NCAAF 2021 Week 26 VMI vs Wofford

[Music] it's a whole new world in southern conference football these days the vmi cadets are undefeated ranked nationally for the first time in well ever and they are a favorite over the three-time defending southern conference champions here today welcome everybody to gibbs stadium on the campus of wofford college in spartanburg south carolina jim noble tom henson wofford hosting vmi and tom already we've had a huge story break no quarterback rhys udinsky for the cadets here today yeah big loss for them as uh he's the leading thrower in vmi history injured his knee last week in the come from behind win against samford he'll be replaced by seth morgan red shirt freshman out of pittsburgh uh we'll see what seth can do for the for the keynets and a big game for them obviously the wofford terriers looking to take advantage they are one and two but they are not out of the southern conference race by any measure of definition but they have to beat vmi today to even have a chance yeah you're exactly right and weather could play a big factor in this game today um that we're expecting possibly some rain around three o'clock could be some thunderstorms last time these teams got together in 2019 in lexington virginia we had over a two-hour lightning delay let's hope we avoid that and these two teams can just settle things on the field in the normal amount of time the both times these two teams last played they were high scoring losses to samford vmi won theirs wofford lost theirs we'll see if that makes any difference here today pick off between the keynets and the terriers coming up next wofford has won the coin toss and the terriers have elected to receive so instead of deferring which we see a lot for most teams these days tom the terriers won that ball and perhaps a chance to set the tone offensively i think that's exactly what it is uh the terriers in their game two weeks ago moved the ball well against samford if it weren't for a couple of turnovers that game may have had a different outcome i think that's exactly what they're trying to do send a message today uh of how their offense is gonna control this game against a vmi defense that historically wofford has uh performed very well against we will uh we'll see how that works out for the terriers today and by the way rhys udinsky not the only injury for the cadets we're waiting to find out if corey bridey their very good starting running back is going to be able to play also their first team all southern conference defensive end jordan ward he's questionable so we'll get some answers to some of these questions after we get the opening kickoff underway wopford is dressed in their black home jerseys traditional look with the gold pants and the gold helmet with no logo on it and of course vmi and their rode white uniforms with the gold trim and those good-looking gold helmets with the bmi logo on it as well tj luther is back for whopper deep expecting the kit from game time temperature 73 degrees it feels like it would be september tom yeah this is a this is a a late summer type feel for uh for a football game kind of muggy out the lights are on here at gibbs stadium overcast day there is a as you saw at the beginning of the broadcast uh chance for rain hopefully we'll get lucky and dodge a little bit of that today cole breath is ready so is luther and so are we glad you're with us here on espn plus we're underway here in spartanburg luther is going to back up into his end zone and bring it out from a couple of yards deep he's across the 20 30. d.j luther has a step can't he go all the way he doesn't have the angle or does he 20 10 5 gets a block touchdown terriers on the opening kickoff tj luther 102 yards i thought he was in trouble when he hesitated because he kind of hesitated for a moment in the end zone but what do i know what a burst of speed and he got a great block around the 25 yard line it opened up for him special teams has been something that hasn't been great for wofford this year was fantastic today you see the blocking and i was surprised when he brought it out and he once he hit the 20 he was in another gear and then it was just a a foot race to the end zone and got a block right near the end that's the first kickoff return touchdown as walker gliomas adds the extra point for wafford since lennox mcafee did it back in 2016. wow hey that's why you wanted the ball it wasn't for the offense it was for the special teams you and i were talking pregame on our radio broadcast about the fact that special teams well hasn't really done a lot for whoppered uh they have no punt returns just fair catches and luther hadn't really broken loose and then bam 102 yards later it is seven nothing terriers so now we get to kick it the other way as you see tj luther getting some pats on the back and probably needs some gatorade and some oxygen after that one that's a that's a 120 yard sprint base and it'll give or take 110 yards from where he went to where he finished and got a great block down there toward the end of the run and uh it was 12. so i don't know if it was pascal or ingram i don't know which one's on kick return both of them could have been out there but it was a a nice job by tj and again i'm like you i when he hesitated i thought oh gosh and uh but the hole was there and he hit it quickly luther a junior from arcadia florida had a 76 yard touchdown reception against these vmi cadets back when the last time these two met in the fall of 2019 so they're a little tired of seeing the back of number two's jersey see what atkins roberts can do here i think vmi thought yeah we're gonna kick it where he can't return it by the way wofford fans dawson hennis is still under the effects of a lingering injury so you see atkins with a short kick off and that's going to be fair caught over in the corner and it'll be kedat's ball first attendance chance knox didn't take a chance without one and it'll be first and ten ed so we will get our first look at seth morgan the redshirt freshman quarterback 6-3 190 out of pittsburgh pennsylvania percentage-wise he's good this season six for seven seventy yards and a touchdown he can also run the ball a little bit but boy tom that's he's gonna probably have to be a little bit of a game manager here in the early going yeah i think it's gonna be a lot of short passes maybe even some running plays to get him settled down raymond is the running back on first and ten it's a rollout pass and that's going to be complete jacob harris out across the 35-yard line and a good start for seth morgan and harris was the hero of the game against samford last week and one of those big tall wide receivers that historically has given wofford trouble and they've got size in almost every wideout position in the tight ends and hey get him comfortable sprinting him out there to the right and he threw a ball on the money and yard gained in the first down and now up the middle and breaking loose that's a big quick hitter from rashad raymond he's filling in as corey bridey is battling injury and bam back to back first down chunks for vmi raymond a freshman out of newark new jersey 510 185 showed some explosiveness there karen paschall made the stop for waffle but the key that's already in wofford territory first and ten from the terrier 47 and it's gonna be raymond again this time he's knocked down by joe beckett the senior linebacker from lexington south carolina after a short game beckett and john beckley the strength and the experience of the wofford linebacking gore again this is a wofford defense that is banged up particularly on the defensive line they've had to kind of invent a position they're so short of defensive lineman morgan takes the shotgun snap rolls out to his left on second down looking deep and he will be sacked no time and there's the other half of that backlit pair john beckley the senior from atlanta with the sack yeah just a good job of coverage downfield as morgan got out was rolling to his left and i don't know that beckley was ever touched third down and 17 ball back on the vmi 46 now after that nine yard loss in the sack by beckley morgan with raymond to his right back to throw looking over the middle deep and he's got harris who takes a big hit but holds on for the first down a 19-yard gain on third and 17 and vmi moves the six that was jaheem hazel with a big hit but harris held on yeah couldn't get to him with the pressure and just stepped up and made a big throw in harris with a great catch across the middle went up high to get it harris six four two eleven and as we said big tall receivers we saw samford's montreal washington a few weeks ago they can give these small but fast defensive backs trouble give inside and nothing doing for raymond hazel came up as did brandon brown for the stop for wofford no gain on first down yeah nice job by brandon brown inside linebacker read the play perfectly aidan twombly in a tight end he's gonna set up in the slot on the left as vmi puts four receivers on the left side of the formation on second and ten morgan back to throw quick hitter and that is tumbly catches it now that's hair excuse me got a screen almost a little wide receiver pick from trombly gets it down to the 26 yard line game of five on the play that'll bring up third down pascal on the stop for whopper bmi right back up on the football they will do this all day long and it's a roll out see what morgan can do throws and it's going to be incomplete intended for harris on the coverage miles richardson who by the way told me he would have a few pbus today past breakups well yeah we'll we'll he'll have every opportunity that's for sure absolutely that's a big fourth down play here early and no doubt vmi is going to go for this with wofford having run the opening kickoff back for a touchdown that cobra's career long their kicker is 56 yards he's got the he's got the leg but kind of a swirling wind right now at gibbs stadium so they're going to go for it on fourth and four raymond is in motion quick hitter slanted harris can't hold on to it and the terriers hold on fourth down it'll be wofford football he led him a little too much i think he and he may have gotten a little bit of alligator arms on that one too coming across the middle although harris has proven his toughness already warfare will take advantage of that though on the drop on fourth down i'll call it a drop i thought the pass was there for the most part we'll get our first look at the terrier offense yeah russell was there in case harris had held on but you're right i think that was one that jacob harris would want back and jimmy weirich leads the wofford offense out onto the field he has started every game for the terriers although you might see some of peyton derrick at quarterback too wofford has it first and ten from their own 26 and wider gives inside and a nice burst up the middle ryan lovely so if he just kept his feed he had a lot more green grass in front of him but he's out to the 43-yard line and a gain of 13. great blocking up front by this offensive line kurtz rousseau hogan gardner and greenlee the terriers without eliot campbell they're very very good guard but nick russo is filling in and opened up a hole on that play as well as the other rest of the line first attend wofford from the 43 now seven nothing terriers after they return the opening kickoff 102 yards tj luther with the touchdown he's on the field formation wyrick dumps it over the middle and that's complete pass to garrison moore first down for walford is moore totes into vmi territory down to the 45. just brought him across on a little drag pattern underneath and uh good job by the offensive line providing protection wyrick able to step into his throw and moore had plenty of separation catch number eight on the year for garrison moore aj smith made the stop for vmi terriers now into keita territory to the vmi 45 on first down iric with welsh in motion in the shotgun now it's darren droz who's also in a freshman tight end inside handoff that's lovelace again spins forward down to about the 41-yard line so we'll give him four on the play and you kind of see that intricate inside handoff cross blocking scheme that wofford is so famous for but not the true triple option that many people are used to tom that's a straight hand-off and it's just good blocking up front that's allowing lovelace to have to be able to pick his pick his spot to run second down six this time wyrick with backs on either side of him that's mulligan and walker it'll be irving mulligan always tripped and that was a big hole and you can see mulligan slapped the ground in frustration he's probably been wopford's most the guy that's shown the most burst so far this year and if he kept his footing he might still be running yeah he might have been able to run to the veranda a lot all now and there's a huge hole open there we're going to bring up a third down for the terriers third and two will call it from the 37 of vmi clock rolling with 9 13 here in this first quarter from spartanburg wofford leading vmi seven to nothing myrick sends to mori excuse me keiondre sanders in motion and give us to nathan walker and he's got the first down tough inside running is what nathan walker is known for connor riddle made the stop but not before another wofford first down we'll say i have not seen jordan ward out there for vmi they're all conference defensive lineman senior six one two forty nine out of ashburn virginia they've also got some great linebackers that do conor riddle and stone schneider both had huge games against samford both have four sacks on the season but right now it's wopford trying to set the tone first in ten terriers broussard is deep behind wyrick wyrock keeps it he wants to throw steps up in the pocket deep over the middle and that is incomplete looking for keiondre sanders in the back of the end zone i like the play call on first down you try to catch the defense a little bit flat-footed but yeah aj smith the safety was in coverage there and give him credit he didn't bite up on the play fake stayed with it but i agree with you i also like wofford trying to stretch something out there he's a good one smith first team all socon preseason handoff around the end and with room to run that broussard taking it deep deep into vmi territory they mark him down at the 15-yard line but not before a gain of 18 and another terrier first down a great block out there by queson greenlee 6-2 295 a sophomore out of anderson riddle on the stop for bmi but wopford is rolling in in the red zone now terriers convert at a rate of 92 percent so far this season in the red zone and they've got it first and ten weirich on the keeper met in the hole he'll fall forward for a couple nice defensive play by riddle also had some help from eric weaver the nose guard a little uh that was an option jimmy could could either give it to van cleave coming in motion or he could keep it he decided to keep it cut it up got about a yard and a half rest assured terrier fans there are option principles still alive there's a cooperative offensive but then josh conklin and wade lang have tried to modernize this offense a little bit second and we've got a timeout a whistle there's gonna be a penalty there yeah maybe some movement on the offer wofford side of the ball yeah i think one of the wide receivers out there on the left side for wofford moved yeah van cleef a little eager to get going there well you know he saw what his buddy luther had done earlier of the year and says i got to get on the score sheet too those two are all the speed in the world and a big big priority for offered offensively this year is to get the ball to weapons like luther and vancleave in space of course the kickoff accomplished that for luther we'll see what the terriers can do here second and thirteen all back at the 18 now here in the first quarter for trying to add to a seven nothing lead and wyrick is back to throw dumps it short it has off the hands incomplete looking for van cleave out in the flat but they could not connect a little high but van cleef will tell you he's got to bring that in now big third down play here opportunity for the vmi defense to get a hold if you're wofford you can get enough here you can make it four down territory you know the sun's come out here blustery day and watford's going into the wind on this on this first uh quarter so i wonder if that could maybe affect any decision to kick it if they don't convert here third and 13 from the 18 the vmi 18. iric wants his receivers and tight ends landing parker to flip sides of the formation so parker goes to the slot in the left yeah watch parker here wyrick looking for him parker has it knocked down he is gonna have a first down i believe by about a yard as they give him forward progress down to about the eight yard line that's gonna be fine is it fourth okay you're right you're right it was 13 yeah that may get them enough though where they feel comfortable kicking it in fact walker gliarmus has come out start of the year as the backup kicker that dawson hennis got hurt he's been perfect so far this year five for five on pats three for three on field goal so kick it out of the hold of parker that one is up and it is good so walker gliarmus the sophomore from wilson north carolina makes it 10 to nothing watford 607 left in the first quarter we'll be back right after this not a bad start for the wofford terriers they lead vmi 10 to nothing with 607 left in this first quarter jim noble tom henson with you in spartanburg nothing new to vmi they've been coming from behind all season long so in fact we talked to josh conklin earlier in the week and say hey you know those military guys they don't panic when things don't go their way but right now wofford is out to a lead in a quick kickoff return and that is chance knox is taking it out across the 25 to the 28th and bmi will put the ball into play there the second time that seth morgan gets to lead the vmi offense out on the field if you're just joining us reid udinsky as is out of this game because of injury we do have a flag on that kickoff return and where they're looking it's against vmi it's holding that'll back the key deads up even further and you when you lose a guy like rhys udinsky tom i mean you lose the poise you lose the leadership i know he's on the sideline and can help morgan out in between series but this is a guy who you know pulled off a herculean effort you know he was hurt in this next to last drive in that samford comfort b.i win they put a brace on him and he actually engineered the game-winning drive and the overtime win with what could be as bad as a torn acl we don't know the extent of his injury yet but boy you lose a lot raymond does the running back and he's gonna watch as morgan goes right up the middle great fake by morgan heber for 11 yards and a quick first down for vmi he can run the ball seth morgan has run for 57 yards limited duty higgin campbell made the stop for wafford first and ten cadets ball out now to the 22. morgan looking to throw blitz coming they picked it up and that's gonna complete coming back to make the catch for about nine yards is max bermidian he's a sophomore out of weddington north carolina near charlotte to hironora on the stop for wafforder nor by the way is watford's leading tackler so far in the first three games a lot of talent for such a young man morgan hands off now raymond breaks one tackle falls across the 35 to the 36 campbell and beckley combining for the stop for wofford and great lead block out there by mick hartnett their left guard got out and led that play pulled on it and he was the guy blocking brandon brown who had a beeline on him but couldn't make the tackle because he was being blocked yeah hartnett is the keystone of that offensive line another first team all socom pre-season pick they're at left guard raymond's back at throw excuse me morgan back to throw it it's complete and with plenty of room down the sideline flags come in as knox is knocked out of bounds so we'll have to wait on the penalty and this may be in the area of a hold i also don't know if they threw a pic it may be offensive pass interference that looked like a pick play as well one flag came out just after knox caught the ball you'll see and then the other flag came out a couple of seconds later as he knocks down at the bottom of the screen i think it's right there you saw the i think your right hand i think it is gonna be holding and that's gonna negate a pretty good gain by the key debts but you see what they're trying to do for south morgan they're not asking him to be you know all everything they're not asking him to be uginsky get some short completions get his confidence up by he it seems like his sense of timing and rhythm is right there yeah so far i've seen nothing out of him that doesn't make me think he can't run this offense very fairly well so it'll be first and 11 after the penalty marked off ball on the vmi 35 and now morgan throws a raymond he's got a catch out in the flat makes another man miss and it's a good gain on first down gets a lot of that penalty yardage back up to the 43-yard line beckett and rhett russell combined to make the tackle for lauper rashad raymond come up a little gimpy there and a busted play and there's morgan knocked down coming in to make the tackle as a true freshman john boyles playing that newly created flash position whoppered down to three scholarship defensive linemen and boyle's and a number of other freshmen having to fill the void and boyle's made a play there from traverse city michigan prepped at episcopal school in virginia third and five vmi ball in their own 41 3 42 left in this first quarter and watford leading bmi 10 nothing morgan back to throw looking long and left and that is going to be complete inside the 20 knocked out of bounds inside the 15 michael jackson makes the long reception for vmi that was a beautifully thrown ball that time by seth morgan and 28 yards on the hook-up there's so many michael jackson jokes there that i'm just it's too early to do it it's too early i got away more quarters to go exactly right all right bmi is in the red zone first and ten key deaths from the terrier 14. that throw will give morgan a ton of confidence and he's got it now he's keeper sidesteps one man not much there though in fact they'll lose a yard as was it beckley yeah beckley and also cameron wooley another one of those freshman defensive lineman that a lot of these guys are really linebackers that they're just putting on the dl because they just don't have the bodies due to injuries and opt outs swinehearts isn't running back now grant sweinhart we'll have to check on rashad raymond remember corey bridey's already injured and out for vmi rolling out left is mortgage he gets down there's a nice little piece of running down to the sixth seth morgan's slowing uh showing a little slipperiness yeah that was that was an option play there that he was going to try to run with swineheart brandon brown on the tackle for wofford it'll be third and two to get the first down vmi has to get inside the four yard line so third and two from the six seth morgan trying to engineer his first touchdown drive as a key dad gives it to schweinhart and he is going to lope into the end zone for a vmi touchdown grant schweinhart from six yards out and pending the p-a-t it's ten to six i don't make him feel pretty good about seth morgan and what he's able to do that's an impressive drive for vmi remember they got backed up on the kickoff return had a couple of penalties on the drive but it never derailed them jack colbreath into attempt the extra point that kick is up and it is good and just like that the key deads strike back we've got 203 to go in a very entertaining first quarter vmi cuts the wofford lead to three it's ten to seven terriers here in the first [Music] well we thought this one might turn out to be a bit of a track meet and so far with 203 left in the first quarter vmi and whopper haven't disappointed 10-7 wofford after vmi cuttings back with a touchdown run and you see tj luther back deep for the terriers all he did if he joined his lead was take the opening kick off 102 yards for the game's first score well he will they may try to kick this one out the back of the end yeah go see what uh what they try to do here luther will take it on us too right up the same seam this time they slow him down a little bit but still a nice return out to the 27 yard line is yeah i was wondering what uh exactly what they were going to try to do there whether they were going to cough and corner or just boot out the end zone they are kicking with the wind that'll of course the teams will switch sides after the next minute 58 but there's a pretty brisk win going from right to left uh as you look at the uh our press box view here at gibbs stadium nathan walker and ryan lovelace are in the backfield behind jimmy walker jimmy walker jimmy weirich she had a lot of names going on today wirick in the shotgun is inside tough running good running all the way out to the 34-yard line nathan walker and you know walker's only average four yards of carry time and we saw him explode as a freshman a couple of years ago and about time to get that young man going too that was a tough physical run we'll say in now for vmi is jordan ward who's the guy that's been banged up we didn't know if we would see him today but he's in he's playing nose tackle right now easy to spot on defense he wears number zero yeah that's kind of an honor the vmi does a lot of schools doing that this year the first year a player could actually wear the number zero in ncaa football and teams using it kind of as a motivational give it to their most valuable player on defense another handoff for wofford putting his foot on the ground and cutting up field and that'll be a first down for the terriers as ryan lovelace gets it out to about the 37-yard line and the terriers move the chains yet again actually all the way out close to the 40. stone snyder on the tackle if your name is stone snyder you have to play linebacker what a great game what a great remember scott studwell for the vikings that's still my all-time favorite linebacker name although michael stonebreaker for the irish that's pretty good too yeah but we digress first and 10 wofford from their own 40. last minute to play here in the first quarter terriers leading it 10-7 walker to the left got bogged up there and tried to bounce off the tackle he'll get maybe a yard and a half that's all i think they kind of stuffed al hogan the center who was pulling out and trying to create a hole there and that man jordan ford is the man that did that stuffing you could tell the difference with him in there he's a big man six one two forty nine they also had jalen haney who's usually his backup he's been in there alongside of him too so they're trying to use a you know a few different guys there he let's play a 3-4 defense 10 seconds to go in the quarter should be able to get one more play off before the horn goes off and they do it's an inside handoff to walker or is it yeah yes he did keep it and then got driven backwards after a gain of about three so when we come back it'll be wofford football on third down we've completed 15 minutes of play here in spartanburg south carolina whoppered by virtue of an opening kickoff return for a touchdown out to a 10-7 lead over undefeated vmi here in spartanburg [Music] third and five upcoming for the wofford terriers as we begin quarter number two here in spartanburg south carolina jim noble tom henson and our entire espn plus crew has undefeated vmi trails whopper 10 to 7. rjko is in the game wide receiver redshirt freshman out of cincinnati as jimmy rick begins the quarter with this key third and five empty backfield and a whistle about to be third and ten yeah it's awesome movement there at the top of the screen that may have been the aforementioned mr kyo i think they called a snap in france oh did they okay i heard six might have been 62. yeah i think it was al hogan that moved the ball the third and ten from the wofford 40. if you're wobbered the way vmi has moved the football i don't care who the quarterback is you need to possess the ball he'd keep that vmi offense off the field they just made it a little bit harder with that penalty so third and ten now from the wofford 40. some confusion parker lined up wrong now he moves off further into the slot wyrick in the shotgun one running back to his left and wirex back to throw right side that's going to be complete coming back and making a nice snag is kyle i believe that's the first kill down the second catch of his career but it's good for a first down ryan lovelace did a nice job picking up a blitzer there and that was a good throw you know right to the spot needed 10 got 10 and a half love when a wide receiver comes back for the football uses his body to shield the defender rastan terrier is just one yard into vmi territory at the key debt 49. walker's the line lined up in the eye right behind wyrick he'll take the handoff slice off left tackle trying to balance it outside unable to do that and a heck of a defensive play coming up from the safety position josh surat the sophomore from stafford virginia made a big stop that's a big tackle there nathan walker's got some room to run if sarah doesn't come and hit him around his ankles yeah grabbed him right there at his ankles and got him off balance got him to the ground hasselberry was there waiting to to clean it up but uh you never know if uh you know if you make one man miss you can certainly make the second so only a gain of one for walker second and nine from the bmi 48. another handoff to walker getting a lot of work today he churns those legs and falls across the 45 down to the we'll spot him at about the 44-yard line so a gain of about three for walker to bring up third down third and five terriers have already converted third and ten on this drive bmi only allows forty percent three down conversion their defense i think has got a lot of credit because of how good the offense has been taking all the attention holton motion for wofford goes to the top of the formation wyrak hands off inside and trying to stretch for the yardage i think he's right at the marker is that broussard was broussard trying to battle with smith he got it that is right there at the marker and they're gonna give waffer the first down that was a that was a battle of wills between two very strong football field players and broussard won that one it was it's by inches and uh but the terrorists again they're not even going to measure so that's two third down conversions that'll do a lot for an offense you help you feeling good get you into a rhythm play calling get you into a rhythm with execution they then parker's in the game at tight end ryan lovelace the back behind wyrick he gets the handoff on first down across the 40 flag comes in round where we would probably expect a holding call lovelace gained five but it may come back they will confer looks like the hold is going to be around the 39. jeff page is our referee today the southern conference crew they will back that one up after the holding call we all thought we saw official said second down yeah it should be still be first down yeah first and twenty they took the penalty you don't lose the down we go right back to kind of where we started the other series from back to the vmi 49 so first and 20. 12 25 clock running wofford 10 bmi 7. ebby wirick and the shotgun for the terriers back to throw that's complete short gainer it's kyo again rick's pass four of those yards back out to the vmi 45 the rat on the stop for the cadets has won eight in a row against bmi bmi has never won in spartanburg never won at this stadium but vmi is favored by virtue of their 4-0 socon start in this one so really a very very interesting and intriguing battle an undefeated team against the team that's won the conference three years in a row second down 16. wyrick takes a step back now he'll take the shotgun snap give it to walker walker gets hit breaks a tackle gonna get a block from wyrick and bounce it outside walker gets almost all the way to the marker he'll be a yard yeah when the play doesn't go the way it's supposed to just play street ball there and that's exactly what walker did was supposed to go to the left bmi stopped it nathan walker bounced it back out to the right and you're right jimmy wire kind of got in there and ran a little uh interference as third and one is pretty easy here for the terriers and now we've got a stoppage and play i think vmi's got a guy down over there near their boundary yeah trying to get a look at which key that went down i believe it is alex oliver the cornerback riddle made the stop but uh we'll go ahead and take a timeout here in the second quarter with 1101 to go wafford driving the terriers have a three-point lead a third and one upcoming for the wofford terriers alex oliver was the injured bmi cadet he's off the field now on this third and one wofford from the vmi 30. mulligan and mulligan will it'll be a pitch rather the other way why are pitches to love lace can he get there i don't know that he did he's about a half a yard sure yeah vmi swarmed to the football and put a bunch of hats on number 28 stone snyder leading the defensive charge for wofford so what do you do here coach on fourth down yeah i don't even think it's half a yard i think it's maybe a foot and you go for it here and what i would love to see wofford do i don't think they will is put wyric under center and just have to do a little quarterback sneak but you know my how strongly i believe in that they're bringing in the jumbo package anthony craig at one tight end he is basically a an offensive lineman that wears an 80 number six four 270. here we go let's see if they do it wyrick is under center made in motion is van cleave and there's your quarterback plunge and there's your first down henson you get a promotion and a little something extra in your paycheck i love it just a simple play on fourth and short and you don't ever see anybody do it anymore except for well tb12 does it wherever he is so first down for the terriers keeps those chains moving more importantly keeps that high-powered bmi offense off the field yeah that's the key i don't think they've have they had the ball in this quarter no because they scored their touchdown going the same way the wofford is here in the second quarter so first and ten from the 28-yard line mulligan takes the handoff on wyrick right up the middle look at him slam into a key dad to get driven backwards after a five-yard game that was a collision there a.j smith and erwin mulligan we could hear it up here in the press box yeah you're talking you hear a lot of people say and and it's true playing football in contact like that is like a it's like a car crash and that's what that was that was two human beings going full speed at each other and hitting in the hole by the way alex oliver is back for vmi now he was injured a couple plays ago so at vmi defense really both sides of the ball have been riddled by injuries lately wyrick on second down it's a sweep left bruce turns the corner 10-5 touchdown there's a late flag just as he crossed the goal line yeah they're going to get jim welsh with a block in the back i think oh boy you wonder how kiosk to take another look at it but as soon as soon as broussard flashed across the goal line that's where the flag came out watch number 84. yeah jeremy's gonna give her a hold jersey pull you can see it from here so it'll be a spot of the foul [Music] penalty 10 yard penalty it looks like they've got the flag at the six so put it back to the 16 yard line should be first and ten from there yeah so first and ten from the 16. hey you take the points off that's that's big but you still got first down and you're moving the ball you're again this offense right now is in some rhythm on this drive and more important you're right this drive started back in the first quarter wofford is really gobbling up some some time of possession here by the way all five starters on the offensive line knew from a year ago in fact one of those guys is out this year elliott campbell so a completely revamped offensive line from the team that won the southern conference championship back in 2019 first down wirick back to throw over the middle the ball is tipped and that's incomplete looking for van cleave that tyron cloud got a hand on that second and ten got eight fifty four to go second quarter wofford with a three-point lead 10-7 put you a little behind the sticks here obviously you can get the first down without scoring after they move the ball back after that penalty that wiped out the touchdown the second and ten from the 16. rush left and not much there broussard is chopped down on the carry a couple of guys mallory and i think it was cloyd again sliced in and not much doing it all there that's a good tackle about mallory algerique mallory no gain on the play it's the no gain on that play third and 10. has to come away with at least some points here after a really nice drive making the reverses lovelace can he outrun the defense turns the corner 10 first down inside the five that was all ryan lovely sold the fake really well and then just just the desire to pick up the first down this is not your grandfather's wofford offense by the way that was a great tackle that he broke there about the 15 yard line that allowed him to turn the corner and get the first down the first and goal terriers from the five looking to go up two scores again that was conor riddle he whose tackle he broke that's one of the better linebackers in the league wyrick in the shotgun again he will hand it off to lovelace burrows down to close to the one-yard line ryan lovelace i like the play calling because you run a slow developing fake reverse and then a quick hitter right off there i think bmi was a step behind on that quickly up on the ball run that same player here again wyrick oh almost a botched hand off and that threw the timing of the play off and ball comes out after the whistle but lovelace and wire didn't seem like they were on the same page it looked like wyrick might have been trying to pull that ball out i think he might have been dixon on the stop for vmi to bring up third and goal from the one broussard on the carry first year as a starter tutored behind southern conference offensive player of the year joe newman back in 2019 urban mulligan is the lone running back to the left of wyric sanders is the wide receiver at the top he goes in motion mulligan into the end zone touchdown terror terriers urban mulligan from a yard and a half out that's all about the offensive line doing their job right there putting a surge uh in and and knocking vmi either to the ground or back into the end zone touchdown terriers how about that drive for wofford really just kind of imposing their will on the vmi defensive line and the mulligan caps it off with his second touchdown run of the year that's a that was over a nine minute drive we'll have to get official word on it the armist in to convert the extra point out of the hold of lyndon parker colin springer the long snapper it was six minutes and 37 seconds to go in the first half wofford is out to a 17-7 lead over the vmi cadets here at gibbs stadium in spartanburg as the score goes around the southern conference whopper leading vmi 17-7 i ask tom henson is the rest of the conference in the weird position of pulling for the wofford terriers and trying to knock off the vmi undefeated express today yeah it's it's weird roles are reversed right now uh the rest of the league is rooting for wofford vmi's normally team everybody roots for nobody has anything against vmi those guys are always fighting hard and doing what they're supposed to do and but now people need them to take a loss and wofford uh so far has done pretty well knox with a return for the cadets he falls forward to the 25-yard line it'll be vmi ball if you're late joining us rhys udinsky not available for the cadets after that heroic effort the win in overtime against samford that knee injury he suffered in the fourth quarter preventing him from playing today so it's seth morgan at quarterback for vmi he's been pretty good i've got him as seven of nine 113 yards no touchdowns i hadn't done a pick yet though the discrepancy right now again these are rough stats i've got wofford with a 16 minute to seven minute advantage on time of possession after that last nine minute touchdown drive no doubt look at morgan escape the rush and he's got room 30 out to the 40 knocked out of bounds at the 43 yard line gain of 18 on first down for the redshirt freshman quarterback zai abercrombie finally made the stop for wafford again sold the fake well to rashad raymond and then got out on the right side and he may have to learn to get down a little bit sooner and not take a hit rashad raymond is the running back and he is stopped right at the line of scrimmage maybe even in the backfield that was a nice defensive play brock dempsey i think you're right wofford is going deep into the depth chart the defensive line and that was number 92 with this with the tackle and a loss of about a half a yard yeah brock dempsey freshman from hampstead north carolina crawford is only has three scholarship defensive linemen pass complete that's knox he's got a first down into wofford territory out to the 46 yard line and a nice timing play hit perfectly in stride but a flag on the play back of the vmi backfield throne where you would always anticipate holding they've had a couple of good gainers wiped out whopper i mean uh bmi has that'll back the heat up and it knocks right between the eight and the three and that gate gainer is going to come back be second down again about 20 all the way back at the vmi 32 so that negated that's about almost a 25 yard difference and wofford's going to take a timeout as josh conklin walked out on the field and i don't think he liked what he saw as the terriers lined up defensively so we will take a time out as well terriers lead the cadet 17-7 we've got 5 26 to go in this first half from spartan welcome back second and 20 for vmi all on their own 32 waffer leading vmi 17-7 here in the second and morgan is lit up trying to probe the right side of the waffer defense joe beckett oh yeah you know i talked to joe beckett earlier this week and he said the defense was going to have to be more aggressive and he kind of came on a i don't know if it was a run blitz or a pat's pass blitz but it worked i think he just read the play perfectly and saw what was coming and terrier's a big opportunity here on third and a lot yeah third and 23 to be exact after the loss of three bmi's got four wide receivers on the field wofford's got five linebackers in not back at a short pass over the middle jacob harris has it he's gonna have to try to turn the corners knocked out of bounds but well short of the first down you get nervous every time that young man has the ball he had 14 catches for 166 yards and two touchdowns last week against stamford yeah jaheem hazel was the guy that knocked him out of bounds lost his helmet and we may see our very first punt of the afternoon that's what that formation is called that's called a punt i haven't seen it in a while so jack colbreath averages about 39 punts punts well that's not true 39 yards per punt he's got a pretty stiff breeze in his face right now demaria van cleave hasn't returned one yet this year all fair catches for the former mr kentucky football out of danville kentucky that kick is short and it's going to hit van cleave can he field it on a hop he can now could he make the first man miss he can oh and they whistle it he must have signaled fair catch wow now usually if you run after you signal the fair catch that could be a penalty we're gonna have to look into this one here take another look and see if you can see van cleef the problem is 43 yards nope he pointed at blockers that the ball was coming down wow bmi catches a break there 43 yards and no return and now they're probably going to penalize van cleave or are they no no no penalty on the on the well that'll be a topic of conversation in the socon officiating meeting on monday i've seen that happen once before north carolina remember ryan switzer who played for the tar heels juked everybody into thinking he was going to call for a fair catch didn't and they called they blew the whistle anyway so wopford's backed up quick hand off to walker and walker takes care of that out across the 30 the 35 and a huge gain on first down for the terriers date the walkers out to the 37 yard line you know back to that punt north texas scored on a play like that against arkansas where the guy fielded the punt in the air and just kind of stood there and then when the arkansas player started running to the sideline he took off went down the far sideline scored a touchdown on it you got to make sure the officials know that that's in your arsenal 22 yards for nathan walker on first down terriers have held onto the ball the vast majority of this first half now with their 37. lyric hands off inside maybe two i think that was lovelace he's down there somewhere wafford does have two timeouts left as we take under 3 30 to play if you're wofford you don't want vmi touching this ball the rest of the half because they will get the ball to start the second half well if we're trying to spread the field out they got sanders van cleave and now lovelace trots out to the wide receiver position two more receivers at the top of the formation backfield yeah wirick back to pass here comes the blitz he gets it off down the right sideline but sales out of bounds he was looking for landon parker right in front of the vmi bench parker of course the punter as well we've talked about that a couple of times this year is actually punting very very well dad had some punting experience in the nfl for the denver broncos brother was a punter as well and if the terriers don't pick up eight yards here he's gonna get he gets a chance to show it all i was hoping we wouldn't trend in that direction but you're absolutely right on third and eight from the 39 that stopped the clock with exactly three minutes to go in the second quarter jimmy weirich back to pass steps up dumps it off and that one is nearly intercepted jumping the route intended for hulk but serrat drew a bead on it and got a paw on it to knock it away holt went exactly where he needed to go drop down to his knees as a possession receiver sometimes does but sirach has made a better play defensively so you know you're going to see the punting acumen of number 23 landon parker who actually you know filling in for taking over the punting roles from luke carter who was wopford's punter and kicker the last four years did such a great job landon parker is averaging 43 yards a punt got a pretty good breeze at his back right now hence knox is back four the cadets that one's kind of funky coming off the side of the foot it'll get inside the 30 but that's about it so decent field position for vmi they'll get the ball when we come back the cadets will have two minutes and 44 seconds to work with and try to chip into this 10-point wofford lead bmi's got two minutes and 44 seconds to work with to try to get on the board and not chip into this 17-7 wafford terrier lead first down handoff raymond not much there on the right side for defensive pursuit was led by brandon brown also zi abercrombie a host of terriers harrison morgan there robert playing a lot of true freshmen from that flash position that hybrid defensive line linebacker position they've been forced to create because of injuries to the defensive line second to nine and back to pass so that one's gonna be was it caught if it was caught i think his feet were out of bounds but they're going to get together and call this incomplete pretty nice effort coming back to try to catch it take another look at it morgan put the ball right where he needed to yeah definitely out of bounds and coming back for it was bemidji and incomplete very quickly it's third and nine and bmi has taken about five seconds off the clock with these first two plays danger leaving wofford too much time if they don't convert here look for jacob harris in this situation yeah he's in the slot on the right back to pass looking for him and it sails past him and off the hands of bermudge and i don't know whether those two receivers were supposed to be in such close proximity but three and out for vmi yeah that was not what they needed that's a great job by the wafford defense i'll start on that first down play hold him to half a yard on that run attempt and then you get a second down pass out of bounds and a third down some maybe some confusion on the route there i don't think you would have two guys that got close to each other in the route tree terriers should get the ball back should get decent field position wind has kind of changed now now it's blowing across the field from the wofford bench to the vmi benches culbreth is back to punt gets that one up in the breeze but it and it's knocked down a little bit yeah just doing funny things with the football swirling up yeah and it's wofford's gonna have good field positions that one only makes it out to the 41-yard line you know it's weird we're you can see the flags blowing opposite from us but occasionally we get a gust inside our our open booth here only 31 yards on the punt and wopford has a minute 57 and two timeouts to work with and a 17-7 lead at halftime we'll check some scores from around the conference everybody in action except for furman and just just them yes furman well uncg thank you for that walker a reverse here's the maury a van cleave trying to make a move of steps out of bounds it'll be a good gainer close to a first down and wopford is showing the entire repertoire here today now spot him about half a yard short give me my credit i think they closed up on that thing this is normally something where you expect to see a lot of green grass and they uh had good pursuit good angles yeah a lot of discipline on that key that defense still a gain of nine for demaurier vancleave so it's second to one you can do a lot of different things here myrick is back to pass out left short gator to parker it'll be a first down before he's thrown backwards gained him about four so it'll move the chains and the clock stops momentarily with 146 to go in the half and it's running and wofford's gotta pick up a little pace here two timeouts of the terrier's back pocket first and ten from the bmi 46. weirich one step drop and then throws the parker he's got another first down down close to the 30 to the 32 yard line 126 on the scoreboard as wofford gets right back up on the football brandon parker's just running some good routes and wirick is firing it into him ryan ingram is in the running back the true freshman has only carried the ball four times this year he's to the right of wyrick who's back to pass over the middle again and that one's incomplete looking for luther knocked away by josh sarat who's had himself a pretty good first half there in the vmi secondary you know it as things go that's not a horrible incompletion because it allows you to kind of get your breath a little bit here get a play call in you're still second and ten you've got plenty of time you still also have two timeouts yep minute of 105. score here though would be huge you're already up two scores you've got the first place team in the conference coming to your place see what wofford can do wirek back again has to get away from the pressure throwing to his left and that's going to say a lot of bounds if you're going to miss miss out there ko was the intended receiver but bmi defended that play well yeah he got some pressure in his face and he got out of it and throw it where only your guy can possibly make a miraculous catch 58 seconds here all of a sudden we've gotten it down to third and 10. bmi does have all three timeouts left so you got a couple things you do do you run the ball and force them to to use a timeout you try to get it or at least give yourself a makable field goal attempt that swirling wind is going to make that kind of tough we'll see wyric back to throw now we've got whistles and a flag yeah well it may have been delay a game it may have been also a guy that was moving forward at the snap yeah false start i'll start on wofford so that'll make it even more difficult make it a third and 15. they might have gotten rjko moving from the wide receiver position a little bit early i think originally he said five and that's jimmy weirich certainly wouldn't hit this that'd be uh illegal procedure on the quarterback david parker will come in garrison hearst out at the tight end position for wofford garrison moore i guess right there's a hurst harrison hearst was a heck of a play he sure was tom's a georgia fan it's just rubbed off on me after all this time all right wyrick back again as time down the right sideline and that's going to be overthrown i think keandre sanders wants a flag that he is not going to get and that'll bring up fourth down interesting with the wind and it's swirling and what it's doing to passes i think sanders was being bumped a little there maybe even being held but the ball you know the ball just kind of takes off those whopper dog looking over to the sideline you're kind of in no man's land right here fourth and a mile to go fourth and fifteen i think they'll call a timeout here kind of burn the clock yeah i don't know why they would while they were waiting because the clock's not running because there's an incomplete pass yeah you can hear the wind in the referees mike so they'll talk about it as will we of course vmi or and oh just so many superlatives so many first evers for the key debts first time they've ever been ranked in the fcs poll they come in at number 14 in the stats fcs poll you take a look at the southern conference standings and with chattanooga currently losing they've yet to drop a conference game vmi fighting here this whole thing could be blown completely wide open this week yeah offered it with a win here and if mercer beats chattanooga you bring a lot of teams back into the fold and then a lot of teams can win this thing you know the interesting thing for me and i go back to the very first game of the season that get that didn't happen chattanooga and vmi were supposed to play that first game but chattanooga had some coveted issues they didn't play how bizarre would it be if those two teams both somehow end up in a tie or close to first together and and they didn't play each other so and chattanooga is making noise about you know shutting a bunch of guys down for the spring even though they're undefeated in conference play i know uh i know rusty wright was talked about that they lost their big offensive lineman moon last week and whether he doesn't want to jeopardize the fall different coaches different approaches to this very unique spring football season so lawford has the offense out there on fourth and 15. lyric is going to go back and throw he's got pressure gets out of it rolls to his right and finally he will be sacked and that is going to give vmi really good field position yeah when jimmy goes back and looks at this he's got to get rid of it he had plenty of time to just throw it out of bounds he was outside of the pocket and uh save the yardage that you lost there on the sack riddle jalen haney finally bringing down wirick and not only the the clock stops on this change of possession wopford doesn't get to punt it deep or anything like that or chooses not to vmi's got the ball with 42 seconds in all three timeouts they've got plenty of time to do something here seth morgan buyers to jacob harris it's complete short gain of about four out to the vmi 46 time out vmi that's their first with 36 seconds left in the half if you're wondering about field goal range jerry rice's career long is only 32 yards he is six of seven this year missed his first made his last six gives me a chance to say they've got jerry rice and michael jackson you gotta use that speed somehow don't you it's the fake field goal to jerry rice is it's got to be in their playbook take a look at some other scores from around the southern conference and that's another one that's going to raise some eyebrows mercer leading chattanooga in the third quarter they started earlier than we did 28-7 in chattanooga and maybe that's we don't know who's playing and who's not playing for chattanooga but maybe that's a sign that they don't they have some guys that are they're not playing today mercer is a team that's up and down they came in here and lost to wofford samford is up 24 nothing lighter stages of the first half down in charleston against the citadel again that's a civil team that's lost eight in a row going back to the fall just struggling to get anything to happen they've been decimated by injuries ncaa bookstore violations transfers all right second and six for vmi there's morgan looking over the middle that's complete a good gainer into wofford territory and there's that man harris again what a big target six four what do they say big catch radius on that guy all the way down to the wofford 30. 26 seconds clock is running bmi still got two timeouts morgan back looking deep into the end zones got to throw that away there is a receiver in the vicinity so he did a good job that'll stop the clock with 15 seconds to go they may regret not calling a timeout on that previous play they could have saved themselves about eight seconds the second and ten ball on the wofford 31 and the terriers leading the key dead 17-7 here in the waning seconds of the second quarter seth morgan getting the start at quarterback rhys udinsky unable to go with that knee injury suffered last week at samford morgan is back to throw looking in the left corner into the end zone oh he had a man it was knox but just a little bit overthrown he puts he put it on a line if he puts a little air under it he allows knox to probably run under that thing knox had found the seam between two offered defenders and just off of his fingertips yeah again a little air under that thing and it's six third and ten ten seconds to go in the half they may come back to that play morgan is back to pass he's got time now he'll roll out short one complete to harris he steps out of bounds he's got the first down at the 19-yard line with four seconds to go if he a mile of time probably for one more play i probably have to kick it and that may be the play yeah they're running the kicking team out there yeah 19 yards out so should make it about a 36 yard field goal attempt there's jerry rice offered to use a timeout here the holder is aaron vardell the snapper is robert soderholm rice is a redshirt freshman out of daleville virginia and this would be see where they had the ball spotted i think we're talking a career long yeah attempt here because his career long is only 32. remember at halftime we'll go ahead and check scores from around the entire southern conference scoreboard got to gather some first half numbers for you and i tell you what this first half that has certainly not locked for action it should be a whale of a final 30 minutes and perhaps then some bmi has won their last three overtime games by the way wopford does not want to see this one go to an extra period terriers want to keep them off the scoreboard here block field goal would be great all right 36 yard field goal attempt it would be a new career high for vmi kicker jerry rice falls on the right hash mark swirling wind that one's up in the breeze and it is no good off to the left so offer dodges one here as time expires in the first half and the wofford terriers send notice that undefeated vmi is going to work hard to stay that way at halftime your score is offered 17 and vmis 7. vmi is looking to go 5-0 for the first time since 1960 but wofford leads this one at the half jim noble tom henson and tom if the keynes were looking for a team to break this streak against or move to that lofty record wofford not might not be the team to choose remember the last meeting we did back in 2019 yeah the vmi scored 36 points you think that's probably enough to win not when they gave up 51 terriers behind joe newman that day were very good 97 yards on the ground 142 through the air three total touchdowns um alex ramsey a guy that they miss uh who left for the citadel and now is i don't know where alex ramsey is now he's not playing football ran for a career high at that time 207 yards udinsky was great throwing the ball um 315 passing yards but vmi just couldn't get it done in the end and that was an interesting game in that it started and then we had a two-hour lightning delay when the game was tied at 7-7 i think we're going to avoid any weather delays here today just based on what the radar is showing but the interesting thing about the ant gaming if you remember jim late september was getting darker earlier and vmi doesn't have lights and the game started at 1 30 and we didn't resume until close to four and we had about two hours of daylight two and a half hours of daylight left and uh there was some thought we might have a bunch of cars surround the field and turn their headlights on but terriers were able to get out of there in enough time to get the win you know in that game wofford rushed for 439 yards that was when robert was kind of running their true triple option they've evolved the offense now but even since they throw the ball more they still got so much talent at running back yeah you see the three-headed monster these guys have been the ones carrying the ball the most this year ryan lovely serving mulligan nathan walker throw in jamari broussard and you've got the makings of a great running back by committee and those are the four guys that have not only have done it all year they've done it today as well when you have that many weapons you can spread it around guys don't get tired and i think that's what we may see in the second half today is a fresher wofford team because of the time of possession and some of these guys you know you look at irving mulligan's only carried it four times in the first half fresh legs in the second half could be a big difference one other thing we haven't considered here today turnover margin bmi is first in the conference they take the ball away a ton wofford hasn't turned it over in fact the terriers zero turnovers in nine of their last 13 wins over vmi where at halftime 17-7 wofford leads vmi it's a 10-point lead for the wofford terriers attempting to deal vmi their first loss in southern conference play as we get ready to start the second half jim noble tom henson here at gibbs stadium mike ayersfield on the campus of wofford college here in spartanburg south carolina tom was looking at the first half numbers and look total yards were pretty close be my throws for a bunch wopford runs for a bunch that's no surprise but tom time of possession may be the most telling factor of that for that first half yeah terriers are helped out by that last scoring drive they had where they went 20 plays 73 yards took 10 21 off the clock so for the time of possession wofford has an 1856 to 1104 advantage that's basically 19 minutes to 11 minutes plus eight time of possession does several things one on a humid day it wears down vmi's defense two it keeps the key at offense which is explosive even without udinski keeps them on the sideline awfully tough to score points when your offense isn't on the field yeah seth morgan filling in for the injured reese udinski thought he did a nice job of kind of running the offense he was 11 for 17 165 yards no touchdowns no interceptions was sacked once and keep in mind he does also without their starting running back corey bridey who has been who's run for 100 yards the last two games but got banged up also in that samford game so rashad raymond has picked up the slack six rushes just 25 yards though and of course they did get the touchdown plunge from grant sweinhardt for their loan score of the first half waffle of course got that 100 yard kickoff return from tj luther to open up the scoring on the opening kickoff and then a field goal from walker gilarmus and the touchdown run by irvin mulligan and that's where we are 17-7 at halftime so if you're either head coach tom did that first half call for massive adjustments or just kind of fine tuning your game plan well i think some i think for vmi a couple of things one they had some critical holding penalties in in certain times and i think that's something they've got to figure out as on the tv side you see wofford head coach josh conklin i think he's got to be happy with his team he's held vmi to seven points 17 i don't think will win this game i think the terriers are going to need several more uh a couple more touchdowns you know 31 get to there maybe so the other thing vmi this first drive of the third quarter is really really important for them they got an opportunity here to kind of claim some momentum and get things rolling back in the right direction you come out and you put a touchdown on the board suddenly at 17 14 you put a really bunch of pressure put a bunch on the wofford offense but if you don't score and the terriers get the ball back then then wofford can really start trying to make a margin that's almost insurmountable you know what's funny is this matchup today matches last year's southern conference coaches of the year josh conklin got the vote from the coaches and scott wachenheim got the vote from the media you've got to think that wackenheim the way the cadets have started out this season is the front runner for coach of the year here in this 2021 spring season but we've got you know the season's gone by so quickly we have a lot of football yet to play in the conference and like you said if wofford beats vmi here and kind of blows the conference race wide open if chattanooga continues to fall and they lose at mercer it's kind of like how the socom basketball season was all bets are off about yeah halfway through the season yeah you just this game could really put the the league turn it upside down a little bit same thing with that mercer chattanooga game if the two teams that don't have wins actually we don't have losses get losses today well suddenly you've opened this thing up for basically about two-thirds of the league getting ready for grayson atkins kicking it deep for wofford and chance knox and max bremidjian will go deep for the key debts probably the last thing wopford heard in the locker room was don't let them do what we did and return the kickoff yeah very touched out and let them get right back into it but and now the wind is kind of blowing um wofford's direction in this third quarter it's shifted a little bit it's blowing a little bit right to left as you look at the screen there but a little bit more towards the near side of the field the whoppered side it's just swirling all over the place it's hard for quarterbacks hard for punt returners and kickoff returners to read atkins puts the toe into it the 35 gets it up in that breeze and knox will have a chance to field it from his own 10. across the 25 he's got a seam chance knox is across midfield 40 30. keeps his feet all the way down inside the 20-yard line well he almost did do what we said wofford didn't want him to do it yeah i think atkins roberts the kicker may have gotten a piece of him might have been jaheem hazel see here on the replay hazel's 26 atkins 35 i think they finally ran him down and i think i think robert says he was falling down kind of swiped at him but you're right vmi now one play on the kick return and they're in the red zone 70 yard kickoff return as vmi comes out for their first offensive play of the third quarter raymond is the running back to the left of seth morgan morgan and it's either a really good looking quarterback draw or a busted play i think it was a draw it went nowhere well he did a nice job of faking that faking to make it look like a busted play and all that no gain michael mason we haven't called his number very much wofford's best defensive lineman national defensive player of the week after their opening week win against mercer here at gibbs stadium he of course is the focal point of a lot of offensive lines maybe that's why is throw out to the flat harris has it and a nice play by miles richardson to sniff that one out slip the block by mermidian no gain on the play great job out there by richardson read to play perfectly and was in great position to make an open field tackle permission was supposed to screen or pick him off there and richardson the sophomore from atlanta just slipped through there and made it third we'll call it nine they'll give him a half yard on the completion throw into the end zone is incomplete but we do have to check that flag first might have been a free play for vmi yeah terriers had a couple of guys in the neutral zone michael jackson was the intended receiver though it is indeed offsides against wofford beckley and ball two of the culprits so now it'll be third and a bit more manageable four for vmi ball is on the wofford 14 we're just underway here in the third quarter vmi driving trying to slice into a 10-point wofford lead roll out left pitch raymond can he turn the corner good pursuit by wofford he's close to the first down might be a little bit short it's going to be about half a yard short maybe even a full yard depending on the spot raheem hazel made a few plays here in this third quarter team up to chop him down vmic quickly on the ball on third and one wasting no time raymond inside drug down from behind did he fall forward enough to get the first down no he didn't get it this wofford ball wofford is going to stop bmi that one developed quickly let's see who made the play here for wofford beckley was in there he made the initial hit i think that might have been mason who cleaned up from the opposite end at any rate it's terrier football and that's a huge play to begin this third quarter exactly what you want if you're watford and what about vmi returning the opening kickoff of the second half all the way down to the 20 you get no points out of it i think they thought they were going to catch for off guard they got right on the ball didn't even huddle they never huddled but they got right on the ball so credit beckley for seeing that shooting the gap and making the initial hit so it's terrier ball first and ten from their own 11 yard line yeah replay now has cleared it so uh the replay guy is off the field means they're not going to look at it jimmy wirick has gone the whole way for wofford at quarterback he's got backs on either side of him on first down and into the backfield the wafford backfield and making this stop and boy that one got a little dangerous at some point you have to you have to surrender if you're neither walker but he kept moving backwards they'll give him forward progress out to the five but boy big eric weaver was in there quickly and then jalen haney cleaned up the mess for vmi yeah weaver 6-3 300 redshirt sophomore was like he knew the snap count on that when he was in the backfield almost as soon as soon as nathan walker touched it second and 15. loss of five on the play wyrick standing on his own one will take the shotgun snap wirick just looking for some room gets out near the 10 gives some breathing room to wopford nice little seven yard run on second down still going to be third in about nine at this point if you're watford and josh conklin talked about that this week tom we need to play a clean football game yeah no turnovers very few penalties they haven't turned the ball over yet penalties they've had a couple third and long now and wyrick's gonna pitch it out right and that's lovelace who doesn't have a whole lot of room and vmi is going to force a whoppered punt good job by vmi stringing that out on third down forced the pitch maybe sooner than wofford wanted to give it made a good tackle out there in the open field and force wofford into a punting situation stone snyder and aj smith two of their mainstays on defense ran down the wofford senior running back they closed fast let me tell you now lyndon parker will have to kick it from deep in his own territory that's that one off knox is going to let it hit it takes a whoppered bounce and this one's going to work out quite nicely for the terriers all the way inside the 20 to the 19 yard line that'll help the average a 64-yard punt from landon parker and the terriers flipped the field they've got a 10-point lead the vmi offense about to take the field for their second possession of half number two seth morgan and company trying to see if they can do something with this 17-7 deficit they face by the way a first quarter score from johnson city western carolina and etsu all tied up at seven morgan filling in for udinsky he's back to pass looking left long down the sideline and that is complete jackson has it he's all the way down to the 40-yard line of wofford just like that 49-yard hookup jackson now has two catches for 94 yards today not a bad per catch average is right back to morgan goes and that's going to be a a quick little gain to knox of about two becklin coverage for wofford it's a almost 47-yard average it's a 47-yard average for jackson he's gonna have to like what he sees when he sees the man in the mirror doesn't appear that vmi has had to dumb down the playbook at all for south morgan does it he has really looked capable here filling in for their all-everything quarterback rhys udinsky now they give it up the middle and that's raymond he will get about three on second down rashad raymond a freshman from newark new jersey filling in for the injured corey bridey that's a tough loss too brighty at 109 yards in the touchdown against samford 113 yards the week before against mercer now you're without your leading rusher and your leading passer and vmi's trying to hang in this one morgan looks to the sideline now drops back in the shotgun on third and about five he's looking to throw blitz is coming steps up gets out of it then he'll run for the first down and a bunch more takes a shot loses the ball he was down by contact before that ball came out i believe it'll be a first down for the cadets all the way down to the wofford 21. did a good job keeping his eyes up looking down the field didn't see what he wanted we got flushed out of the pocket decided to tuck it and run picked up the first down organ now still back in the shotgun raymond to his left on first down looking into the corner for harris balls up and it is complete and a vmi touchdown as harris used every inch of that six foot four frame to pull it down and vmi is back within one score that was a well thrown ball and a great catch out there by harris campbell was in coverage for wofford and looked like he just kind of mistimed it a little bit as a again harris with that great frame it's like going up for a rebound you've got six four going against five ten six four usually wins out up top as rice adds the extra point oh he missed it wow that's a big miss there of the extra point yeah that keeps it 17-13 instead of vmi being within a field goal it's a four-point wafford lead we've got a ball game here in spartanburg vmi scores to cut the whopper lead to 4 17 to 13. jim noble tom henson tom it could have been three but a key missed extra point yeah that's a big miss for their place kicker jerry rice missed it wide left now you've got to score a touchdown to uh take the lead you can't take a field goal won't tie it anymore so that may affect some things going forward also leaves a little bit of the door open for wofford as far as uh margin here jack culberth with the kickoff t.j luther feels at his own one he's already taken one back to the house today this one will not doing well just to get it to the 20-yard line it'll be first and 10 wafford from that point josh coughlin told us there was a chance that we might see both wofford quarterbacks but jimmy weirich has moved the ball pretty well for the terriers this uh this game and he has gone the entire way peyton derrick who transferred from map state a couple of years ago is also there waiting in the wings they both played against samford a couple of weeks ago remember wafford's only played two games in five weeks a couple of two-week layoffs including one before this game wyrak on first and ten from the 20. hand off sweep left broussard will get about five out to the 25. there's that man weaver who's been all over the field for vmi especially here in the second half making the tackle terrorists are doing a good job getting al hogan out there and kind of pulling from the center position he was the lead blocker there you take five yards of carry that'll that'll move you straight down the field he was a much belly who'd recruit a couple of years ago sat out a redshirt year and then had to sit behind a at all southern conference center and blake gerasotti the last couple of years but ready to take that position as his own this year wyrick second and five that's a give inside and not gonna get there for the first down is broussard he might have lost a yard yeah stone snyder once again came up castleberry was there too for vmi this one just kind of blown up at the beginning i think castleberry kind of forced him one way and then snyder cleaned it up no gain on the play i could not even lost a happy yard that was an interesting spot but even so third and we'll call it a long five from the 24. three wide receivers to the top of the screen now that's luther in motion to the bottom wirick back to pass blitz comes from the corner he sees it but right through the hands of t.j luther incomplete and that'll bring up fourth down i think wyrick made the right read yeah it looked like the pass was there's a little high but uh like it went right between tj's hands so the vmi defense holds and he deaths will get the ball back 2-3 an ounce for wofford this half that's uh the third quarter this year has been a real real problem for wofford we've seated it each game even the win against mercer third quarter for whatever reason wofford comes out of the locker room and just has not played particularly well parker with the punt that's a good one moves knox all the way back inside the 30. he'll turn the corner try to good pursuit by wofford and he'll get it just to the 30-yard line and a late flag from the complete opposite sideline came in we'll have to check that the ref was so far away he could only throw the flag back to midfield and the play was at the bottom of the screen let's see what that call is i don't think i've ever seen a flag from that far away 52 yard punt by the way by parker about a two yard return by chance knox so we'll have a little confab and try to figure out what this one is check that flag when we come back it'll be vmi ball the key that's down 17-13 here at wofford [Music] some switch to bmi a little bit here in the third you can kind of feel the momentum switch back to the vmi cadets here in the third quarter it'll be vmi's ball first and 10 from the 20. that penalty was against vmi for a hold on the punt return way way away from the play the backs beat them up to their own 20. that morgan takes the snap and he is back to throw looking over the middle there's harris again makes the catch and sits down in the middle of that coverage out of the 33 a gain of 13 in a vmi first down that's how many catches harris has got well remember he had 14 last week against samford well he's up to 10 today that guy is just plain good and the backup quarterback morgan that's a nice security blanket to have morgan's back to throw again look to the left now he's going gonna pull it down and run and make up some huge yardage across midfield slides down inside wofford territory at the 34-yard line seth morgan is doing it with his arm and his legs donovan anderson the closest terrier to where he went down vmi is dominating this third quarter woffords hasn't done anything offensively with it and now the cadets are knocking on the door moving inside walker territory now morgan rolls to his right on first down he's looking for harris again down the right sideline richardson in coverage and there's the flag it came in late now there was one official right on top of the play on the sideline but the flag came from the back judge more in the middle of the field and i think they're gonna get miles richardson for interference yeah miles never turned around i don't think to look for it and harris was trying to fight back toward it and when you're trying to do that on an underthrown ball you can get past interference almost every time on the defensive player it will indeed be defensive pass interference and vmi just keeps rolling down the field here in this third quarter they're doing a nice job of buying time for morgan remember josh conklin said the wofford defense needed to be more aggressive needed to blitz and they have been blitzing but when you've got a mobile quarterback who can roll out and get away from that blitz all of a sudden everybody's in one-on-one coverage down the field raymond the running back to the left of morgan he gets the give stacked up after a short game abercrombie beckett in there cameron woolery as well about two and a half on that play clock continues to run with 6 19 left in this third quarter wofford clinging to a four point lead but bmi's got the ball in all the all the mo right now morgan in the shotgun harris is out there to the left morgan's looking to the right now down the middle and that is going to be a touchdown to chance knox 17 yards on the hookup and vmi takes the lead make sure he secured that ball because he kind of threw it away quickly like he may not have completely secured it nice ball though by yeah that's a touchdown yep he got it i didn't see any bobble anyone anything on that it's a good throw and a good catch dmi has gone up top a couple of times on the wofford cornerbacks and this time rice does add the extra point and we are midway through the third quarter 5 57 to go to be exact vmi has roared back from a 10-point deficit they lead wofford 20-17 well anybody who thought that vmi's 4-0 start was a fluke need just watched this third quarter here in spartanburg 14 unanswered points by the cadets they now lead the wofford terriers 20 to 17 with 5 57 to go and a lot of football to be played tom henson yeah still a lot to go again no rei shudinsky no cory britty no leroy thomas all doesn't matter they've got guys stepping up and playing well that looks like holt back who will finally fall on that kickoff for a touch back it'll be wofford ball first and ten you look at vmi and you know looking for their first 5-0 start since 1960 that's 6-0 that's even before we were bored henson that's a long time ago and i will say this you know it's i think it's good overall for the southern conference it's not great for wofford today it's not great for each team that's lost to bmi but vmi fans have stuck with this program through thick and thin for a long long time and they're they're getting rewarded a little bit this year and then coming off the heels of a much improved basketball season and coach of the year dan earl over there things are bright in lexington we'll see if wofford has something to say about it as jimmy weirich is back to throw that ball's deflected and pops up in the air incomplete dangerous as wyrick was knocked down yeah he got hit with stone schneider who got in there yeah i think he was gonna he was trying to get it to tj luther but when you get hit when you're throwing that ball hangs up there in the air for that long that is a dangerous situation yes snyder clipped that right arm and that ball shot up in the air nobody was around it thankfully for whopper it falls harmlessly to the turf second intent from the 25. offered needs a spark right now mulligan is in the backfield and he takes the handoff and he's met as vmi closes quickly mallory snyder combining on the tackle and it's third down and wofford needs five and a half yards here or they will have their third consecutive three and out to start the second half and exactly what happened in their first loss of the year at chattanooga there was a stretch in the third quarter where wopford looked like they were in control and then or a similar thing happened in their loss to samford on the road wirick barking out signals on third and five mulligan shifts over to the right side and the handoff is to mulligan who sweeps left he's got the first down bumped out of bounds into the whopper bench i kind of like that play call i think vmi was expecting pass wofford crossed him up and moved the sticks yeah i think that i think the coaches up in the booth wade lang and others saw something in the vmi defense changed the play moved mulligan around and came around to the left side got the first down that's good offer needed a first down first one of the second half falls out now to the 41-yard line first and ten terriers clock continues to roam with 4 44 to go here in the third quarter wyrak hands off inside picking his way through and getting positive yardages jamari broussard give him six out to the 47. we're sorry that the number of tough leg churning runs today yeah he does a good job good vision i doesn't go down on first contact either garrison moore checks in at tight end he's a big guy who can block and catch second in about four more moves over to the right side of the formation now as wyrick takes the snap inside handoff again bmi clogs it up pretty well it'll still be a three-yard gain out to midfield i think brussard was at the bottom of that pile he was yeah right at midfield blufford's running backs with the exception of nathan walker all about five eight five nine five ten and they tend to disappear between that that mass of humanity there in the offensive line and sometimes if you don't catch them going into the into the pile you're not sure who it is until they come back out all right big play here third and one terriers from midfield looking at their first deficit of the afternoon a little high snap and falling forward for the first down good surge by the offensive line especially the right side and broussard picks it up yeah got it down to the vmi 48 good job up front by the offensive line yeah chad gardner i saw with a big big push it was a little bit of a delayed push but it got the job done so first and ten now in bmi territory at the key debt 48 just under three minutes to go third quarter that one slow to develop but getting positive yardage i thought there was a little bit of a awkward handoff between broussard and wyrick but they made it work there was a little bit of a bobble there you're right but broussard able to still get four four and a half yards dabney on the tackle for the key deaths wofford with the ball down by three points as we entered the last two and a half minutes of quarter number three here in spartanburg moore goes to the right side of the formation he'll line up in the slot so three receivers to the top of the formation for wofford they'll run to the left the other way and mulligan almost broke that one just tripped up as he gets near the 35-yard line but once again a first down by rushing for wofford home down at the 36. he's half a step away from buckles in fact there are a couple of plays he's i i would come back to some of the things that he's done and see if you can't get him to bust one nathan walker's into the backfield now lawford always has a fresh set of legs in that backfield and if you're one of those linebackers or defensive lineman that plays every down or an opposing defense that can wear on you quick snap wyrick gives it mulligan again 30 25 thrown down across the 20-yard line and wopford is in the red zone first down terriers yeah irving mulligan again that's what we talked about at halftime some of the fresh legs and you're starting to see that with some explosiveness there from irving mulligan castleberry with the tackle but not until mulligan gets waffed in the red zone nice response here by the terrace yeah it looked like vmi completely seized the roman the momentum with 14 unanswered points but the terriers are knocking down the door here late in the third wyric looks to the sideline one minute to go in the quarter then he'll back off into the shotgun first down walker right side inside the 15 down near the 10 gain of eight on first down for the big junior running back from ridgeville south carolina ethan castleberry on the stop for bmi you know this is where that missed extra point starts to loom even bigger right now for vmi second and two terriers ball on the 11. two running backs behind wyrick roussard and lovelace eric looking to the left he's looking at rj ko now he drops back in plenty of time on the play clock takes the shotgun snap it's broussard trying to circle the right side and this time he is hauled down wow made a nice surge after the initial contact i'll tell you i thought that weaver had him down for about a three yard loss instead he gained one that was all broussard right there and that is the end of quarter number three vmi leads at 20 to 17 but wofford will have the ball inside the 10 when we come back big one here to start the third fourth quarter rather wofford with the ball third and one from the 10. they trail vmi 20 to 17. they've driven all the way down here near the end of the third quarter jimmy weirich at quarterback takes the shotgun snap gives it to nathan walker he stops and pulls forward still running still churning the legs walker oh my goodness what a touchdown run touchdown terriers there's touchdowns and then there's grown men touchdown that was a grown man touchdown right there by nathan walker goodness gracious nathan walker was originally hit i think at about the seven spun hit again at the five and from that point he did the fred flintstone thing where he's got the entire football team on his back and he kind of tippy-toes across the goal line unbelievable effort got a shove in the back and woppard looks to go ahead by four right here yeah huge extra point lee armis boots it through he is perfect so far this year take another look at big number 21 drags the entire core of cadets across the goal line and the terriers are up 23-20 [Music] one more look at one of the toughest td runs you will ever see courtesy of wopford's nathan walker hey he's hit multiple times and then he just carries i don't know two or three cadets in just a grown man run from nathan walker and you see his teammates fired up the terrier sidelines fired up and uh wofford's got their four-point lead back and those are great defenders ward and smith as knox takes the the kickoff and fair catches it so vmi will have the ball first and 10 for the 25 but that's uh you know those are all southern conference defenders that nathan walker just moved backwards and that really jolted this crowd here at gibbs stadium watford's allowing about 2 000 people per game uh letting bmi family of players come in as well but still socially distance and masks here at gibbs stadium and these fans who are lucky enough to get a ticket to this game have seeing a real treat as we enter the fourth quarter bmi with the ball the now trail offered by four as morgan goes back and immediately delivers over the middle incomplete looking for harris again that one might have been behind him um good coverage yeah i think harris is getting a lot of attention when he goes across the middle of the field watch all those black jerseys around number 14. yeah three terriers right there not much place to squeeze in a football it'll be a second intent morgan keeps doing that he's going to throw an interception that was a lot of traffic no turnovers in this game by either team that comes out to the flat to harrison how about zay abercrombie with the coverage in the hit great closing speed by number eight for wofford by abercrombie the sophomore from greenwood south carolina brings up a third in about six harris is in the slot to the left of morgan because michael jackson has had two big catches for the key that's as well this time it's a little run by morgan the helmet comes off but making the stop nonetheless is brandon brown and that'll bring up fourth down yeah it's fourth and four is you you've got to kick this thing away his play by number 33 knifing in he beat the block sacrificed the lid and made the stop punt team comes on for the cadets what a huge stop huge stand there for the wofford defense a three and out colebrook back to kick van cleave the deep man for wopford standing at his own 30. that one's high catchable being cleave will return make a first man miss second man will not about a one yard return for demaurier van cleave out to the 35-yard line it'll be terrier football from that point 36-yard punt and wofford has it up 24 to 20 with 13 minutes and 27 seconds to go let's see how the offense comes out now inspired probably after that last drive where they got the lead back this drive here could go a long way toward a touchdown here could go a long way toward helping you get out of town or stay in town just in this case with a victory send them out of town broussard is one running back he goes in motion option right he takes the pitch for wyrick it has a crease all the way out close to midfield that was good timing that was lovelace rather lovelace and broussard were the back running backs but a nice decision by jimmy weirich to pitch it out there the game out of 12. [Music] again when joe newman ran that option and some of the other quarterbacks tom ensign that you've seen here it was almost a given that that option would click now it's it's it's a part part of the wofford offense right it's just it's a small part of it myrick fakes the pass hands off at lovelace again tippy-toeing down the sideline stays inbounds and that's another terrier first down inside the 40 down to the vmi 38 uh penalty flag flag back about the time he made that cut yeah it probably means holding by wofford flag is back at the 46 yard line of wofford it is indeed holding they call 70 he did on that there is not a 70 on the wofford roster well then it doesn't count right just kidding so now the terriers are looking at first and 20 from their own 37. my how a flag can change things here in the fourth quarter myra cans off and nothing doing loss on the play is ryan ingram is blasted warren dabney big left defensive end emphasis on big 6-1 303 showed quickness right there now the cumberland virginia now wopford's completely off schedule now you're looking basically and you'd love to pick up a first down sure but now you start to think field position at this point second and 21 not a lot in the playbook i rick is still on the shotgun the straight hand off up the middle it's ingram again they'll fall forward for four stone snyder connor riddle those two stud linebackers for vmi combining to make the stop clock continues to run with 11 minutes and 40 seconds to go here in the fourth quarter yeah got to get down to the vmi 43 here don't want to make a mistake either on this side of the field third and 16. offered the ball at their own 41. they were in vmi territory or penalty and then the second penalty brought things back uyrich will hand off and it's walker and he's trying to outrun the entire vmi roster boy that explosion he did turn the corner not near the first down but got some yardage back out close to midfield it'll make at the very least in the parker's job easier but what yeah they're gonna set the punt team on the field thought for a second they were thinking about maybe taking a shot but it would have been fourth at about seven yeah you kick this thing away and hopefully see if you can pin them inside the 20 if you can pin them inside the 10 even better so landon parker will try to do just that against knox he had a big kickoff return earlier in this half standing at the 16-yard line little high snap parker brings it down and good kick over to the sideline knox will just watch it actually a little bit too far left we'll see where they actually spot this one and the official will eventually stop running up the sideline at the 23-yard line so it'll be vmi ball when we come back after only a 27-yard punt terriers lead it 24-20 over undefeated vmi here in the fourth back and forth we go here in the fourth quarter now it's vmi's turn they trail offer 24 to 20 as vmi tries to stay perfect in this spring season the key that's 4-0 ranked 14th of the nation in the fcs stats poll but the back to back to back defending socon champion terriers put up a huge fight here at home as morgan is back to pass crossing pattern complete and a nice tackle one-on-one play how about that from kagan campbell bemidji on on the reception only got about a yard and a half you'll take that on first down a great job of tackling in the open field second and nine morgan back to pass again this time it's in the left that's incomplete as well knocked out of bounds the intended receiver was jackson donovan anderson was on the coverage and they throw a late flag let's take another look at that one are they going to deem it unnecessary roughness after the ball was already past the intended receiver not sure what they could call there okay let's see what the call is nothing doesn't look like they're about to oh now they got to get together so let's hold everything our officiating crew led by jeff page side judges roy dowdy i'm not sure if he's the one that made that or dropped the initial flag but that appears to be who talking to the empire let's see what happens defensive holding on wofford on anderson so either they're saying it happened before the play develop which is certainly a possibility i wonder if he maybe was holding him when he was trying to come out of his break autumn so first down vmi out to the 35-yard line that call comes with exactly 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter fresh set of downs for morgan to work with he drops back to pass now rolling out pressure coming gets rid of it and that is definitely going to be a penalty religion was hauled down by darren paschall yeah if you're falling down take him with you pressure applied by dempsey that call was a little bit more clear-cut draws the flag the ball will be moved out to midfield and nehemiah is getting some free territory here on the last couple of plays out to the 50-yard line now first and ten cadets from there wopford continues to lead it 24 to 20. morgan is back to pass yet again that one's long left side and almost oh my goodness it's caught almost intercepted that it bounced right to jacob harris and he is down at the 15. you will not see that very many times couple of deflections and then a catch jaheem hazel had a shot at it it bounced behind him how about the quick hands by harris and vmi is rolling down the field in the red zone up on the ball quickly there's a spring football top 10 for you raymond the fake to him the throw to harris and he is into the end zone for the vmi touchdown 15 yards on the strike from seth morgan i wonder if they'll look at that one and see if he did indeed break the plane they are looking at it replay guy is on the field down here to our far right so i don't know if the referee has seen that yeah he has okay he's he is blocking the snap yes they just gave him the go ahead so it is a touchdown and vmi has retaken the lead here with 9 minutes and 20 seconds to go jerry rice has missed one extra point but he makes that one bmi 27 wofford 24. we'll see if wofford has the answer still plenty of time to go here in spartanburg we'll be back right after this welcome back to spartanburg south carolina great one going between vmi and wofford vmi has just taken the lead 27-24 vmi looking to go 5-0 on the for the first time since 1960 in this weird wacky spring 2021 football season here at the fcs level kick deep wopford's got holt and luther is going to be fair catch there by alec holt it'll be first down wofford take a look at some scores from around the conference yeah mercer leech chattanooga they're about midway through the fourth quarter 28-21 but they're in a lightning delay there in chattanooga samford and the citadel doing battle down on the coast and sanford is routing the citadel bulldogs 48-7 just getting going in the fourth quarter and another game that had a lightning delay to start they've gotten going and about five minutes left in the first half western leads etsu 17-14 let's see if the wofford terriers have the answer vmi had a fortuitous drive some who offered penalties a deflected pass the vmi was able to hang on to now jimmy wirick tries to lead the terriers back but urban mulligan has no place to go on first down defensive charge led by weaver connor riddle was there as well as those vmi linebackers and that very very big defensive line is starting to assert itself you thought maybe they might be worn down a little bit this stage of the game but they're not nathan walker comes in running back they'll go with their version of a full house backfield sort of behind wyrick on second down wirks gonna throw over the middle and that one knocked away was looking for tj luther but al jarik mallory was right there that was tight coverage and a tough throw for jimmy weirich a small window he got it in that window but mallory had just good leverage and was able to get his hand in there and knock it away this is not what wofford wanted now third and ten well this is kind of one of the things josh conklin cited when he decided to move further away from the triple option the ability to come from behind the ability to convert third and longs we'll see if they can do it right here wyrick's gonna try to throw over the middle it's complete but nowhere near the first down and keandre sanders was rocked by mallory again walford's gonna have to bring out the punt team here and all the momentum in the world on the vmi side of the field as they are jumping up and down and you know give them credit they're missing their starting quarterback they're starting running back one of their receivers and here they are when a position with 807 and ticking to get the ball back with the lead linda parker punting for wofford chance knox is back for vmi he's got a back pedal good good kick by parker that one is gonna roll all the way into the end zone he he is in disbelief that that ball got into the end zone a 68-yard punt from landon parker only a net of 48 but you'll still take a net of 48. yeah i mean you still basically did what you intended to do and pretty much flipped the field there yeah he he got it over knox's head i think he got it up into the jet stream there as you can see that flag has sort of flattened out uh to our left and is definitely blowing wopford's direction here in this fourth quarter he was just looking up into the crowd kind of doing that well i don't know and i bet he was looking at his dad you know the former punter all right wofford defense needs to slow down seth morgan and company we'll see if they can first down and they give to raymond in a nice open field tackle by miles richardson chop the legs out from underneath the vmi running back and did you see that raymond lost his shoe and the wofford player did not throw it down the field left it alone like you're supposed to do in football because honestly who throws a shoe just gators that's it and i'm never gonna let it die all right second and nine this time swineheart who has a rushing touchdown for vmi today checks into the backfield to the left of morgan he gets the carry and he is stood up by brandon brown who turns him upside down and plants him at the 22. you look up textbook tackle that's it keep your head up see what you're hitting wrap your arms around them drive them into the ground right there yep legs moving big third down here with 6.50 to play third and eight bmi at their own 22. this is a big call here do you run it try to keep some clock going are you trying to throw for the first down they've got three wide receivers to the top the right morgan drops back looking left though down the sideline comeback pattern and it's incomplete no flags on the plays donovan anderson fought michael jackson but we do have a flag back around where morgan threw the football gotta be holding right oh personal foul roughing the passer wow hit to the head of the quarterback oh that's big at some point wow wofford was off the field and now vmi gets a fresh set of downs here's another look up high a little bit i didn't see who it was but that one in that situation is tough to swallow if you're a wofford terrier so first and ten vmi from their own 38 now six minutes and 31 seconds to go and vmi nursing a three-point lead now they can really start working some clock if they want to with a ground game morgan hands it off there's swineheart up the middle gets good yardage on first down about six barely tripped up by brown yeah you kind of kind of kind of felt that balloon deflate a little bit from the wofford side of the field you got the stop you didn't get any call pass interference was good coverage by donovan anderson over there and now vmi can let this thing uh run down wofford has all three timeouts you don't need to start using them right now there's still six minutes left but what you gotta do is get the defense off the field bmi with all three as well they are certainly taking their sweet time the play clock is already down to five as they settle in morgan holds his hands up snaps it with one second to go on the play card swineheart nowhere to go slicing in is james garnett another sophomore playing defensive line out of augusta georgia wofford's defensive line all freshmen and sophomores guys getting a lot of valuable experience all spring season here's another one third and four from the 44. i'd watch the quarterback draw here morgan has had a lot of success running the ball sprint out quarterback draws as tom said again play clocks at 10 they're going to take some more time off before they snap it now morgan takes the snap he's back to throw that one is gonna be incomplete and another flag comes out campbell and hazel were there in coverage oh that's just anderson for the ball there the official one of the officials has his hat off i wonder if that means someone stepped out of somebody that would mean the receiver came out of bounds and came back in he can't be the first man to touch the ball once he does i wonder if anderson stepped out of bounds and then was the first player to touch it the call will be that's that's really tough right there another first down for vmi via penalty on third down on this drive two times wofford thought they had stopped the cadets on this drive we're about to get the ball back two times the yellow flag came out and it's first and ten vmi now 458 to play first and ten from the terrier 40. there goes morgan makes the first man miss he'll slide out of bounds at about the 34-yard line well he gave wofford a break there yeah out of bounds stops the clock uh momentarily at least so 450 to play again wofford still with all those timeouts as they wind the clock again now with a three point deficit if you're whoppered right now i mean you don't want to you can give up a field goal if you have to but a more precious commodity right now is time yeah and it's and it's ticking away morgan with raymond behind him in the backfield he will roll out and look to throw makes another defender miss and then slides down for no gain he's got that little pump fake that gets the defender up in the air yep buy some time that way now wofford offered to use the time out there good use of one yeah you definitely want to lose at least one on defense that comes with 409 to go and the wind has shifted here it shifted and all of a sudden it's got quite a bit more overcast and the temperatures dropped a little bit it was 70 well maybe not it was 74 at kickoff at 74 now but it's just a little bit darker it is a cooler breeze for sure though for certain i wouldn't know you're the only one in front of the open window get the window it's either or it's right up here in the booth at the gibbs stadium rank rankin seniority has its privileges so i see josh conklin down there studying his play board remember wofford lost their defensive coordinator just about a week before the season started when sam cephkus took a job with the nfl's minnesota vikings and then lost their defensive line coach allen smith went to the houston texans so this defensive staff although conquer was able to get some guys in to move some people around it's they really had to hit the ground running here this year so you've you're replacing guys on the staff and then you're replacing players left and right hey this has not been an easy job for these guys and you know give rob green credit hey the week before you're the first game hey you're going to be our defensive coordinator and now we're going to hamstring you with uh only three healthy defensive linemen good luck my friend yeah in fact wopford really the the real reason for that cancellation at etsu is wofford didn't have enough players in the position group had to move some guys over to the defensive line group just to be able to keep playing football we saw illinois state have to cancel their season because of this exact same problem earlier this year third and four from the 44. morgan handoff raymond he didn't come close to getting it might have picked up a half yard and he took a shot was that brandon brown again it was what a game he's had i think vmi's gonna go for it here because they're kind of in no man's land or they may just let this thing run down they can get it all the way down to 310 take a delay take a delay or take a time out probably take a timeout yeah 20 seconds while they just rested i think they reset the play clock a little bit before so it's still got 25 seconds on it which means we're going to get down close to about three minutes to go before they have to do something here yeah they'll call time out here it'll be about 309 310 somewhere in there on the clock well wofford does get the ball back after this play you've got to feel pretty good about the way the terriers have been able to move the football on vmi we will take a timeout with three minutes and 10 seconds to go keep it here for the thrilling finale vmi leads wofford 27-24 it looks like vmi is going to bring the offense back on the field on fourth down and four from the wafford 34 the cadets with a 27-24 lead trying to remain undefeated in the spring football season seth morgan who's had a great game and filling in for rhys udinsky is back to pass he will look to the left side looking for harrison it is knocked away and a flag comes out yet again that one i thought i saw some hands on jacob harris but given the context of the last three calls that's got to be a tough one for offer to look at jaheem hazel on the coverage and that is going to be a crusher of an automatic first down call pass interference wow i've never seen you speechless well there's two stops on third down a stop on fourth down and penalties on every single play a hit to the head two pass interferences first down vmi three minutes and two seconds to go both teams with two timeouts that's the best play vmi's run is throw it up there and hope for the flag there's a give to swineheart up the middle get maybe a yard up before being thrown backwards clock continues to run under three minutes to play if you're wofford you use your p you use your timeouts here on second and third down if you can hold them vmi scott wachenheim doing a nice job of milking the clock here in the final minutes wofford thought they were off the field three different times and three different times the penalty flag came out play clock is down to 10. morgan gets into his stance in the shotgun tight ends in motion give it to swineheart beckett with the tackle and a quick timeout by wofford after a loss of two i think beckett knew what was coming on that play watch him shoot the gap here number 45. he knows it's a run and that's your gap hit it hard and if he wasn't there rhett russell was two minutes and 11 seconds to go what that last penalty did was effectively take about two minutes away from whopper in terms of trying to drive down the field and tie this one up it also now lets vmi start thinking field goal and force whopper to score a touchdown instead of a field goal down at the other end i mean anytime a any time a a flag comes out when when you've stopped another team it's a big play or it happened three times on one drive is almost unheard of well and it's almost i mean how do you the ability to rally the troops so to speak when it keeps happening and keep making plays and now here you are in another third down situation how to get both these teams a ton of credit though it's been back and forth bmi came back from 10 down wofford came back after vmi's storm back to take the lead i'm a little surprised vmi hadn't thrown for the end zone yet third and nine from the wofford 18. they do have three wide receivers but they're going to hand it off to swineheart you will try to use up some time get inside the 20 to the 18. stop there timeout wofford 203 to go now it's decision time for vmi if you go for a field goal here all you're doing is making it a six point game which means wofford has to score a touchdown to to to tie it and then an extra point to win it but if you have a bad snap or you bobble a snap or you miss it there's a lot of bad things that can happen here i'm trying to think risk reward if you want to play here yeah if you get the if you get the first down the game games games over but but that's a big risk on fourth and eighth but if you don't get the first down you've still got waffer backed up with no timeouts to go yeah i'd go for this and i'll tell you what i would do i'd run play action and i throw a fade to harris in the corner of the end zone and see if you can get another pass interference call or he may go up and grab it and it may be a moot point yeah we shall see jacob harris what a game he's had coming off the 12 reception game last week at samford [Music] they're gonna kick it but they're gonna put it on the shoulders of jerry rice not that one not that one as the rain has really picked up now officially it will be a 35-yard attempt ball's on the right hash that ball is up and that is good a clutch kick by jerry rice puts vmi up by six with 158 to play well now you know what you have to do if you're the wofford offense a touchdown and an extra point and you win the game or you'll give yourself a position put yourself in position to win the game bryce has now kicked seven straight field goals after missing one in the season opener probably missed the one at the end of the half i thought that's right that's right break the straight point yeah but even so that was a that was not an easy it was into the wind and the rain wasn't quite adam vinatieri but it was still uh there's still a nice kick and tough you know one thing and i will say this probably helped by the fact that this is by far the finest natural grass surface in all of fcs football no doubt and it drains really well the footing is perfect and for one time you kind of wished that it wasn't but uh this field is is darn near the nicest one i've ever seen and well so many people go away from natural grass and i have no idea why when you can i mean you get to play on this kind of stuff that's what the way it's supposed to be you want your son to play on a natural grass surface injury-free this is the kind of field you're looking for all right let's see what happens here in the final two minutes 158 to be exact that's cole breath who handles the kickoff duties he's also the punter with luther back he has already taken one or a touchdown he's gonna bookend it right here up man has to take it and not sure who that was was it campbell got to see who who made it back who took that one up there vernon who is a freshman wide receiver gets it down to the 25 which is exactly where it would have been had he fair caught it so 75 yards to go and no timeouts a minute 55. a little bit of rain here at wofford in the final couple of minutes vmi with a 30 to 24 lead wirick back to pass they pick up the blitz complete parker can he outrun the defense 40 30. landon parker is gonna go all the way for the terrier touchdown what a play and there are we had to look no flags on the play jimmy wyrick to landon parker 75 yards we are tied at 30 pending the extra point and what speed landon parker showed there i didn't know he had it ran away from aj smith i thought smith had the angle on him and parker just turned it into a different gear you know josh conklin said when he wanted parker to go back punting this year he said he's a great athlete yeah he sure is walker g armis trying to put wofford in front parker pulls down the snap the extra point is good and wofford leads it 31-30 take another look at landon parker and watch him turn on the jets aj smith is fast but not fast enough what a game this has had everything hadn't it this has been incredible and the crazy thing is vmi's still got a minute and two timeouts and they can move up and down the field quickly it was funny the three of us up in the booth in our spotter david cox first thing we all three was look back down the field to look for flags and david gave us the all clear as you get a look at josh conklin probably feels like he's coached about seven games today [Music] this one has been back and forth a battle between the back to back to back defending conference champions wofford and the team trying to win their first socon championship in generations vmi the kick good kick is returnable back at the two knox is stuffed at the 21-yard line how about that hit by rhett russell yeah good kick too by atkins roberts got it up in the air a little hang time on it take another look at that stick depleted him so from the 21-yard line now vmi field goal will give them the lead i keep saying win it it's no winning it's about getting the lead seth morgan remember they've done it out without rhys udinsky they've done it without corey bridey now it's up to the redshirt freshman he is back to throw up the seam is complete and that is complete to bermidge and max bermidgen all the way out to the 43-yard line big play on first down 128 clock moving back to throw again morgan rolls out this time he's going to have some pressure he's got to get rid of it and throws it into the vmi bench smart play joe beckett applying that pressure that was a veteran play there by a redshirt freshman who's kind of growing up before their eyes and if you're the vmi coaching staff of vmi fans hey yeah we'll take this kid for the next four years because rhys udinsky graduate transfer after the spring season to maryland morgan back quick hitter on first down and to bermidge again who put a shoulder down and got eight yards eight yards on first down out of bounds clock stops a minute 15 to go a third down excuse me it's third down kind of snuck in there yeah they move so fast vmi does morgan to harris first down into wofford territory now at the 34 yard line clock will stop momentarily they'll move the chains now they wind it again 106 to go bmi still has two timeouts wofford is out morgan again he's got time now he rolls out and he's got some room run down by beckett who slides into the tarp trying to push the quarterback out of bounds but morgan just looks so composed he does i i mean this is a red shirt freshman i'm sure he found out this week he was going to be starting like he found out before the game so he's prepared for it but he's really done a nice job for them out of pittsburgh pennsylvania all those pennsylvania quarterbacks and udinsky is one of them what a story tradition they have still got two timeouts left and 50 seconds and they're already inside the wofford 30. offered defense has to make a play here morgan deep and a collision and a flag i don't know if that was just again it's harris again double coverage again sometimes they're just running into each i didn't get a good look at it so let's see here i think by that time the bodies had already hit the ground and we just don't know what happened but the referee was right on top of it the question is was that catchable i don't know the last time i saw officials say a ball was uncatchable they could have thrown that thing to the hospital and i think they would have said it of course with jacob harris there aren't too many balls that are uncatchable he's a he's a pretty tall good wide receiver it will indeed be another defensive pass interference penalty on wofford they're in field goal range now they are what they can do is make this really really easy for jerry rice move the ball into the middle of the field make it not much more than the chip shot we've still got 45 seconds to go wofford leads it by one 31-30 but vmi is threatening morgan on first down pulls it down runs himself throws it into the end zone it's incomplete looking for bermidgen hazel on the coverage for wofford clock stops with 40 seconds to go second down is our flag sorry sarcastic i'm sorry my heart skipped a beat i had to look from here it would be a 31 field goal but you just made a 35 36 something in there and and the wind of course for the first time today has died down a little bit well i think the flag unless it's i think it's wrapped around the flagpole there's some flags on the stands opposite us and it's not blowing as strongly as it has been as it gussed into the booth second and ten morgan drops into the end zone wide open harris touchdown vmi they had him one-on-one in the linebacker and that is a mismatch did they score too quick vmi takes a 36 to 31 lead with 35 seconds to go i think you got to go for two of your vmi you might as well actually he was a one-on-one with the linebacker i think the defensive back slipped and fell down yep there was no way the linebacker could make up for that vmi you just you just may look at this team and say this is a team of destiny this spring it's look at the comebacks they've had samford last week was incredible the game gets firm in their place they held on i mean it really really has been amazing for scott wachenheim and their bunch and then for wofford i don't know what more you ask of of the offense and then the defense thinks they're off the field three or four different times yeah and uh we're very interested to hear josh conklin's assessment of the last few minutes of this game when we talked to him post game so here is a situation vmi goes for two you get it you're up 38-31 if you don't get it waffler can take the lead with a touchdown but this is the right call to go for two here all right vmi does indeed have the offensive unit on the field two-point conversion attempt knocks in motion stops morgan throws left that's incomplete that's his first bad throw of the day it's also the first pass it hasn't resulted in a flag coming out in about 20 minutes so it's no good that leaves the score 35 seconds to go when wofford thought they got a miracle last possession they'll need another one here on this one yeah you need a good you need a good return and wofford has shown they can strike quickly now not sure we thought landon parker was the guy that would be the quick strike guy when you think van cleave you think luther the one thing this watford offense has is speed they might not have a whole lot of size in their skill positions but speed they do have now for vmi do you go ahead and kick it deep yep absolutely so often we see teams trying to out think themselves and get too cute and squibb it and all of a sudden the teams the other teams got the ball at midfield that's right so cole breath kicked the deep last time unless you know you've got a you know you don't think you have a crease you don't want to run too much time off the clock here either old breath squibs the wofford will return this one you don't want to go sideways it's going to use up some time and not give you too much yardage and that's exactly what happened so vernon gets it out just to about the 27 yard line and now 29 seconds all the terriers have to work with no timeouts clock will stop for first downs how many times have you seen wofford practice the hook and ladder in practice or the the hook and lateral or some derivation thereof i'd run the same play that you just ran to land and park except i'd run it with t.j luther or van cleef and see if you can hit one of them crossing underneath so let's see lyric in the shotgun wofford trailing by six rolling out to his right and he's just got to let it go out of bounds i think wyrick was almost trying to maybe draw a late hit or something yeah a lot of receivers went out and just kind of they all stopped it was all like a stop and go so maybe it was the hook and ladder coming but didn't uh didn't work out the way wofford wanted to 23 seconds to go second down from the wofford 27. weirich one running back to his right drops straight back vmi comes on the blitz and wyrik flips it out to lovelace avoids the sack lovelace weaving for some room didn't get out of bounds out to the 41-yard line block continues to run gotta kill they got the got the first down the first downs and now they wind the clock again 12 10 and wirex spikes it with nine seconds to go in the game so it'll be second and ten from there and now you're talking hail mary type stuff and i don't bmi knows that they're gonna drop everybody back well if they're gonna do this right now throw something underneath and get out of bounds real quick and see if you can at least shorten the field a tiny bit for a hail mary wire takes the snap short pass complete they got to get out of bounds or this game is over van cleave is tackled on the 35-yard line and that is it vmi goes to 5-0 on the season they outlast wofford 36-31 what a ball game here in spartanburg it ends with the rain coming down but i don't think anything could dampen the spirits of the vmi cadets right now tom henson some final thoughts uh give vmi credit the guys they don't have today on offense they come in with a bunch of second teamers and they get the job done this vmi team is for real love the fight we saw from both teams today what a great southern conference game bmi 5-0 wofford 1-3 for tom henson and our entire whoppered espn plus crew i'm jim noble saying so long from spartanburg your final one more time it's vmi 36 and wofford 31. you

Channel: Wally the Bronco Too

Views: 1,370

Keywords: VMI, Wofford

Id: KUQICBGtwXc

Length: 154min 17sec (9257 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 30 2021