LEXINGTON, Va. - The Citadel rode a combined 38 points in the second and third quarters and 100-yard rushing days from Isiaha Smith and Jake Stenson to a 45-25 win over VMI to retain possession of the Silver Shako for another year.

The Bulldogs (5-7, 3-4 SoCon) captured the Military Classic of the South for the eighth straight time dating back to the 2003 season and improved to 24-10-1 over the Keydets (2-10, 1-6) since the Silver Shako was introduced in 1976.

Smith rushed for 134 yards and Stenson added 120 with both scoring a touchdown. Tyler Renew, Aaron Miller and Reggie Williams also found the end zone and joined Vinny Miller to combine for 143 yards as the Bulldogs churned out 397 rushing yards on the day.

The performances of Smith and Stenson gave the Bulldogs five games this season and eight over the past two years with at least two runners with 100 yards in the same game. The Citadel came up three yards shy of its fourth 400-yard rushing game of the year.

Aaron Miller also connected on a 32-yard touchdown pass to Alex Glover to ignite a 17-point second quarter that gave the Bulldogs a 24-13 lead at halftime. The touchdown was the first of Glover's career while Miller, in his final game at The Citadel, finished with 10 scoring aerials.

Miller finished the year with 1,080 yards, tied for the 10th-highest season total in school history and third among quarterbacks. He was also attempting to become the first Bulldog to rush for and throw for 1,000 yards in the same season but came up 68 passing yards shy, completing 3 of 7 attempts for 91 yards.

As a team, The Citadel rushed for 4,166 yards and averaged 347.2 per game, with the latter figure ranking second in the Bulldog record book. In addition to Miller's final total, which included 13 touchdowns, Renew ran for 761 yards, Stenson totaled 597 and Smith compiled 591 and combined for 14 scoring runs.

VMI quarterback Al Cobb clinched the SoCon passing title, completing 27 of 43 passes for 396 yards and two touchdowns. Cobb threw for 2,971 and 20 scores in his redshirt freshman season for the Keydets. Aaron Sanders and Deon Watts both caught seven passes against the Bulldogs, with Sanders accounting for 165 yards and a score.

Watts paced VMI on the ground with 52 yards and scored twice.

Justin Oxendine and Mitchell Jeter came up with sacks of Cobb, and Malik Diggs had a team-high nine tackles. Oxendine's sack gave him a team-best 7.5 on the year (1.5 more than Jeter), and he wrapped up his career with 13 quarterback takedowns, tied for seventh in school history.

The Bulldogs never trailed in the game, although they did see a 21-0 lead trimmed to 24-19 at the outset of the third quarter. Aaron Miller scored from the one following a VMI fumble, and then hit Glover on a fourth down play on the first snap of the second quarter to give The Citadel a 14-0 lead.

The Keydets were stopped at midfield attempting to go for it on fourth down, and the Bulldogs quickly added to their lead. One run each by Aaron and Vinny Miller covered a total of 43 yards, and Renew capped the drive with a 23-yard touchdown. A touchdown run by Watts and scoring pass to Dane Forlines made it 21-13 before Eric Goins made it an 11-point game at halftime with a 30-yard field goal.

VMI struck quickly in the third quarter, going 73 yards on only four plays, and made it 24-19 on a 28-yard scoring hookup from Cobb to Sanders. But that was as close as the Keydets would get as The Citadel scored the next 21 points – all in a span of eight minutes in the third quarter.

Stenson ran for 24 yards to set up his own eight-yard touchdown scamper, and Joe Crochet forced a fumble that Diggs recovered at the VMI 20 on the ensuing kickoff. Williams, a converted defensive back seeing action in only his second game of the year, scored from the seven to make it 38-19.

VMI reached the Bulldog 43 but turned it over on downs, and The Citadel marched 72 yards highlighted by a 31-yard gallop by Stenson and a 33-yard pass from Miller to Jorian Jordan. Smith then scored from 16 yards out to make it a comfortable working margin again.