The East Tennessee State football team travels to Chattanooga Saturday for its final regular season game. Kickoff for the conference matchup is set for 1:30 p.m.
Chattanooga is coming off its first win of the season. The Mocs defeated The Citadel last Saturday in a 34-31 win. The win ended UTC’s nine-game losing streak.
“We were finally able to close one out,” Moc head coach Donnie Kirkpatrick said. “That’s a tough place to play in Charleston.It’s always difficult to win a ballgame in that atmosphere.”
ETSU (4-7, 2-5) and Chattanooga (1-9, 1-5) will meet for the 37th time in a series that started in 1961. The Mocs hold a 19-17-1 advantage in the series. The Bucs won last year’s game, 32-10, in Johnson City.
The Bucs have won the last three meetings and eight of the last 10. UTC won two straight in 1997 and ’98 and holds a 12-8 adavantage in Chattanooga.
Hamilton is 3-2 against the Mocs while Kirkpatrick has played the Bucs twice and lost both.
Hamilton, in his sixth season with the Bucs, has a career record of 33-33 and has led the Bucs to three straight winning seasons.
Jason Jones caught a pair of touchdown passes and also blocked a punt that resulted in a touchdown in the win over The Citadel.
The game featured two ties and four lead changes.
Jones posted his third 100-yard receiving performance of the season and hauled in five passes for 122 yards and two scores.
QB Ryan McCann connected on 18-of-23 passes for 222 yards and a career-high four touchdowns which contributed to the Mocs win over the Bulldogs.
“They have good athletes and their quarterback is an outstanding football player,” ETSU head coach Paul Hamilton said. “I understand he had some injuries early in the season but, gosh, he looks good now.He’s really making some plays.”
Defensively, linebacker Josh Cain leads UTC and the SoCon in tackles with 157. Cain racked up 10 tackles against The Citadel to mark his 11th straight double-digit performance.
“They’ve been playing well but they’ve had a tough year,” Hamilton said.I’ve got to commend coach Kirkpatrick and his staff. They’ve got them playing hard.”
McCann and the Chattanooga offense finished the game against The Citadel with a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive that lasted 3:06.
The win was UTC’s first on the road since winning the 2001 season opener at Samford.
“We had a very good offensive ball game where we could do some things and we got some turnovers on defense,” Kirkpatrick said.
Linebacker Gerald Sensabaugh scored on a 20-yard fumble return for the Bucs against Wofford, marking the second straight game the Bucs have scored on a fumble return. The Bucs’ offense has not scored a touchdown in 13 straight quarters.
“East Tennessee is a very talented defensive team,” Kirkpatrick said. “Paul Hamilton has them playing hard and they’ve got some experienced players back from last year.
“They have got one of the best receivers in the league (in Cecil Moore),” Kirkpatrick said. “It will be a challenge for our defense.”
Turnovers may play a factor in this contest as ETSU owns the league’s top turnover margin (+12) and Chattanooga has the worst at (-8).
On Tuesday, UTC Athletics Director Steve Sloan announced that Kirkpatrick will be reassigned within the university following the 2002 season.
Kirkpatrick will coach the team’s final two games of the season, including Saturday’s contest with TSU and on Nov. 23 at Furman. The area of his reassignment has yet to be determined.
“Donnie has worked hard,” Sloan said. “His staff has worked equally as hard. Unfortunately, things just haven’t worked out as anticipated.”
As of Wednesday night a replacement had not been named. Sloan said a national search for Kirkpatrick’s replacement would begin immediately.
Kirkpatrick was hired as the school’s head coach Feb. 19, 2000, after serving one year as a defensive assistant at Chattanooga and one year as the offensive coordinator.
His three-year head-coaching record with the Mocs is 9-23.
Notes: The Bucs were at home last week against Wofford and fell 39-10 …
The Bucs, who have converted on 77.8 percent of their fourth-down conversions this season will have to face the UTC defense which has allowed a stingy fourth conversion rate of 50.0 …
UTC placekicker Patrick Shutters is perfect on field goals this season at six-for-six, while ETSU has struggled, converting just six of 18 tries.
The Bucs have been outscored 159-33 in their last five league games …
Punter Aaron Bass averaged 48.6 yards per punt against Wofford and had a 75-yard punt, the longest kick of the year in the SoCon. Bass is eighth in the country with a 43.5 average …
ETSU is 10th nationally in turnover margin at +1.18 per game …
Braye Walters booted a 42-yard field goal for the Bucs against Wofford, their longest of the season …
Due to heavy rain in Chattanooga, the Mocs spent one day practicing inside a parking garage on campus.

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