If Chattanooga coach Rusty Wright is correct, his team has the right mindset heading into its season-opener against Tennessee on Saturday. That approach and the Mocs’ roster should at least get the Vols’ attention.
Why? Simple. Wright said his team hasn’t even discussed expectations, which have the Mocs winning the Southern Conference, according to its preseason coaches’ poll. Chattanooga won an FCS playoff game last season, returns 15 starters this season and have brought in 16 transfers while just losing six to the portal.
Chattanooga returns its top quarterback, Chase Artopoeus, as well as its top two receivers from last season and three of its five starting offensive linemen. Defensively, the Mocs return their top four tacklers from last season.
“It’s kind of funny,” Wright said during The Dave Hooker Show on Off The Hook Sports. “…I can’t remember even hearing a player even make mention of us being picked first in our league or where anybody thinks we are. I think this group just puts their heads down and just goes to work every day. Sometimes it’s good. Sometimes it’s bad, but they go to work every day and they show up and try to get it figured out.”
Much has been made of the Vols’ built-in advantage of playing Chattanooga in front of a raucous crowd in Neyland Stadium. Wright has had his support staff pump in audio of “Rocky Top” during practice, but can that really help when the game kicks off on Saturday at 12:45?
“You can’t,” Wright said of simulating a game in Neyland Stadium. “We don’t practice in a stadium, so it’s really hard when you don’t practice in a stadium to simulate that noise.
“We got music blaring and doing all that, but there’s very few people that can simulate what we’re getting ready to step into on Saturday. I don’t care who you are and where you’re at, it’s hard to do so we try to do the best we can.”
Wright said Chattanooga has non-verbal tactics in place to handle some crowd noise. That will all be tested on Saturday when the Mocs have the ball. Wright has coached in Neyland Stadium before, in 2014 and in 2019, as an assistant coach for Chattanooga and Georgia State, respectively. In both instances, the Vols were struggling and coming off of multiple losses. The crowd figures to be more hyped on Saturday than Wright has faced before. However, Wright said that really shouldn’t matter. Loud is loud.
“It’s always been loud no matter what,” Wright said with a smile. “It doesn’t matter where that program is because those people are proud of that football team and they’re excited about that football team no matter what’s going on. That’s the thing. People are going to show up and watch those guys play.”
