) for a non-conference matchup at Eastern Kentucky. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. (ET) on ESPN+. All game coverage links can be found on the football schedule page at GoMocs.com.

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