This season has been an emotional roller coaster ride for Buccaneer players and coaches and the ride will continue when they travel to Chattanooga for their final Southern Conference game of the season.
After two emotional wins over the Citadel and Furman, the Bucs have had equally emotional losses against Georgia Southern and Wofford.
The Bucs will try to keep their hopes of a winning season alive and avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season against Chattanooga this Saturday.
“It was a difficult loss for our football team,” said ETSU Head Football Coach Paul Hamilton at Tuesday’s media luncheon. “It’ll be a dog fight to have a winning season.”
The Bucs will not be able to give up huge offensive explosions versus the Mocs, like they did against Wofford when halfback Shaun Fogle ran for touchdowns of 62, 78 and 35 yards.
Fogle set the Southern Conference record averaging 38.6 yards per carry, eclipsing the old mark of 29.8 set by the Citadel’s Joe Bedenbaugh in 1970.
“That was a surprise,” said ETSU receiver Cecil Moore. “It’s a surprise that anyone could do that.”
Moore, who leads the Bucs with 45 receptions, said they still have a lot of motivation to finish the season with a winning record.
Hamilton expects his players to pick themselves up after the Wofford loss and finish out the season on a high note.
“Whoever we play, our players expect to win,” Hamilton said. “It was a tough loss to take.”
“I feel confident our team will play hard on the road (versus Chattanooga) and for our last game of the year,” he said.
The Bucs will have to overcome Chattanooga’s passing attack that has them ranked first in the conference in passing offense with 337.7 yards per game and first in yards with 3,039.
However the Bucs lead the conference in passing defense, giving up only 166 yards per game.
The Bucs will also look to continue their recent success against the Mocs, as they have won six of the last eight games, including last year’s contest 28-14 at Mem-orial Center.
Hamilton, though, does expect a different Chatta-nooga team than the one the Bucs went up against last year.
“They are more physical defensively and have matured behind Sanders (Chattanooga quarterback Chris Sanders) offensively,” he said. “Their receiving team is one of the best of any team in the nation.”
The Bucs will look to quarterback Todd Wells to put up the kind of offensive numbers he has posted all season to counter the explosive Chattanooga offense.
Wells will also get another shot at becoming ETSU’s all-time total offense leader, as he trails the record by only seven yards.
Wells is currently ranked 13th nationally in total offense per game with 274.6 yards, and is second in the conference behind Chattanooga’s Sanders, who is averaging 335.1 yards per game.
The kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga.

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