The Citadel Depth Chart
THE CITADEL 2012 TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART
The Citadel Game Notes
QUICK BITES
• The Citadel is 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the SoCon for the first time
since 1992. That team eventually reached No. 1 in the nation, the
last time the Bulldogs have been in the Top 10 until coming in at
No. 10 in The Sports Network poll this week.
• The wins over Georgia Southern and Appalachian State gave
the Bulldogs victories over two Top 10 teams for the first time
since 1991.
• The Bulldogs had lost five in a row to Georgia Southern and
eight straight and 17 of the past 18 against Appalachian State.
• The Citadel gained 618 yards in its win over Appalachian State,
the most ever in a regulation game and just 23 shy of the overall
record set in an overtime win over Furman in 2007.
• The Citadel will be looking for its first win over an FBS opponent
since the 1992 team beat Arkansas (10-3) and Army (15-14).
THE LEAD
The Citadel rides the emotional wave of consecutive victories over FCS Top 10
teams Georgia Southern and Appalachian State into its lone game of the year
against an FBS opponent. The Bulldogs are looking to go 4-0 and defeat an FBS
school for the first time since 1992.
The Citadel and NC State have not met in almost three decades, with the Wolfpack
winning the most recent meeting 45-0 in 1983 to go up 4-0 in the all-time
series. The Bulldogs are facing an ACC opponent for the first time since losing at
North Carolina in 2009.
The Bulldogs have not defeated an ACC school since the formation of the conference
in 1953. The last win over a current ACC member was a 6-0 victory over
Clemson in 1931.
THE CITADEL VS. THE ACC
The ACC has not been kind to The Citadel. The Bulldogs have never
defeated a school while it was member of the ACC (0-27) and have an
all-time record of 6-64-2 against current conference programs.
THE CITADEL IN THE RANKINGS
One week after making its first appearance in the national polls
since 2008, The Citadel made the biggest jump in both The
Sports Network and FCS Coaches rankings.
The Bulldogs moved up 11 spots from No. 21 to No. 10 in The
Sports Network poll, putting The Citadel in the Top 10 in the
nation for the first time since finishing the 1992 regular season
at No. 1.
In the coaches poll, the Citadel climbed nine spots from No. 23
to No. 14.
This is the third season The Citadel has been ranked in
eight years under head coach Kevin Higgins. The Bulldogs
made a brief appearance at No. 25 in 2007 and
spent seven weeks in the rankings the following year.
Prior to that, The Citadel had not been ranked since spending
two weeks in the polls during the 1993 campaign.
THE CITADEL AS A RANKED TEAM
Dating back to 1990, the first year in which complete weekly
rankings are available from The Sports Network,The Citadel
has played 32 games in which it entered ranked in the Top 25,
and the Bulldogs have a record of 18-14 in those games (17-12
when playing an FCS opponent).
Kevin Higgins is 4-5 when coaching a nationally-ranked Citadel
team.
DOGS VS. RANKED TEAMS
With wins over Georgia Southern and Appalachian
State the past two weeks, The Citadel has defeated
a pair of ranked teams for the first time since 2003
and two Top 10 teams for the first time since 1991.
The win over then-No. 3 Georgia Southern marked
the first time The Citadel had beaten a Top 5 team
since toppling No. 1 Marshall 20-3 in 1988 and the
first win over a Top 10 squad since a 23-20 overtime
win over No. 8 East Tennessee State in 1997.
Dating back to the 1990 season, the first in which
weekly rankings are available from The Sports Network,
The Citadel has played 84 games in which its
opponent was nationally ranked (FCS only) and has
a record of 19-65 in those contests.
In eight seasons under head coach Kevin Higgins,
the Bulldogs are 5-20 when playing a ranked team.
THE CITADEL VS. THE FBS
Since Division I was reclassified into I-A (now FBS) and I-AA (now
FCS) in 1978, The Citadel has played 50 vs. teams in the higher
classification. The Bulldogs have a record of 7-43 in those games
and are winless in contests vs. teams which entered the game nationally
ranked.
The Bulldogs had a stretch six wins in seven games against FBS
opponents from 1988-92, including a 38-35 victory over South Carolina.
Since then, however, The Citadel has lost 23 straight against
schools from the higher classification.
RUNNING WILD
The Citadel is its third season of running the triple option offense, and its
running game is again one of the most potent in the nation.
The Bulldogs are averaging 370.0 yards per game on the ground, good for
third in the nation behind only fellow Southern Conference members Wofford
and Georgia Southern.
The Citadel has gone over the 400-yard mark twice already this season,
rushing for 479 yards and seven touchdowns against Charleston Southern
and 463 and six scores against Appalachian State.
In its 52-28 win over the Mountaineers last Saturday, The Citadel had three
ball carriers go over the 100-yard mark, led by Ben Dupree with a career-high
180. Darien Robinson added 113 yards and Rickey Anderson had a
career-best 102.
The last time the Bulldogs had three players rush for more than 100 yards
in a game came in 1998 against VMI.
ANDERSON ADDING UP THE TDS
Slot back Rickey Anderson is off to a fast start this season, having
already scored five touchdowns including three in the opener against
Charleston Southern.
He enters the NC State game with a streak of four straight games with a
touchdown rush dating back to the 2011 finale against South Carolina.
A sixth-year senior who has missed all or substantial parts of three
seasons with leg and knee injuries, Anderson entered the year with only
three rushing touchdowns to his name.
Anderson holds Citadel season and career records for average yards
per carry. A year ago he carried 52 times for 498 yards, an average of
9.58 per attempt to establish a new school mark.
After rushing for a career-high 102 yards on only nine carries last week
at Appalachian State, Anderson now has carried 109 times for 884
yards for a school-record 8.11 yards per attempt.