Williamsburg - First and 10 State-rivals William and Mary and the Virginia Military Institute meet Saturday for the 62nd consecutive season and the 83rd time overall in Lexington. The Tribe, ranked 11th in the latest Sports Network Top 25, will be looking for its 20th-straight victory over the Keydets in the ninth-longest annual series in the I-AA ranks. W&M holds a 47-33-2 all-time advantage over the Institute, and the Tribe has not lost at Alumni Memorial Field since 1985. The College will also be looking for its first victory of the young 2005 season, after falling in its season-opener, 36-24, last Thursday night at Marshall. Saturday's game is W&M's second of three consecutive road contests to open the season, as the Tribe will open Atlantic 10 play next weekend at Rhode Island. VMI enters Saturday's date with a 1-0 ledger after downing Davidson, 33-0, this past weekend in Lexington. The victory was VMI's first shutout since blanking Richmond 14-0 on October 23, 1982.

Site
Alumni Memorial Field (Natural grass, cap. 10,000)

On The Air
TV - None

Radio - 12:30 p.m. The Tribe Football Radio Network will broadcast today's game across the Commonwealth of Virginia. The veteran broadcast duo of Jay Colley (play-by-play) and Bob Sheeran (color) will call the action. Stretching over 150 miles across Virginia, the William and Mary radio network originates from its flagship station, WMBG 740 AM in Williamsburg, and can be heard on WSRV 92.3 FM in Williamsburg, WBRG 1050 AM in Lynchburg, WTOX 1480 AM in Richmond. The game can also be heard on TribeAthletics.com Listen Live!

Media Room
W&M Notes (PDF)
A10 Weekly Update( PDF)
VMI on the web

Weather Forecast
Click Here for Saturday's weather forecast from Intellicast.

The Coaches
W&M: Jimmye Laycock (W&M, 1970)
Record at W&M: 170-114-2 (26th year)
Career Record: same
All-time vs. VMI: 22-3

VMI: Cal McCombs (The Citadel, 1967)
Record at VMI: 17-52 (Seventh year)
Career Record: same
All-time vs. W&M: 0-6

The Last Meeting
William and Mary 42, VMI 6

WILLIAMSBURG (9/25/04) - All-American candidate Lang Campbell threw for 137 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first half to surpass the 3,000-yard mark for his career, as W&M used four second-quarter touchdowns and another outstanding defensive effort to knock off state-rival VMI, 42-6, in front of 8,101 fans at Zable Stadium.

Playing on his 23rd birthday, Campbell went over the 3,000-yard plateau in the first quarter and went on to complete 11-of-15 passes for 160 yards to move into ninth place (3,136) on the College's career passing yardage list. With two TD passes, Campbell also moved into eighth place (28) on the career list at W&M.

The Tribe defense forced four turnovers for the second time this season (UNC) and held the Keydets to 197 total yards, the first time a W&M defense surrendered fewer than 200 total yards since a season-opening win at UMass in 2001 (146). Dating back to a 9-7 win at UNH on Sept. 18, W&M has not allowed a touchdown for over seven consecutive quarters, a feat that has not been accomplished since 1995.

Sophomore linebacker Ryan Nickell recorded interceptions on consecutive VMI offensive plays from scrimmage, while all-conference linebacker Travis McLaurin and Chris Ndubueze each had six tackles and defensive end Adam O'Connor recorded five stops, a sack and three quarterback hurries.

Senior tailback Jon Smith led the Tribe ground game with 52 yards and two TDs, as he inched closer to 2,000 rushing yards for his career (1,899).

Tribe Tidbits

Serious History: Few schools can boast such long and storied histories as the College of William and Mary (founded in 1693) and the Virginia Military Institute (founded in 1839). This same history can be applied to the football programs, as each has sponsored a team for the better part of the last century. The two schools have met on the gridiron 82 times, including at least once a year for the last 62 seasons, including 2005.

The 62 consecutive games are the ninth longest, uninterrupted series currently being contested in the I-AA ranks. The Tribe has won 19-consecutive games in the series, which stands as the second longest winning streak in an active uninterrupted series in the I-AA rank (the longest being Grambling's 28-straight wins over Prairie View).

Laycock and McCombs: Tribe head coach Jimmye Laycock and VMI's Cal McCombs will be leading their teams into battle on Saturday, but in 1973-74, they were on the same sideline as coaches at The Citadel. McCombs was the team's wide receivers coach, while Laycock coached the offensive backfield at the time. The 1973 team finished 3-8 under future NFL coach Bobby Ross, while the 1974 squad went 4-7. Coincidentally, both seasons featured a loss to William and Mary and a loss to VMI.

VMI Connections: First-year Tribe assistant coach Brent Barth is a 2003 graduate of VMI, where he was as three-time All-Southern conference punter and a two-time All-American at the position for the Keydets.
Current assistant head coach and offensive line coach Bob Solderitch had a two-year stint as an assistant at VMI (1994-95), overseeing both the offensive and defensive lines.
VMI assistant Greg Shockley is in first season in Lexington, after spending the 2004 season as tight ends and special teams coach at W&M.
Sophomore running back Tony Viola's brother, Andy, is in his redshirt freshman season at VMI.

Give Me Five: With five wins this season, the Tribe can reach the 500-win mark in total victories for the program. William and Mary enters the VMI game with an all-time record of 495-485-11 (in 110 previous seasons of football).

Road Warriors: Saturday's contest at VMI marks the Tribe's second road game of the season, after falling at Marshall, 36-24 last week. Also, in a scheduling quirk, the College's conference opener at Rhode Island next weekend is the 10th consecutive year W&M has opened its conference play on the road.
And while no one is counting, 2005 will mark the 11th-straight season (since 1993) that the Tribe has more road games (six) than home games (five) on its schedule.

Did You Know?: William and Mary's game at Virginia Military marks the second of three road games to start the season for the College. Amazingly, the Tribe has started three of the last five season with three road games (also in 2001 and 2003). Perhaps even harder to believe is the fact that since joining the Atlantic 10 in 1993, the Tribe has only had one season (1998) in which it didn't play two of its first three games on the road.