It’s one of the most trite cliches in football, that a team improves the most between its first and second games of the season.
For East Tennessee State in 2026, it was the gap between the fourth and fifth games where major strides were made. After his Bucs clobbered Western Carolina 58-31 on Saturday at William B. Greene Jr. Stadium, ETSU coach Will Healy hit on the truth of it:
“I just thought we came out fast and for the most part executed a high level for four quarters and never really let him back in the football game. And that’s impressive, you know, very excited for our guys. But obviously it’s one game and that’s what this profession is. It’s a one week business.”
That’s the thing. Football is the ultimate what-have-you-done-for-me-lately sport. The only thing that might compare is professional soccer at the highest tier in Europe or at the international level. Teams are already making coordinator changes; Illinois fired its defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck, previously a very successful head coach for Montana, on Sunday after just four games.
It’s a one-week business, but for one postcard-worthy day in Johnson City, ETSU showed its full potential. The final point and yardage totals created the illusion that Saturday’s Blue Ridge Border Battle (a real tongue twister) was closer than it was. The offense generated points on each of its first seven possessions. Mason Mims was efficient and accurate. The Bucs ran the ball seemingly at will, with all four of the main guys in the running back room finding the end zone. It wasn’t even a case where Western Carolina had a slew of blown coverages; most of the completed passes were just good football plays. And the ETSU offensive line remains perhaps the unsung difference makers of the team.
But it was the improvement by the defense that truly was astonishing. Four sacks, more than the Bucs had in their first four games combined. A significant reduction in busted coverages and wide-open receivers. Instead, the ETSU defensive backs mostly kept Western’s pass catchers in front of them. And, when a play did connect, the Bucs made open-field tackles.
Healy praised defensive coordinator Chad Skaggs and his staff: “And Chad and his staff have done an awesome job. I think we put more pressure on the quarterback, we’re covering guys better. We’re playing hard, tackling better. We’re doing some really good things on the defensive side of the ball. And I thought for really three quarters today, I mean, we were really good.”
Now Chattanooga comes to town. A Chattanooga team that is probably ETSU’s biggest rival, across all sports, especially basketball. A Chattanooga team that has beaten the Bucs six consecutive times. You’ve got to go all the way back to September of 2018 to find the last time ETSU defeated the Mocs. That’s so long ago that Kingsport’s Charlie Browder, the Bucs’ sixth-year tight end and the Methuselah of this roster, was still in high school at Dobyns-Bennett.
For a team that began this season talking about making the FCS Playoffs, this is a game the Bucs have to win to achieve that goal. ETSU missed a chance to boost its overall docket by losing to Campbell in the opener. Its win against Tusculum won’t count for postseason consideration because it came against a non-Division I opponent. The Southern Conference, meanwhile, looks rather mediocre as a whole and might just be a one-bid league for the playoffs. Mercer, the preseason pick to win the SoCon, suffered an inscrutable loss to a Furman team that has otherwise underachieved. Tennessee Tech, which looked like the class of the conference, escaped against Wofford on Saturday by the skin of its teeth. Other than VMI and Samford, which both look rather dreadful, the rest of the SoCon seems pretty even.
That could be very good news for ETSU.
But only if the Bucs can replicate what they did against Western Carolina.