Published: 12:06 PM, 11/05/2009

Last updated: 12:52 PM, 11/17/2009

By: Steve Behr Sports Editor

By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com
Chattanooga coach Russ Huesman was very humble about the success of his Chattanooga Mocs this season.
Huesman, a UTC alum, has the Mocs 5-3 this season (3-3 in SoCon) heading into their game with Appalachian State Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium. Chattanooga has posted Southern Conference wins over Wofford (38-9), Samford (14-7) and Western Carolina (24-20) to go with non-conference victories over Glenville State (30-13) and Presbyterian (29-13).
So, the Glenville State and possibly the Presbyterian victories were expected. However, the Mocs finished 1-11 last season, so expecting five victories out of eight games, no matter which the opponents might be, has caught several observers of the SoCon by surprise.
It even caught Huesman somewhat by surprise, though he chose not to use that word during the SoCon teleconfernece Tuesday. Instead, he felt his team was fortunate to catch other teams on the right days.
"I don't want to say I'm surprised," Huesman said. "We've had some good fortune to play teams when we've played them. Wofford was really banged up and we got them at home. We went to Samford and didn't play that great on offense or defene and they were banged up, too. We've caught teams at good times."
Chattanooga's luck may have dried up Saturday. Appalachian State (6-2, 5-0) is playing its best football of the season, having racked up at least 554 yards and a minimum of 44 points in its last four games.
Armanti Edwards, who became the only player in Division I history to pass for over 9,000 yards and run for another 4,000, was named The Sports Network's and the College Sporting News' offensive player of the week.
Edwards has been on top of his game lately, passing for 355 yards on 25-of-36 accuracy for two touchdowns and no interceptions in the Mountaineers' 52-27 win over Furman last Saturday. He also rushed for 106 yards on just 13 carries despite being sacked once.
Just one week earlier, Edwards connected on 26-of-34 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-16 pasting of Georgia Southern.
In each game, Edwards left early in the third quarter and did not return. Huesman said it's up to the Chattanooga defense to contain Appalachian State's offense enough to allow the Mocs' offense to keep up.
"It's always important to get touchdowns," Huesman said. "As the game progresses, obviously we'll have to move the football on offense and we'll have to score touchdowns. They're go good on offense, it won't be a shootout because there's no way we can score enough points to win a shootout."
Should things get that far, the Mocs will rely on the passing of quarterback B.J. Coleman, who has completed 156-of-269 passes for 1,710 yards, 13 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
Coleman, a 6-foot-5 sophomore from Chattanooga, transferred to the Mocs from Tennessee. He earned a four-start rating from rivals.com while playing for McCallie High School. He played in three games at Tennessee as a freshman last year after redshirting in 2007.
"He's done a great job," Huesman said. "We've received great leadership from him. He's got great arm strength and we need his ability to throw the ball because we can't move the ball running it."
Chattanooga's running game ranked seventh out of nine teams in the SoCon. The Mocs average 95.6 yards per game, well below the 224.0 yards per game average the Mountaineers gain each Saturday. Appalachian State, led by Devon Moore's 736 yards and 10 touchdowns, have scored 29 TDs on the ground.
"Armanti is a huge part of our offense, but you just can't defend Armanti," Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore said. "We've got good runners and other parts of our offense that make Armanti as effective as he is."