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Football

#18 VMI at #14 ETSU Gameday Central

LEXINGTON, Va. – Looking to position itself in the driver's seat toward a repeat Southern Conference title, the VMI football team hits the road for a crucial SoCon battle with East Tennessee State Saturday afternoon in Johnson City, Tennessee.
 
The game will be broadcast from William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

Links to the broadcast, radio and live stats are listed below in addition to other links that provide gameday information for both programs.
 
Attending the Game
Tickets | Weather | Parking | ETSU Tailgaiting Information
Broadcasts
Watch on ESPN+
Live Radio Broadcast on 96.7 3WZ 
Live Stats
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VMI (6-2, 4-1 SoCon)
Roster
Coaching Staff
Schedule/Results
Statistics
Game Notes 
2021 Fact Book
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ETSU (7-1, 4-1 SoCon)
Roster
Schedule/Results
Coaching Staff
Statistics
Record Book
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THE SERIES: This will be the 27th meeting between the schools that first met in 1979. ETSU leads the series 16-10. VMI claimed the eight of the first 14 of the rivalry before the Bucs took seven straight from the Keydets. The series took a 12-year hiatus when VMI left the SoCon for the Big South and ETSU dropped its football program before reinstating it in 2015. The Bucs and VMI are 3-2 since resuming the series in 2016 and ETSU defeated the Keydets, 24-20 to hand VMI it only regular season and conference loss of the Spring 2021 season. The Keydets prevailed in the last meeting in Johnson City in 2019, 31-24, in overtime. 
 
KEYDETS FACE ROAD TEST AT JOHNSON CITY – VMI travels to Johnson City, Tennessee Saturday to face the ETSU Bucs in a 1 pm kickoff at William B. Greene, Jr. Stadium. Both teams hope to keep their SoCon title hopes alive with a win this weekend as the Keydets, Bucs, and Chattanooga all sport conference 4-1 marks behind league leader Mercer (5-1) who is idle this weekend.      

RANKINGS HOLD – VMI this week retained its national rankings, holding on the no. 18 spot in both the Stats Perform and AFCA Coaches FCS Top 25 polls. The Keydets will face the SoCon's other ranked team this week in ETSU which is 14th in the FCS polls. The Bucs are the second ranked team VMI has faced this season after the Keydets defeated Chattanooga on October 9 in Lexington. 

BACK-TO-BACK WINNING SEASONS ATTAINED – VMI's come-from-behind 46-45 win over Samford Saturday clinched the second straight winning season for the Keydets and marked the first time since 1961-62 that a VMI football team had posted winning campaigns in consecutive years. 

MORGAN MAKES HIS MARK – With 525 yards total offense Saturday and Samford, VMI quarterback Seth Morgan set a new VMI single game total offense record. Morgan completed 28 of 42 passes for 472 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 53 yards in the 46-45 win over the Bulldogs. The 472 yards was also the second highest single game mark by a VMI quarterback in program history – behind only Reece Udinski's 491 yards against Western Carolina in 2018. Morgan's 400+yard game against Samford was only the fifth all-time in school history.

HERRES CLOSES IN ON ALL-TIME RECORD – With two catches for 43 yards and a score against Samford last Saturday, senior wide receiver Jakob Herres now has 217 career catches – 17 behind all-time leader Aaron Sanders who had 234 between 2013-16.    

A VMI Win over ETSU would ...
---Be VMI's second consecutive win in Johnson City.
---Move VMI to the seven-win mark for the first time since 1977.
---Give VMI three road wins for the second consecutive year. 

HOW?TO?FOLLOW
VMI RADIO NETWORK: WWZW – 96.7 FM (Lexington, Lynchburg), WJFN – 820 AM, 92.7 FM, 107.7 FM (Richmond), WPMH 1010 AM, 100.5 FM, 96.9 FM (Hampton Roads). A free audio broadcast of the game is available at 3wzfm.com. Wade Branner will call the play-by-play and Rick Cruze will be color commentator. 

TELEVISION/ VIDEO STREAMING: Saturday's game can be seen on ESPN+. 

HOME WIN HEROICS – VMI's 46-45 win over Samford moved the Keydets to 4-0 this season and gave the them their first four-win home season since 2008 when they went 4-2. It was VMI's eight home win over the last nine 
outings.

THREE WINS IN OCTOBER – The Samford win was the first time the Keydets had won three October games in a row since defeating Wofford, Chattanooga, and Liberty in 2002. 

OFFENSIVE OUTBURSTS IN OCTOBER – Over its the last three games of October, VMI has averaged 42.7 points and 524.7 yards of total offense following the 46-45 win over Samford that saw the Keydets roll up a season-high 631 yards. It was the highest single game outburst by a VMI offense since 648 yards against Presbyterian in the 2008 season finale. 

RECEIVERS STEP UP – Two veteran receivers had big days in VMI's win over Samford October 30. Senior Michael Jackson caught 10 passes for a career-high 211 yards and a game-winning touchdown with 3:14 left. The 211 yards represented the fifth highest receiving yardage game in school history. Junior Leroy Thomas hauled in nine passes for a career-high 143 yards against the Bulldogs.

GETTING TOUGH AFTER HALFTIME – VMI's defense delivered in the second half in the Samford win. After giving up 425 yards total offense to the Bulldogs in the first half, VMI allowed just 122 yards in the second half. The Keydets also kept Samford off the scoreboard in the entire fourth quarter. 

SNYDER DOUBLES UP AGAIN – VMI junior linebacker Stone Snyder racked up another double-digit tackle game with 17 tackles posted against Samford. It marked the third double-digit tackle game for Snyder and vaulted him back into the SoCon lead in tackles per game with 85 total tackles for 10.6 per game. 

CASELBERRY STEPS UP BIG – Senior safety Ethan Caselberry delivered two big fourth quarter plays on Samford's two final drives that helped VMI to a win over Samford. With the Keydets holding on to a 46-45 lead, Caselberry broke up a pass on a fourth and 9 which forced Samford to turn the ball over on downs with 2:24 remaining and later recovered a fumble forced by cornerback Alex Oliver on Samford's final drive with 1:48 left to seal the victory. 








 
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Players Mentioned

Reece Udinski

#2 Reece Udinski

QB
6' 4"
Senior
Ethan Caselberry

#35 Ethan Caselberry

OLB
6' 4"
Senior
Jakob Herres

#14 Jakob Herres

WR
6' 4"
Senior
Michael Jackson

#11 Michael Jackson

WR
6' 2"
Senior
Seth Morgan

#4 Seth Morgan

QB
6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore
Alex Oliver

#11 Alex Oliver

DB
6' 0"
Sophomore
Stone Snyder

#5 Stone Snyder

LB
6' 3"
Junior
Leroy Thomas

#15 Leroy Thomas

WR
5' 11"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Reece Udinski

#2 Reece Udinski

6' 4"
Senior
QB
Ethan Caselberry

#35 Ethan Caselberry

6' 4"
Senior
OLB
Jakob Herres

#14 Jakob Herres

6' 4"
Senior
WR
Michael Jackson

#11 Michael Jackson

6' 2"
Senior
WR
Seth Morgan

#4 Seth Morgan

6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore
QB
Alex Oliver

#11 Alex Oliver

6' 0"
Sophomore
DB
Stone Snyder

#5 Stone Snyder

6' 3"
Junior
LB
Leroy Thomas

#15 Leroy Thomas

5' 11"
Junior
WR