Date: Saturday, Nov. 16
Contest: The Citadel (2-8, 1-6) vs. VMI (5-6, 2-5)
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Place: Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
THE GAME: The Citadel and VMI, the SoCon’s two military institutions, clash in the Military Classic of the South this week … The Citadel holds a slim 30-29-2 advantage in the series that originated in 1920 … Since 1976, the two institutions play for the rights to the Silver Shako … The Citadel won last year’s meeting in Charleston, 49-7, and have won nine of the last 12 meetings … The game, played at Charlotte’s Memorial Stadium, will be held at a neutral site for the first time since the 1994 meeting in Norfolk … The Citadel holds a 4-3 at neutral sites.
THE COACHES: Ellis Johnson (The Citadel ’75) is in his second season as the Bulldogs’ head coach and has a record of 5-15 … Johnson has a career record of 10-21 including a 5-6 season in 1983 as the head coach at Gardner-Webb … VMI head coach Cal McCombs (The Citadel ’67) is in his fourth year with the Keydets and has a record of 9-35 … Johnson was a player on several of The Citadel teams coached by McCombs.
GAME NOTES: The Keydets are coming off a 54-13 loss at Appalachian State last week … The Bulldogs dropped a 34-31 decision at home to Chattanooga last week … Saturday’s game will feature the SoCon’s passing yardage leaders in Joey Gibson and Jeff Klein … Gibson has thrown for 2,187 yards and 16 TDs and Klein has 2,147 yards passing and 12 scores on the year … Klein’s favorite target, Scooter Johnson, is leading the league in receptions and yardage, averaging 6.0 catches for 83.6 yards per game … VMI freshman Sean Mizzer’s 5.5 yards per carry ranks him third in the SoCon … This year’s Military Classic of the South marks the last meeting of The Citadel and VMI as SoCon opponents as the Keydets leave the league after this year … Cal McCombs may have mixed emotions about facing The Citadel, having spent four years as a student and 13 years as an assistant coach at The Citadel … Will McCombs, Cal’s son, also spent time as a Bulldog assistant coach.

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