LEXINGTON, Va. –  On Saturday afternoon, the Wofford College football team defeated VMI by a 52-10 margin at Foster Stadium. The offense scored a season-high 52 points, while the defense came up with three turnovers and allowed a season-low ten points in the victory.
 
Wofford is 4-6 and 3-3 in the Southern Conference, while VMI is 1-9 overall and 0-6 in the league. J.T. Fayard was 22-of-33 passing for 365 yards and five touchdowns. Ivory Aikens had four catches and three touchdowns, while Isaiah Scott had five catches for 113 yards. The Keydets were led by Chandler Wilson with 138 passing yards.
 
"It's a complete win, offense, defense, special teams," said head coach Shawn Watson. "We fed off each other. You know, I really think today we realized the talent I've seen in this football team since the beginning. We had to grow into it, and we had to go through some stuff to get there. It was such a complete game. Every week our defense shows up. And you know, we've grown as an offense. I knew that we could be really explosive on offense, because I see it every day in practice, and it's awesome to see it realized on the field today. The kid's effort was extraordinary."
 
The Keydets had the ball first and on second down had a 73-yard pass play to move inside the five-yard line. On fourth-and-one from the one, a touchdown pass gave VMI a 7-0 lead with 11:22 on the clock. After Wofford went three-and-out on their first drive, the Keydets had one first down before punting. The Terriers then had a big first down catch by Colby Alexander for a 33-yard gain and a pass to Jack Purdy gave the team a first down inside the 10-yard line. However, a sack forced a fumble that was recovered by the Keydets. The Wofford defense answered as Maximus Pulley picked off a pass and returned it to the 28-yard line. After a first down, the drive stalled and Sam Spence got the Terriers on the board with a 24-yard field goal at the 12:05 mark of the second quarter.
 
With the ball back, the Keydets had one first down before punting. Both teams then went three-and-out and punted. Wofford then had a 33-yard completion to Anjuan Coleman, which set up a five-yard touchdown pass to Ivory Aikens as the Terriers had a 10-7 lead with 3:44 left in the first half. On the next drive by the Keydets, back-to-back sacks forced a punt. Wofford and VMI then traded three-and-outs, with the Terriers getting the ball back with 54 seconds remaining. With a pair of false start penalties, Wofford had to punt. The Keydets ran one play before the half ended.
 
To open the second half, Wofford had a rushing first down and then J.T. Fayard found Ivory Aikens for a 59-yard touchdown down the near sideline to take a 17-7 lead with 13:32 on the clock. The Keydets had a first down after a targeting call on the Terriers, but then had to punt. Wofford had a first down reception by Jack Purdy, Gerald Modest Jr. had a 29 yard run to move inside the 20. An 11-yard touchdown pass from Fayard to a wide-open Terrance Honeywood under the goalpost gave the Terriers a 24-7 lead. The Keydets completed a pass, but Wyatt Ward forced and recovered a fumble at the 29-yard line. Wofford converted a fourth-and-one with a run by Gerald Modest Jr. and then scored on a 19-yard pass to Ivory Aikens as the lead grew to 31-7 with 3:24 left in the third quarter.
 
The Keydets had three first downs before having to punt. Isaiah Scott then took a short pass 78 yards as Wofford took a 38-8 lead with 14:03 on the clock in the fourth quarter. On the next drive by VMI, Maximus Pulley intercepted his second pass of the game and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown as the Terriers pushed the lead to 45-7 with 13:25 left in the game. VMI went three-and-out and punted, but there was a fumble on the return that was recovered by the Keydets. A 30-yard field goal after gaining one first down made it a 45-10 game with 8:37 remaining.
 
On the next drive by the Terriers, Jayden Whitaker took over at quarterback. Three first downs moved the ball inside the 20. A 14-yard touchdown by Isaiah Nell gave the Terriers a 52-10 advantage with 3:03 left in the game. The Keydets went three-and-out and punted at the two-minute timeout. Wofford was able to run out the clock for the win.
 
Wofford had 507 total yards on offense, with 365 passing yards. VMI had 228 total yards, with 140 of those passing yards. Wofford had 19 first downs to nine for the Keydets. Wofford was 6-of-15 on third down and 2-of-2 on fourth down. VMI was 4-of-15 on third down and 1-of-1 on fourth down. Wofford had six penalties for 756 yards, while VMI had five penalties for 40 yards. Wofford had a 30:46 to 29:14 time of possession advantage.
 
Wofford vs. VMI Post-Game Notes
This was the 29^th meeting of the two teams. The Terriers have a 16-13 lead in the series that began in 1924 and have won three of the last four meetings.
 
The 52 points scored are the most in a game since scoring 59 points against Western Carolina on October 19, 2019. The 507 total yards of offense was the most since 506 against Western Carolina in 2008.
 
Wofford's 375 yards passing were the third-most in school history.
 
The Wofford defense was led by Eli Campbell with 10 tackles. The Terriers had three sacks and eight tackles for loss.  
 
Maximus Pulley had interceptions in the first quarter and fourth quarter. He has seven career interceptions, with four in the last two games. He has returned interceptions for touchdowns in back-to-back games.
 
The Wofford defense has returned five interceptions for a touchdown this season, the most in the nation.
 
Game captains were Quincy Hughes, Seth Foster, Brandon Maina, and Maximus Pulley.
 
Attendance at Foster Stadium was 3,642.    
 
Wofford will be on the road next Saturday at The Citadel before returning home on Saturday, November 22, for the final home game of the season against Chattanooga.