Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230105
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
VMI's opportunity for respectability in future seasons is rooted in the fact that first-year coach Bill Stewart managed something this season that neither of the past two VMI coaches - Eddie Williamson and Jim Shuck - could accomplish.
Among 37 freshmen on this year's preseason roster, only one left school before the end of the season. The Keydets also lost only one upperclassman. That retention rate among 23 scholarship ``rats'' is amazing. In a second consecutive 1-10 season, the lack of attrition is what should be celebrated, not the end of a 15-game losing streak.
In 1993, before Shuck was fired simply for being honest with his superiors, eight of 24 recruited freshmen left by the end of the season. Two more left during the holiday break. The previous year, five of 19 recruits left before the end of the season and another departed later in the 1992-93 school year.
The coming holidays will be another test of time for Stewart's program, as will next season. VMI played so many rats this fall that the 1995 recruiting class may not see as much time on the field so quickly. However, depth is what VMI needs desperately.
The Keydets finished the season with 19 rats on their 44-man two-deep roster, plus one kicking specialist. Another nine two-deep players are second-year cadets. Ten starters and punter Howie Lowden are rats. And tailback Thomas Haskins, who ranks fourth in NCAA Division I-AA rushing with a school-record and conference-leading 1,509 yards, has two years of eligibility remaining.
VMI's only hope is to keep on keeping players, because competing in the Southern Conference won't get any easier. The Keydets' only chance ever to be more than respectable in Division I-AA football is to leave that league, enter a basketball-based conference such as the Colonial Athletic Association or the Big South and play football as a I-AA independent.
Yes, the Keydets still could get a respectable schedule, and it would be more realistic than the one they're now playing. Look at next year's date card - only four home games, and eight Southern Conference foes, William and Mary and Richmond and a trip to the Division I-A bank at Vanderbilt. In '96 it's the same, except Maryland replaces Vandy. In '97, Navy is the I-A foe. See many victories there?
VMI's military conference rival, The Citadel, played Newberry, Wofford and Army outside the Southern Conference this season. With the league tougher and deeper because of the recent addition of Georgia Southern, there's nothing embarrassing about watering down a schedule with a Division II foe or any of the expanded number of non-scholarship I-AA programs on occasion.
The 26-23 overtime triumph at Appalachian cost the Mountaineers a share of the conference title and a host's role in the I-AA playoffs. In 13 seasons since dropping to I-AA, it's the first time VMI has beaten a team that reached the playoffs, and the first time the Keydets downed a I-AA foe with a winning record on the road, in November.
VMI hadn't beaten a nationally ranked opponent since 1985, when it outscored W&M 39-38 in Lexington. The Keydets, after giving up 414 points in an 0-10 start, also managed to escape the year without reaching the 1970 school record for points against (451). The victory was the first time this season Stewart's team gave up fewer than 28 points in a game and only the third time in the past 24 games a Keydets opponent has failed to reach that figure.
Those consistent big numbers are the reason why Stewart's first victory, albeit a big one, shouldn't be as much to get enthused about as only one missing rat.
by CNB