Game #5 - VMI Keydets

For the 2022 season's fifth game, the Catamounts return home to face the Virginia Military Institute Keydets in EJ Whitmire Stadium.

The Bulldogs finished the 2021 season tied with Furman and Western Carolina in fourth place with a 4-4 conference record. The Keydets were picked to finish seventh in the 2022 coaches poll. WCU will be wearing a special logo emblem on the back of its football helmets to celebrate the relationship with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) .

Game #5 - VMI Keydets

When: Saturday, October 1, 2022

Time: 3:30 pm EST

Where: E.J. Whitmire Stadium / Bob Waters Field
Radio: Catamount Sports Network

   -Play-by-Play:  Gary Ayers • Daniel Hooker • Producer: Jeff Bryson

TV/video: ESPN3

  -Play-by-Play:  Kevin Gehl  •  John Mount Shoop 

Live Stats:  WCU Live Stats

Fan Message Board:  Keydet Sportstalk
Game Notes:    Western Carolina    -     VMI      -    SoCon Notes

The Series: Western currently leads the series with VMI, by a 24-4 margin. The Cats and Keydets first played on the gridiron in 1978, and the Cats owned a sixteen-game winning streak over the Keydets until this spring of 2021 when the Keydets broke that streak on road to a SoCon Championship.  The Cats do hold a 13-1 record of games played in Cullowhee and are 7-1 over VMI since their return to the Southern Conference.  

The last game played vs. VMI:  November 20, 2021 -  Lexington, Va.  - Catamounts Cap 2021 Season with Road Win at VMI, 52-24 -  Senior quarterback Rogan Wells threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns spread to four different receivers, including a three-yard pass to classmate Daquan Patten who added a 78-yard punt return for a score as Western Carolina closed the 2021 season with an emphatic 52-24 road win over the defending Southern Conference champion VMI Keydets on Saturday afternoon at Foster Stadium.

Head Coach: Scott Wachenheim - Entering his eighth season as VMI’s head football coach, Scott Wachenheim has taken VMI Football back to championship level play and guided the program toward football prominence on the FCS level. In the spring football season of 2021, Wachenheim led the Keydets to a 6-2 season mark and the Southern Conference football championship after going 6-1 in league play – securing the Institute’s first title since 1977 and first outright league championship since 1974.

Scott Wachenheim's record vs. Western Carolina:  1 - 6

Kerwin Bell's record vs. VMI:  1 - 0   (Western Carolina head football coach KERWIN BELL is closing in on the century mark for career victories, entering this weekend at 99-51)

Last Season's Record 2021 (VMI):   6-5 overall, 4-1 home, 2-4 away,  4-4 SoCon

This Season's Record  2022 (VMI):   1-2 overall,  1-1 home, 0-1 away, 0-0 SoCon

Offensive Formation: Air Raid
Defensive Formation: 3-4

Starters returning/lost:    17   /   9
Offensive starters - Returning/Lost:  6   /  5
Defensive starters - Returning/Lost:   7   /   4
Specialist - Returning/Lost:    3    /    0
Letterwinners Returning:  80  /  27

VMI was picked to finish seventh in the 2022 Coaches' preseason poll, and the Keydets had a total of 10 players to receive preseason honors. Stone Snyder, a two-time All-American and SoCon Defensive Player of the Year at linebacker continued to rack up the accolades with first-team defensive honors.  The Keydets dominated the specialists' categories, as Jerry Rice (K), Jack Culbreath (P), and Robert Soderholm (LS) garnered first-team recognition.

Over the past two seasons, the Keydets have recorded a combined 12-7 record, and are 10-6 against SoCon competition during that period. The back-to-back winning seasons for VMI in 2020 and 2021 is the first time since the 1961 and ’62 era.

The Keydets bring a 1-2 record into the weekend after opening the season with a 44-10 at FBS foe Wake Forest before a 24-14 win at home against Bucknell. Prior to their bye week, the Keydets dropped a home game to Cornell by a final score of 22-28.  Quarterback Seth Morgan, who was hurt early in the 2021 season against the Big Red, has tossed for 3,786 yards and 25 scores while rushing for eight more in 21 career games.  All-conference tight end Chance Knox has a team-high 12 receptions for 90 yards, with Hunter Rice (131 yards, touchdown) and Rashad Raymond (108 yards, touchdown) leading the rushing attack.

On the defensive side of the ball, first-team all-league selection Stone Snyder, an All-American and two-time SoCon Defensive Player of the Year, has posted 247 career tackles - including 17 in two contests this season.   

The Keydets are averaging 18.7 points per game, placing them in 7th place in the conference for scoring offense. 

2022 VMI Statistics  (3 games)

Rushing Offense: 259 yards
Yards per game: 86.3
Yards per rush: 2.6 yards
Rushing 1st downs: 17
TDs rushing: 4
Passing Offense: 645 yards or 215 yards per game
Avg. per pass: 6.6 yards
Passing 1st downs: 26
Passing Comp-Att-Int: 58-97-3
TDs Passing: 3
Total Offense: 904 yards or 301.3 yards per game
Fumbles-Lost: 5 - 4
3d Down Conversions: 13 of 44 (30%)
4th Down Conversions: 2 of 6 (30%)
Field goal attempts 2 - 3
PAT-Attempts: 6 of 7
On-side kicks: 1 - 1
Red Zone Scores: 5 of 6  (83%)
Red Zone Touchdowns: 5 of 6 (83%)
Punts - Yards: 19 - 740 - Avg per punt: 38.0

Western Carolina Athletics will honor football student-athlete alum Brad Hoover and the No. 41 that he wore during his standout four-year Catamount career. The special recognition is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022.

As a part of the special ceremony, Hoover's number 41 will be enshrined alongside three additional honored numbers from WCU's football past and displayed at Bob Waters Field / E.J. Whitmire Stadium. Hoover's No. 41 will join the No. 54 of Art Byrd (1946-49), the No. 23 of Jerry Gaines (1970-75), and the No. 14 of four-time All-Southern Conference selection kicker Kirk Roach (1984-87).