A quick review of The Citadel-VMI

Posted on October 20, 2024 by Sandlapper Spike

Advanced stats from The Military Classic of the South, though the game itself was not exactly a classic:

  The Citadel VMI
Starting Field Position Average 27.00 33.25
Offensive Success Rate 29.4% 36.1%
Big plays (20+ yards) 2 2
Finishing drives inside 40 (average points) 3.0 2.0
Turnovers 2 0
Expected turnovers 1.50 1.66
Possessions 11 12
Points per possession 1.18 0.83
Offensive Plays 51 61
Offensive rush play % 80.39% 54.10%
Yards/rush (sack-adjusted) 3.20 3.39
Yards/pass attempt (sack-adjusted) 6.40 4.11
Yards/play 3.73 3.72
3rd down conversions 0.00% (0-11) 14.28% (2-14)
4th down conversions 2 of 3 1 of 3
Red Zone TD% 0.0% 50.0%
Net punting 41.8 39.4
Time of possession 30:17 29:43
TOP/offensive play 34.28 seconds 29.23 seconds
Penalties 4 for 48 yards 7 for 51 yards
1st down passing 2/4, 53 yards (1 TD) 5/6, two sacks (44 net yards)
3rd and long passing 1/1, 4 sacks (-14 net yards) 3/7, 2 sacks (29 net yards)
4th down passing 0/0 0/1
1st down yards/play 5.65 4.65
3rd down average yards to go 6.00 8.57
Defensive 3-and-outs+ 4 (of 12) 7 (of 11)

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Housekeeping regarding the above stats:

  • The Citadel’s final possession (a two-play kneel-down) is not included in any of the categories, except for time of possession and TOP/offensive play.
  • VMI was 1 for 3 on 4th down, but that does not include a 4th down attempt that was converted due to a pass interference penalty (the play which preceded the critical goal-line stand by the Bulldogs’ D).
  • VMI’s final play of the first half advanced the football inside The Citadel’s 40-yard line, but the Keydets had no time left to run another play; thus, that does not count as a possession inside the 40.
  • The Citadel was 2 for 3 on 4th down, per actual and advanced statistics, but that includes the bizarre play when punter James Platte was ruled to have been down before getting the punt off. The ruling came from the replay review booth and was, to put it politely, not well communicated to the press or public. That play is not reflected in the net punting category (since it wound up not being a punt), but was a de facto turnover (if not a technical one); it did result in part of VMI’s significant advantage in starting field position.

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Very random observations:

– The Bulldogs’ defense played well. There were a few missed tackles, and The Citadel was unable to force a turnover (though the Keydets actually had a higher expected TO rate for the game than the Bulldogs), but on the whole it is hard to find much to complain about on that side of the ball.

Ten tackles for loss (including four sacks), only two big plays given up, less than one point allowed per possession. That will work more often than not.

– The defensive stand when VMI was up 10-6 and had first-and-goal on the Bulldogs’ 2-yard line was massive. It was arguably the pivotal point of the contest.

Should VMI have kicked the field goal on 4th down? Maybe. Going for it was definitely the correct move by the book, and I can’t really fault Danny Rocco’s decision. It was a bit of a logic vs. instincts situation, and I naturally vote for logic most of the time, but that call might have been an exception.

– The Citadel’s offense did not play well:

  • The Bulldogs were 0 for 11 on third down conversion attempts.
  • The Citadel had two turnovers, both giving VMI possession in Bulldogs territory.
  • The offense went 3-and-out (or worse) on seven of eleven drives.
  • On third-and-long plays, Johnathan Bennett completed one pass for 3 yards and was sacked four times.
  • Counting sacks, The Citadel had 64 net passing yards. The two big plays the offense had in the game were passes from Bennett to Tyler Cherry for 68 total yards, which means that aside from those completions, the Bulldogs had -4 net passing yards in eight drop-backs (four passes, four sacks).
  • The Citadel ran the ball on more than 80% of its offensive plays but only averaged 3.20 yards per rush, even when sack-adjusted.
  • Of The Citadel’s 51 offensive plays (again, not counting the end-of-game kneel-downs), 26 of them resulted in a gain of 2 yards or fewer.
  • It should not be forgotten that VMI had a defensive TD negated by a substitution infraction penalty, either.

And yet, the coveted Silver Shako is returning to its home in Charleston anyway. Despite the offense’s travails, it did produce the one huge play that ultimately won the game. The 43-yard touchdown pass from Bennett to Cherry was a really nice throw-and-catch, well executed on both ends. It makes you wonder why the Bulldogs can’t conjure up similar plays more often.

– I liked the color-on-color matchup with The Citadel wearing its light blue and VMI decked out in red. My personal preference is for the jerseys to be those colors with the pants being white (Bulldogs) and gold (Keydets), but yesterday’s look was solid.

– From The Roanoke Times:

VMI true freshman quarterback Brady Hammonds, making his third straight start, left the game with a knee injury early in the second quarter. But he returned to action — wearing a knee brace — for VMI’s final two series.

“He’s had this knee issue for about three weeks,” Rocco said. “He takes a shot and…he can’t really go out there and function and protect himself in the pocket, he can’t move. But then as it wears off, he’s able to get back into the game.”

…With VMI down 13-10, Hammonds returned to action for VMI’s penultimate series…Hammonds left the game [on VMI’s final drive] after being sacked and was again replaced by Wilson.

“(Hammonds) didn’t look very good getting up off the ground,” Rocco said.

But Rocco is optimistic Hammonds will be available to play next weekend.

You have to appreciate Hammonds’ toughness. When he re-entered the game, he could hardly move (though Hammonds somehow managed to scramble for 13 yards on a 3rd-and-8 play).

I really don’t know if he should play next week at Chattanooga, however.

– I was glad to see a small group of cadets dressed in summer leave were at the game. That is always a good thing, as it is when an assortment of keydets make their way to Charleston when the contest is held at Johnson Hagood Stadium. When the game returns to Foster Stadium in two years, I would like to see even more cadets in attendance.

– The Citadel has scored 13 points in each of the last two matchups against VMI. This time, that was enough for the victory. Next time, let’s score several touchdowns more.

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Saturday, the Bulldogs return home to face a Samford team which just put 55 points on the board against Mercer, handing the Bears their first loss of the season. That will be a challenge.

I’m sure there will be some discussion in the tailgating areas about the recent article in The Post and Courier about the department of athletics (and the school in general). I’ve already given my take.

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I’ll close this out with an unrelated tidbit, in case anyone is still reading and would like some (more) random information. I recently made my annual FOIA request for contracts of The Citadel’s upcoming non-conference football games. I have been informed that no new contracts were signed in the past 12 months, so there have been no additions on that front. 

Thus, the slate of future non-conference games remains as listed below.

2025: North Dakota State (8/30), at Mississippi (9/6), at Gardner-Webb (9/13)

2026: at Charlotte (9/5), Charleston Southern (9/19)

2027: at Navy (9/4), at North Dakota State (9/18)

2028: Gardner-Webb (9/2), at Clemson (9/16)

2029: at Army (10/6)

2033: at Army (11/19)

Worth noting: 2025 is another year in which, due to the calendar, FCS teams are allowed to schedule up to 12 regular-season games. That means there is an opportunity for The Citadel to schedule one more non-conference matchup for next season.

It could be that before adding another game, though, The Citadel might need to first hire a new AD…

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A quick review of The Citadel’s home opener

Posted on September 8, 2024 by Sandlapper Spike

The advanced stats from South Carolina State-The Citadel:

  South Carolina State The Citadel
Starting Field Position Average 24.38 29.33
Success Rate 54.4% 29.2%
Big plays (20+ yards) 3 4
Finishing drives inside 40 (average points) 4.6 5.0
Turnovers 0 1
Expected turnovers 0.00 0.44
Possessions 8 9
Points per possession 2.88 2.22
Offensive Plays 68 48
Offensive rush play % 61.76% 50.00%
Yards/rush (sack-adjusted) 5.14 4.79
Yards/pass attempt (sack-adjusted) 6.58 6.67
Yards/play 5.94 5.72
3rd down conversions 58.3% (7-12) 25.0% (3-12)
4th down conversions 0 of 0 2 of 3
Red Zone TD% 60.0% 66.7%
Net punting 37.67 43.33
Time of possession 36:13 26:47
TOP/offensive play 30.61 seconds 29.73 seconds
Penalties 9 for 55 yards 6 for 50 yards
1st down passing 4/8 (55 yards) 4/6 (88 yards)
3rd and long passing 3/4, one sack (33 net yards) 7/9, one sack (56 net yards)
4th down passing 0/0 1/2 (9 yards)
1st down yards/play 6.81 6.94
3rd down average yards to go 5.75 8.12
Defensive 3-and-outs+ 3 (of 9) 1 (of 8)

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Housekeeping regarding the above stats:

  • These statistics do not include South Carolina State’s last two drives of each half (three plays in all). The second-half omission is obvious (one play, a kneel-down). I also elected not to include the two plays SCSU ran following the interception late in the first half, because only 12 seconds remained and South Carolina State was in what you could call “desperation mode” in terms of trying to score points (and thus the two-play sequence was not part of the regular course of action). As far as that statistical decision is concerned, your mileage may vary.
  • That means one of South Carolina State’s ‘big plays’ (those of 20 yards or more) is not included in the totals, either (a 21-yard pass reception to end the first half).
  • There was an error in the statistical play-by-play for the game which affected several categories. The problem arose during SCSU’s first drive of the second half. I think I’ve corrected everything in terms of the stats breakdown. (Among other things, this explains a discrepancy involving South Carolina State’s third-down and fourth-down conversion numbers.)
  • Stats-can-be-deceiving dept.: you might notice The Citadel averaged a quite respectable 6.94 yards on first down. Keep in mind that two long pass plays in the second half greatly affected that statistic. In the first half, on the other hand, The Citadel averaged 1.71 yards per play on first down.

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Random observations about the game and the atmosphere surrounding it:

– I was a little surprised at the attendance. I thought there would be more fans on hand (from both sides, to be honest). While the listed attendance of 10,579 was notable, I wasn’t completely sure that reflected the actual number of people at the game.

I have my doubts that noon kickoffs are the way to go at The Citadel in the long term, but I suppose this year is a bit of a trial run.

– The Marching 101 is a great band, and I enjoyed its halftime performance. I have to wonder, though, at the band’s repeated playing at the start of (and during) plays. I was half-expecting the referee to give a warning, but that never happened.

The really unfortunate thing that occurred was the Marching 101 playing throughout the special tribute to Willie Jeffries in the break between the first and second quarters. I suspect officials from both schools were not particularly happy about that.

– I will add that I thought the folks running the sound system also veered very close to the edge when it came to musical cues and the start of on-field action.

– It was nice to see Jan Taaffe honored as well as Jeffries. I think Maurice Drayton’s commitment to acknowledging the past history of The Citadel’s football program (and that of the Palmetto State in general) is refreshing.

– I also liked that this year, the Hall of Fame honorees were presented to the crowd at halftime so that they faced the West stands, instead of facing the scoreboard (which, if memory serves, had been the case in previous years). Now everyone just needs to make sure all the honorees are in alphabetical order when the announcements start being made.

– Dumb question alert: where was the U.S. flag?

[Edit: I have now been informed (thanks!) that the flagpole has an internal issue with the pulley system that is preventing the flag from being locked in the ‘up’ position or lowered. Repairs are expected soon. For Saturday’s game, the color guard was used to present colors.]

– I would have preferred white pants to go with The Citadel’s light blue jerseys. The light blue pants didn’t look bad, though.

– Perhaps this has been the case before and I just didn’t notice, but the ‘red hat guy’ for the game was a member of the Corps of Cadets. He industriously trotted out with the media timeout countdown clock for every stoppage of play.

– I think all of the free t-shirts were size extra-large. They were free, though.

– I’m glad the rain mostly held off, though it led to occasionally steamy conditions with the cloud cover and temperature.

– Johnathan Bennett only threw one first-down pass in the first half (the interception at the end of it). In the second half, he was 4 for 5 passing on first down for 88 yards, including two big plays. The offensive playcalling arguably needs to be more varied at the start of games.

– The Citadel kicked off from midfield after its last touchdown, following a 15-yard penalty on South Carolina State. I was hoping that Maurice Drayton might try an onside kick in that situation, because the team really doesn’t lose too much in the way of field position even if unsuccessful — and if does recover the kick, it gets a free possession in great field position.

– The fourth-down run for 33 yards on what I’ll call the “bunch” formation was a great call, and very well executed. It was set up by a similar formation on a fourth down play earlier in the game, one that resulted in SCSU jumping offsides.

– The Citadel had false start penalties at the start of both of its first two drives. That should not happen.

– South Carolina State was a well-coached team. Deondra Duehart is a quality running back, and I thought Eric Phoenix did a nice job running the show. He was also a better runner than his prior stats had indicated. SCSU’s line play on offense and defense was generally solid.

I’m guessing that improving its offensive red zone production will be a point of emphasis for SCSU once conference play rolls around.

– For the second week in a row, the Bulldogs had the edge in special teams play. This time, it wasn’t quite enough to pull out a victory.

There is something to be said about having a chance to win a game despite losing the turnover battle (1-0) and having the opponent run a higher percentage of successful plays from scrimmage by almost a 2-1 margin. Going forward, though, The Citadel has to get better on both sides of the ball. The offense has to be more dynamic throughout the game, and the defense needs to be considerably more disruptive.

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This recent spate of blogging by yours truly will now come to a crashing halt. I won’t be around much (or at all) until the end of September/beginning of October.

Next week’s game is against a North Greenville squad that lost its home opener last Thursday night by the exact same score as The Citadel (23-20). NGU’s loss came in overtime to the defending NAIA champions, so the Trailblazers are likely a good-to-very good D2 squad. The Bulldogs better be ready for that one.

The Citadel then opens conference play at Mercer, a playoff team last season which is currently 2-0, winning those two games by a combined score of 94-12. The following week will be a Parents’ Day affair against East Tennessee State, a completely revamped squad that won on Saturday by a score of 61-0.

In other words, more challenges are ahead.

Go Dogs!

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