CONWAY, S.C. - After falling behind 7-0, Coastal Carolina exploded with 31 unanswered points and posted a 38-14 homecoming win over VMI Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 7,218 spectators at Brooks Stadium.
VMI fell to 3-6 overall and finished Big South Conference play at 2-2. The Keydets were eliminated from gaining at least of share of the league crown.
Coastal Carolina quarterback Tyler Thigpen was a multi-threat on offense all afternoon, completing 10 of 18 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown and rushing for 112 yards and three touchdowns.
VMI led throughout most of the first half, taking the lead on a Gary Price 18-yard TD reception from quarterback Jonathan Wilson with 2:29 left in the first quarter. The drive was set up when VMI's defense stuffed the Chanticleers on a fourth and one at the CCU 48. Price also keyed the drive by eluding two defenders behind the line of scrimmage on a swing pass and converting a third down catch into a 25-yard gain which moved the ball to the Coastal 18-yard line.
The score remained 7-0 until late in the first half when Price mishandled a punt that was recovered by Shaun Gaines at the VMI 34. Thigpen scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns one play later - diving in from the one and Josh Hoke's extra-point knotted the score at 7-7.
The Keydets were forced to punt on the next possession and Coastal took over at its own 30. VMI appeared to halt the drive when Robert Mason intercepted at Thigpen pass and returned it to the VMI 20, but linebacker Todd Baldwin was called for a late hit on Thigpen, erasing the play. On the next snap, Thigpen floated a timing pattern pass intended for Jerome Simpson in the left corner of the endzone, and VMI cornerback Grant Harris and Simpson both wrestled for the ball that ultimately was ruled a simultaneous catch and Coastal touchdown. Hoke's extra-point put Coastal up, 14-7 at the break.
The Chanticleers completely dominated the third quarter, scoring 17 unanswered points on its first three possessions of the half and holding the ball for 10:31 in the period compared to VMI's 4:29.
Thigpens's one-yard sneak opened up the second half scoring on a nine-play, 66-yard drive and was followed by a 22-yard Josh Hoke field goal at 5:28. Arthur Sitton's four-yard pitch around the right end to the end zone capped the scoring run with :35 seconds left in the third and Coastal holding a 31-7 lead.
VMI generated its final touchdown on a Wilson to Zohn Burden 38-yard pass play on the second snap of a drive that consumed the just :13 and pulled VMI within 31-14 with 10:10 left.
But the Keydets were unable to make much noise from that point on and Thigpen closed out the scoring on a 77-yard bootleg run down the right sideline.
VMI was outgained for the day 472-294 as the Keydets were limited to 39 yards rushing tarnished by six CCU sacks for -34 yards.
VMI senior free safety Robert Mason returned to action after dislocating his shoulder two weeks ago against Wofford and led VMI in tackles with 19 stops including 10 solos.
Wilson completed 16 of 31 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns, but had several balls dropped by VMI receivers, especially in the second half.
VMI faces state rival Richmond next Saturday at UR Stadium at 3:00 p.m. Coastal Carolina travels to Savannah State for a 1:30 contest.
VMI Coach Cal McCombs - "In the second half, our kids were going back ready to play, but they converted two big third downs on that first drive- we had them third and 12 and they ran a little screen play up the middle and converted there and they converted again on the option on a third and nine. Those are the plays you need to make to get them off the field and get our offense on the field early in the third quarter, so we can tie it back up and have a chance to get back into the game again. After they scored that third touchdown, it was hard for us to ever get the momentum back. We had the play to Zohn for a touchdown that got us excited a little bit, but you look at the game. They executed and played better. We played courageous. We had a bunch of guys like Justin Huggard who came out early in the game with a pulled hamstring and came back to play. We played hard but just didn't play well enough to win against a good team like Coastal."
GAME NOTES -
---Jonathan Wilson now has 348 career completions which moved him past Al Comer (337, 82-85) into the third spot on the career list. Wilson also logged his 10th 200-yard passing game of his career.
---Wilson also has 4,135 career passing yards and became the fourth VMI QB to throw for 4000 yards in a career. His 23 TD passes ties him with Hill Ellett (64-66) for the #3 spot.
---Gary Price now has 112 career catches that moved him past Steve Panchem on the career list.
---VMI's 39 rushing yards was a season-low.
---CCU's Tyler Thigpen became the first opposing QB to throw for 100 yards (112) and run for 100 yards (157) in a game since Todd Wells of ETSU did it against VMI on Sept. 16, 2000.
