The Bucs travelled to Spartanburg, South Carolina, on Saturday to take on the Wofford Terriers.
Following their 34-31 win against Western Carolina University at Bristol, the Bucs knew going into the game that Wofford was going to be a tough team to beat.
“We’re a little bit more sure about what we can do but we still have a lot of things that we need to fix,” said Alex Rios (Tucson, Ariz.), a transfer junior offensive lineman at a press-conference prior to the matchup.
Going into the game, the goal for the Bucs was to clean up their penalties as well as maintain offensive possession and avoid turning the ball over.
The ball was not turned over by either team, but Wofford out-rushed ETSU 364 yards to 76, and that is what made the difference in the game.
The Terriers scored with their first two possessions, making it difficult for the Bucs to come back. In the end, the Bucs lost 31-0.
Quarterback Austin Herink (Cleveland, Tenn.) completed 14 of 22 passes, but was sacked three times, which contributed to the lack of yardage rushed by the Bucs.
“The keys to the ball game was our inability to get off the field in third down and offensively our inability to convert third down,” said Head Coach Carl Torbush after the game.
Multiple times the Bucs were caught on defense, holding Wofford well, and once it came to be third down, Wofford was able to capitalize and the Bucs were unable to hold them.
In the same sense, the Bucs were not able to move the ball down the field when it was most needed on third down.
Defense finished the game with 103 tackles while the offense had 83 passing yards.
Coach Torbush attributes some of these mistakes to the excessive heat, but despite that, he thinks his team played well and didn’t back down.
At the half, the Bucs were only down 14-0.
“We started missing tackles late that we didn’t in the beginning,” Torbush said, “And that was a factor in being on the field too long.”
After this tough loss against Wofford, Torbush has said that his team knows what to expect now from the rest of the SoCon teams and that it will not be easy.
The focus this week is on getting well after a very hot game and a very physical game. However, the Bucs also have to prepare for a different kind of attack from Wofford as they plan to face Chattanooga at Kermit Tipton Stadium on Oct. 1.
