The 2020 Chattanooga Mocs football team represented the
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT-Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is one of four universities and two other affiliated institutions in the ...
in the
2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season as a member of the
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...
(SoCon). The Mocs were led by second-year head coach
Rusty Wright
Rusty Wright is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, position he has held since 2019. Wright replaced Tom Arth, who left to be the head football coach at the University of Akron ...
and played their home games at
Finley Stadium
W. Max Finley Stadium is the home stadium for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga American football, football team and Chattanooga FC (National Independent Soccer Association, NISA), a professional Division 3 soccer team. The stadium also ...
in
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
.
On March 29, 2021, Chattanooga announced that it would opt out of the remainder of the 2021 spring season due to safety concerns related to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Schedule
Chattanooga originally had a game scheduled against
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
(September 12), but it was canceled on July 17 due to the CAA's decision to cancel fall sports due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Chattanooga's game at Western Kentucky ended in controversy when the Mocs returned a kick off for a touchdown putting them ahead 16-13 with 1:09 remaining. The touchdown was later overturned when officials claimed a fair catch had been called after review, even after video showed no fair catch called. The result of the bad call on the part of the officials would cost Chattanooga the victory.
On October 29,
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
attempted to replace their game against
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
game with a game against Chattanooga because Wisconsin had a mass outbreak of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. However, it was denied by
Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
commissioner
Kevin Warren
Kevin Fulbright Warren (born November 17, 1963) is an American attorney and sports executive. He is the Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. The first Commissioner who is African-American, he is also the first in any of the major American stu ...
.
Chattanooga's games against
VMI (postponed from February 20),
Western Carolina
Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system.
The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded t ...
(April 3),
Samford (April 10), and
East Tennessee State (April 17) were canceled when Chattanooga opted out of the remainder of the spring season.
References
Chattanooga
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
Chattanooga Mocs football seasons
Chattanooga Mocs football
The Chattanooga Mocs football program is the intercollegiate college football team for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision ...
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