VMI at The Citadel, to be played at historic Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston, South Carolina, with kickoff at 1:00 pm ET on October 14, 2023.
The game will be televised via Nexstar and streamed on ESPN+. Pete Yanity will handle play-by-play, while Jared Singleton supplies the analysis.
According to the SoCon’s website:
Nexstar affiliates with the opportunity to air games are: ECBD (Charleston), WMYT (Charlotte), WWCW (Lynchburg/Roanoke) and WYCW (Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville). Although not a Nexstar station, WMUB (Macon), Mercer University Broadcasting, will also air select contests.
As mentioned the last time The Citadel appeared on Nexstar, that doesn’t necessarily mean all of those stations will be televising Saturday’s matchup.
The contest can be heard on radio via The Citadel Sports Network. WQNT-1450 AM [audio link], originating in Charleston, will be the flagship station. Other stations carrying the game include WQXL in Columbia (100.7 FM/1470 AM) and WDXY in Sumter (105.9 FM/1240 AM).
Brian Giffin will call the action alongside analyst Lee Glaze.
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Links of interest:
– Maurice Drayton’s Monday press conference
– Season statistics for The Citadel (six games)
– Box score for The Citadel-Furman
– No “moral victories” for the Bulldogs
– VMI head coach Danny Rocco chases a new prize: the Silver Shako
– Danny Rocco has been getting an education about VMI-The Citadel
– Box score for Davidson-VMI (a 12-7 victory for the Keydets)
– Box score for VMI-Bucknell (VMI lost, 21-13)
– Box score for VMI-North Carolina State (NCSU won, 45-7)
– Box score for Wofford-VMI (a 17-14 win for the Keydets)
– Box score for VMI-Mercer (VMI lost, 38-3)
– Season statistics for VMI (five games)
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Roster review:
– Of the 110 players on The Citadel’s online roster, 58 are from South Carolina. Other states represented: Florida (14 players), Georgia (11), North Carolina (11), Virginia (5), Alabama (2), Ohio (2), New York (2), Texas (2), and one each from Maryland, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
The Bulldogs have 9 redshirt freshmen and 31 “true” freshmen.
– VMI has 113 players on its online roster. Of those, 77 are from Virginia. Other states represented: North Carolina (6 players), Georgia (5), Tennessee (5), West Virginia (5), Pennsylvania (4), Maryland (2), South Carolina (2), and one each from Delaware, Florida, Minnesota, Ohio, New Jersey, and New York.
Defensive lineman Terrell Jackson is from Washington, DC.
– VMI lists eight players on its roster as seniors and 21 others as redshirt juniors. On the other side of the experience coin, 14 of the Keydets are redshirt freshmen and 45 are “true” freshmen.
– There are two Palmetto State products on the Keydets’ squad: placekicker Caden Beck, a redshirt sophomore from Greenville who went to Powdersville; and offensive lineman Jacob Ashley, a sophomore from Mt. Pleasant who attended Oceanside Collegiate.
There are no graduates of Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School on VMI’s team. While it is early in his tenure, new head coach Danny Rocco undoubtedly already realizes the importance of recruiting those who have worn the famed maroon and orange, and will correct his roster deficiency as soon as possible.
There is certainly a contrast between VMI and Furman in terms of in-state recruiting. While the Paladins have only seven players from South Carolina, 69% of the Keydets hail from Virginia.
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Odds and ends:
– The weather forecast for Saturday in Charleston, per the National Weather Service, includes a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms in the morning and early afternoon. The projected high is 82°, with a low that night of 61°.
– As a weekly reminder, it is highly unlikely that a line for this game will be posted anywhere before Saturday morning.
– Massey Ratings: VMI is ranked 85th in FCS, unchanged from last week. The Citadel is 110th (up three places). Massey projects VMI to win the game by a predicted score of 21-20. The Citadel is given a 48% chance of winning.
— Meanwhile, SP+ ranks VMI 110th (123rd on offense, 67th on defense) and The Citadel 121st (125th on offense, 105th on D).
A selected list of SP+ FCS rankings entering Week 7:
- South Dakota State (1st)
- North Dakota State (2nd)
- Montana State (3rd)
- Austin Peay (14th) [SP+ really loves the schools in the UAC for some reason]
- William and Mary (15th)
- Furman (18th)
- Jackson State (29th)
- Chattanooga (31st)
- Campbell (36th)
- Eastern Kentucky (38th)
- Mercer (41st)
- Samford (48th)
- Western Carolina (49th) [SP+ is still not a believer in the Catamounts, despite considerable evidence to the contrary]
- Kennesaw State (58th)
- Davidson (63rd)
- South Carolina State (73rd) [quite a jump this week; not sure why]
- East Tennessee State (89th)
- Charleston Southern (90th)
- Wofford (101st)
- Bucknell (106th)
- Morehead State (118th)
- Presbyterian (128th and last) [in spite of two victories]
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In other FCS ratings systems, The Citadel ranks 127th in the Congrove Computer Rankings (unchanged from last week), 126th in the Laz Index (up one spot), and 115th in the DCI (an increase of five places).
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– Games involving SoCon teams this week [projected score per SP+ in brackets]:
- Saturday at 1:00 pm ET: Furman at Samford [Furman 30.3, Samford 24.1]
- Saturday at 1:00 pm ET: VMI at The Citadel [VMI 21.9, The Citadel 19.6]
- Saturday at 3:30 pm ET: Wofford at East Tennessee State [ETSU 26.6, Wofford 20.4]
- Saturday at 4:00 pm ET: Chattanooga at Mercer [UTC 25.7, Mercer 25.6]
Western Carolina is off this week.
– Among VMI’s notable alumni: civil rights activist (and Anglican martyr) Jonathan Daniels, rugby star Dan Lyle, and movie producer Frank McCarthy.
– The Citadel has an all-time record of 3-10 for games played on October 14, and has lost the last 8 times it has played on that date. The Bulldogs are 2-3 at home, and 2-9 in league play (including a 22-11 loss to VMI in 1967, a contest played in Roanoke, Virginia).
The military college has not prevailed on the gridiron on October 14 since a 10-8 victory at William and Mary during the 1961 SoCon championship season.
The last home victory on that date came in 1950, when The Citadel defeated Davidson 19-12. The only other win on October 14 for the Bulldogs was a 34-7 triumph over Presbyterian in 1916 at Hampton Park.
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Last season, VMI passed on 56.5% of its plays from scrimmage (these statistics, as usual, are adjusted to reflect sacks). Passing yardage accounted for 54.3% of VMI’s total yards.
Through five games this year, VMI is passing on only 46.6% of its plays from scrimmage, as under Danny Rocco the Keydets have moved to a more balanced offense. However, passing yardage still accounts for a majority of the squad’s total yardage (56.6%).
VMI had a yards per pass attempt rate of 5.07 yards in 2022. So far this season, that has increased to 5.26.
VMI is averaging 3.51 yards per rush, a slight increase from last year’s 3.46.
In all, VMI is averaging 4.33 yards per play this season, not far removed from last year’s 4.37. The Keydets have seen a dip in actually putting points on the board, though (just 10.4 per game this season, as opposed to last year’s 16.1 per contest).
Rocco on VMI’s offense:
We’re not dynamic enough to just line up and run base plays and literally just knock people off the ball and create space. So we’re doing some things here moving forward that create conflict — run-pass options, things like that…
…We lack the ability to sustain a ground game and control the ball. The last two weeks, we installed some personnel groupings with bigger bodies in the game. We don’t have a lot of tight ends in the program…So we inserted a couple of different packages with an extra offensive lineman.
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Big play alert:
VMI’s media relations team considers a “big play” a gain of 25 yards or more, which is a reasonable definition. Last year, the Keydets’ offense had 22 such plays from scrimmage, averaging exactly 2 per game.
In its first five games this year, VMI has 10 big plays, so it is averaging…exactly 2 per game.
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Defensively, the Keydets are allowing 5.60 yards per play so far in 2023, a bit of an improvement from last year (5.89). The real change for the better, and the one that matters most, is points allowed per game. VMI’s defense is giving up exactly 25 points per contest this season, down from last year’s 36.3 points allowed per game.
The Keydets have allowed the second-fewest yards per game among SoCon teams, including a league-leading mark in passing yards allowed per contest. That is skewed by some of the opposing offenses VMI has lined up against (having faced by far the fewest pass attempts in the conference).
The bottom line, though, is its defense has held up more often than not and as a result the Keydets have already doubled their win total from last season.
In its four contests against FCS competition, VMI’s D has only really struggled once, in its most recent game at Mercer. In that matchup, the Keydets allowed the Bears to rush for 308 yards on only 47 attempts. There is a decent chance that stopping the run was a point of emphasis for VMI’s coaches during its bye week.
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It is worth noting that VMI blocked a field goal and a punt last season against The Citadel, returning the latter for a touchdown. Special teams will be a major focus this week for both teams.
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This will be the 79th meeting between the two schools in football. The results of the last four years have been split, with The Citadel having won the last two.
In the previous 78 matchups, The Citadel holds a 44-32-2 edge, though the overall point totals are fairly close. The Bulldogs average 20.76 points per game in the series, while the Keydets average 17.86 points per contest.
The Citadel has a 26-11 advantage when the game has been played in Charleston. Results at other sites for the game break down like this:
- Lexington: VMI has a 17-14-2 edge; The Citadel didn’t win in Lexington until 1961 (but what a victory that was!)
- Norfolk: The Citadel has won 3 of 4 games
- Charlotte: the two schools split a pair of meetings in 2002-2003, with the first of those very high on the list of the worst field and weather conditions for any football game I’ve ever attended
- Roanoke: mentioned earlier in this preview; VMI won the only matchup played there in 1967
- Lynchburg: the first contest in the series was held there in 1920, with VMI winning
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VMI is reportedly bringing its band and a healthy number of freshmen to the game, which should add to the festivities. Hopefully the next time the Keydets are in town, in 2025, the East stands will be complete and its entire corps can make the trip down from Virginia.
Both teams really could use a victory on Saturday, particularly The Citadel. While playing in Charleston should help the Bulldogs, VMI has proven it knows how to win this season, and so in that respect the edge lies with the Keydets.
However, The Citadel showed improvement last week. The offense moved the ball at times, and the defense had its best tackling effort of the season. That progress wasn’t enough to win — the red zone proved to be troublesome for the Bulldogs’ offense, for one thing — but there were encouraging signs.
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Regardless of the state of the two programs, this is always an intense game, as it should be. After all, the coveted Silver Shako, the greatest trophy in all of sports, is at stake.
It must remain in Charleston, where it belongs.
Filed under: Football, The Citadel | Tagged: Danny Rocco, Maurice Drayton, Silver Shako, SoCon, The Citadel, VMI |
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