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In Tobacco Bowl Tilt

Winless Keydets Upset Minded

Wahoo Defense Stops Play; Another Indian Hits Dust In Last Week's Virginia Win

Saturday afternoon the Wahoos
face perennial rival VMI at City
Stadium, Richmond in the Tobacco
Bowl. This week's game will mark
the 65th meeting between the two
schools with Virginia leading in the
series 41-20-3. The Keydets go into
the contest decided underdogs.

To date the VMI team has an
0-3 slate; their defeats came at the
hands of Rice, Richmond, and West
Virginia. In all the Keydet defensive
unit has yielded 107 points. During
that same period VMI's offense has
been shutout.

Head coach Vito Ragazzo is a
little wary of his charges if they do
get a scoring opportunity Saturday.
"We may be pressing a bit too
much. They've come so close that
it's almost gotten to the point of
frustration."

Thus far the cumulative statistics
show more than a sense of
frustration for the Keydet coaching
staff. The offense has managed only
25 first downs while their opponents
have piled up 70. Another
big factor influencing the VMI
offensive unit is their inability to
hold onto the ball let alone control
the game. Seven fumbles, five pass
interceptions, and, three missed
field goals have accounted for a
third of the turnovers made by the
Keydets. The other exchanges came
on 33 punts.

VMI's total offense has netted
378 yards in 214 plays. Their
opposition mounted over 1400
yards for an average of 5.7 yards
per play. The main strength has
been the air attack, which netted
235 yards or an average of 11.2 per
completion. Saturday afternoon the
Keydets will once again have a
tough task when they attempt to
challenge the Cavalier's strong defense.

The Keydets will be led into
action by Co-captains Tom Sowers,
halfback and middle-guard Tom
Campbell. The VMI squad is hampered
due to the loss of 19
lettermen. With 15 returning letter
winners, Coach Ragazzo has had to
mold an attack around the leading
rusher Sowers. Sophomores are
picking up the brunt of the lineup.
However, the inexperienced starters
have yet to jell a concerted effort.

Concentrating on statistics and
past games, however, won't produce
the outcome. Since the '63
contest the outcome has gone down
to the wire, excluding the 47-0
romp by the Wahoos last season.

Coach Ragazzo has his charges
prepped for this weekend's encounter
with the Wahoos. Any
rivalry can usually be termed a
toss-up because of the desire and
spirit quotient.