Mocs Prepare For First Ever Meeting With Portland State
(gomoc.com) CHATTANOOGA—The Chattanooga Mocs return to Finley Stadium Saturday night with a visit from Portland State. The matchup features two teams with very similar starts heading into the 7 p.m., kickoff on ESPN+ and the SoCon’s Nexstar TV package.
The Mocs enter at 0-3 with losses at FBS opponents Tennessee and Georgia State, the latter a down-to-the wire 24-21 heartbreaker, as well as a 1-score defeat to an FCS ranked opponent, No. 12 Mercer (10-3).
The Vikings incursion south and east includes an 0-3 mark of its own. Losses to FBS opposition at Washington State and Boise State sandwich a ranked conference loss at No. 25 Weber State.
“It was a productive open week,” Coach Rusty Wright shared. “Looking forward to playing again Saturday at home. There’s a lot of similarities between the two programs, and we gotta go find a way to win a football game.”
Please note the time change to 7 p.m. It was done at the request of the league office to fit in the league’s TV package.
vs. Portland State
– 1st meeting.
– 1st Big Sky Conference opponent since 2016 FCS Playoffs first round visit from No. 23 Weber State (45-14 Win on Nov. 26).
– 2-0 all-time against the league including 35-20 triumph at Boise State on Sept. 5, 1992.
– 1st Pacific Time Zone opponent. There are three from Mountain Time with only one, Weber State, making the trek to Chattanooga. 2-1 in those contests: W at Boise (1992), L at Colorado State (1996) & W over Weber State (2016).
– No apparent Mocs-Portland State ties on the current roster & coaching staffs.
– Two Pacific time student-athletes on the Mocs roster – QB Chase Artopoeus (Orcutt, Calif.) & DB Rickie Davis, Jr. (Vegas) – plus one from well beyond in OL Christian Va’a hailing from American Samoa. It’s a Noon kickoff on his island.
– One hailing from Eastern time on the PSU list: OL Gavin Miller (Bay Shore, N.Y.).
Notes
– Mocs are among others receiving votes nationally. First unranked week since Week 4/Game 4 last season at No. 17 Samford, a 47-24 triumph.
– Ranked 15 straight weeks including the bye week last weekend.
– Won six of the last seven coming off a bye week. Outlier? At No. 8 Alabama last season.
– 8-2 in the last 10 bye weeks.
– Third of four non-conference opponents. Close the regular season at Austin Peay. Will mark back-to-back non-conference regular season finishes with 2023’s coming at No. 8 Alabama. Last time that happened? 2015 at No. 14 Florida State & 2016 at No. 1 Alabama.
– The combined distance to our seven road opponents (round trip, stadium to stadium) is 2,947 miles. Portland State’s voyage to the Scenic City is 5,034 miles roundtrip per google maps. There are possible toll roads on the route so if it includes the LePetomane Thruway, they’re going to need a LOT of dimes.
