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The Aggies' second game of the season came against a burgeoning Virginia Military Academy team in Lexington, Virginia. The Farmers all widely believed the game would be an easy one, with several retrospective game summaries claiming as much: "The A. & M. team journeyed to Lexington... and were looking forward to a little practice game and some real fun." Unfortunately for A&M, "the laugh was on them" (Red and White, Vol. XIII No. 2 (October 1911)).

The Virginians had only played two games so far this season, winning both. They opened with an easy 38-0 win over the Augusta Military Academy, a local school based out of Fort Defiance, Virginia. The next week, they played the Davidson team, winning a close, 5-0 game that was reportedly slowed due to warm weather and spats of rain. Though the 5-0 win was not considered encouraging by the Keydets from a talent perspective, it was the first time the Red, White, and Yellow had bested the Presbyterians from North Carolina since 1904, breaking a five-game losing streak (The Bomb Vol. XXVIII (1912), p. 132).

To prepare for the game, Coach Greene spent Monday and Tuesday afternoon running "the plays that they failed to execute to his liking last Saturday" and a light scrimmage on Wednesday. The team left for Lexington early Thursday morning with just sixteen players (The Raleigh Daily Times, October 12th, 1911, p. 3; News and Observer, October 12th, 1911, p. 3).

The match began at 3:30 PM on the Virginia Military Institute's parade grounds. The Farmers dwarfed the Lexington boys: they were estimated by various sources to outweigh the Keydets by anywhere from 25-to-33 pounds per man, tipping the scales with a 184 pound average (The Bomb (1912), p. 133). The Farmers made the VMI men look, in the words of their own editorial team, "like mere pigmies [sic]" (The Cadet, Vol. V No. 5 (October 21st, 1911), p. 1). Despite the obvious implications of this massive weight differential, the game would prove to be shockingly close.

VMI kicked off to open the game, Youell having to kick the ball twice "as usual," sending both kicks over the goal line, giving the Farmers a touchback and starting field position at the 25-yard line. From there, accounts from A&M and VMI differ slightly, however, both accounts are vague. A short 2-yard run to open the drive was followed by a fumble recovered by the Farmers, and eventually an offsides penalty for 5 yards, also on A&M. Somehow, the Farmers earned a first down, as The Cadet reports a few subsequent plays. It started with a run for no gain and was followed by a promising 5-yard dash, however, on their third and final down A&M was tackled for a 2-yard loss, giving the Virginians the ball.

Of course, accounts differ on exactly where VMI got the ball: Red and White wrote that the Keydets got the ball around the A&M 30, while The Cadet describes a 70-yard drive. The Keydets got to work quick: both sources agree that the drive was only three-to-four plays long. An explosive 10-yard run was followed by an equally-impressive 15-yard run around A&M's left end, Phillips. After a run for no gain, Owen dashed 35-to-40 yards on a run around the right end, Seifert, for a touchdown. Witte made the goal kick, puting VMI up 6-0 after just 3-1/2 minutes of play. "The Corps simply went wild."

The Farmers elected to kick off, sending the ball 30 yards, to the VMI 25. VMI returned the ball 2 yards, but after a run for no gain fumbled the ball, ceding the ball to the Aggies with excellent field position. The drive started off promisingly, with a 5-yard run; a second run for 2 yards put A&M just 3 yards away from a first down. Curiously, the Farmers attempted a risky forward pass; the attempt failed, giving VMI possession of the ball.

The Keydets quickly punted the ball away and stopped the A&M return man before he could gain any ground. The Farmers again started strong, getting their first first down of the day after two runs combined for 15 yards. Things again soured, though, after a third-and-five attempt was fumbled and recovered by the Virginians, who again instantly punted the ball away. After gaining 7 yards, the Aggies punted the ball, however the kick went out of bounds near VMI's 10-yard line. The first of the game's four 10-minute quarters ended shortly thereafter.

At the start of the second quarter, Guttierez was substituted for Moore, who hit the ground running with a 15-yard gain. After a 5-yard gain by Owen, Moore punted the ball away. A&M caught the punt and returned it 5 yards, however the remainder of the Red and White drive was not described. The Virginians continued to run wild over A&M, with Owen following a 15-yard run by Moore and a 5-yard run by Leech with a 15-yard dash of his own. After a run for no gain by Leech, the Keydets punted; A&M returned the punt for 15 yards.

Here, Patterson was replaced by Sommers. Following a Red and White run for no gain, the Farmers dashed 10-yards for a first down. The Aggies were efficient with their drive, using three plays to make exactly 10 yards. After a similar slow and plodding drive down the field, Cool made A&M's only touchdown of the day, placing the ball on the far right corner of the goal line. The Farmers attempted a punt-out maneuver for the extra point, a risky play done when the touchdown was set down in a location that made kicking the goal kick in the traditional manner difficult, such as placing the ball near the boundary lines. Somehow, Witte broke free during the attempt and intercepted the kick, a play The Cadet's game summary undersells by describing it simply as "a pretty play." "No one seems to know how he got there," wrote The Bugle.

The difficulty of Witte's action is hard to explain. Rules on the punt-out (Rule XI, Section 3) required defenders to line up on the goal line, while the player punting the ball back to the man making the fair catch (who then attempted a goal kick from the new spot) had to punt from where the ball crossed the goal line (or closer to the sideline if he so desired). The play was so exceptional and uncommon that the writer of VMI's yearbook, The Bugle, wrote that "after following football for twenty years, the writer has never seen the feat duplicated." It was never recorded in a previous A&M game, either.

Electing to kick off, the Farmers booted the ball 30 yards, to the VMI 25; the Keydets returned the kick 10 yards. Moore opened up the drive with a bang, dashing 35 yards. After eeking out a first down on three runs for 11 yards by Owen and Leech, the latter was injured, stopping play for a few minutes, however he did return to the game. After probably stalling their drive, the Red, White, and Yellow elected to punt, however the Farmers blocked the kick. Sadly, A&M failed to advance the ball, and after another exchange of punts, the first half came to a close, with the Virginians leading by 1 point.

Once play resumed, the Farmers returned VMI's kickoff 20 yards. After two runs for about 6 total yards (4-5 of which came from Cool), Robertson broke through VMI's line for a 20-yard gain. After two runs for no gain, the Aggies punted the ball and it rolled out of bounds. Moore started VMI's next possession with a spectacular 45-50 yard run around the A&M line, "knocking off the entire A. and M. team" in the process. His run was only stopped on account of "a swell tackle" made by Stafford.

The Keydets' next play was a forward pass, which fell incomplete. After this, VMI attempted a drop kick or punt at midfield, however the kick was yet again blocked by the Red and White, this time by Hurtt. VMI retained control of the ball and narrowly picked up a first down, primarily on the legs of a 7 yard run by Moore, though Leech and Kingman also combined on the effort. After another solid 5-yard gain by Moore, the VMI runner was sacked for a loss, forcing a Red, White, and Yellow punt. An A&M man caught the kick but "a pretty tackle" was made before he could advance.

At this juncture, Clarkson was put out by injury for a few minutes but after a few minutes of stoppage, he came back in the game. The Farmers eeked out two first downs, mostly on the legs of a 5 yard run by Moore, however they eventually were forced to kick. VMI recovered Cool's kick and advanced it 10 yards and attempted to punt the ball back, however Hurtt once again managed to get a hand on the ball for the Red and White, this time also managing to recover the blocked ball.

The Farmers were once again unable to capitalize on Hurtt's block and punted the ball away. Kingman recovered the kick, and on the next play the Keydets gained 7 yards. The Virginians fumbled yet again on the next play, but recovered the ball. The two teams exchanged a couple of punts, but the quarter ended without either team gaining much advantage with A&M in control of the ball at VMI's 40-yard line.

To start the final quarter, the Farmers earned a first down, earning 5 yards on a forward pass to complete the deed. However, in a desperate attempt to gain ground against the stout VMI defense, the Farmers had resorted to repeatedly attempting risky forward passes and trick plays. On the next play, the Farmers fumbled on a forward pass, giving the ball back to the Red, White, and Yellow. The VMI drive stalled, prompting Youell to attempt a 45-yard drop kick goal from field (field goal), however, the Keydet missed the goal. Because the missed kick resulted in a touchback, VMI kicked off from their own 25-yard line.

A&M caught the kick and then began their most determined drive of the day. Cool started the drive off with a 17-20 yard run; Robertson followed the feat with a long run of his own for either 7 or 20 yards; reports differ. From their, Robertson completed a 30-yard forward pass to Phillips. A second forward pass to Robertson resulted in a 10 yard gain; he reached within 2 feet of VMI's goal line, but was tackled by Karst, who hit the ball out of the Aggies' hand; Leech recovered the ball for VMI. A&M attempted to argue with the refs that the runner was tackled out of bounds, thereby preventing the fumble, however the referees refused to change their ruling.

VMI once again punted the ball. Unfortunately, the Farmer who caught the ball fumbled it, resulting in another A&M turnover. Upon getting the ball, VMI punted again; this punt was followed by yet another A&M fumble. After punting for a third consecutive time, the Farmers managed to catch the ball and gain 10 yards. The Farmers attempted several forward passes around this time, netting roughly 40 yards with them, but also repeatedly losing the ball. With just 15 seconds left to play, Robertson was taken out of the game and replaced by Spencer. Cool attempted to make an end run, but was thrown for a 10-15 yards. The game ended with VMI leading 6-5.

The Virginians were elated by the win: The Bomb wrote that it was their best-played home game since 1900, and that old followers "had never seen a V. M. I. team play better." VMI's student paper called the game the "biggest game of the season" despite the fact they still had UVA on the schedule. It did end up being VMI's biggest win of the year, as they went on to lose handily to Virginia.

A&M fans bitterly wrote that "This is a case where the best team did not win," claiming that instead "the team that was in the best condition won." Red and White noted that "A. & M. showed no life whatever," noting that the team lacked training but not overconfidence.

Virginians were naturally more likely to attribute the win to their own good work, and they had plenty of praise to pass around. The Bomb had difficulty naming a single difference-maker, instead noting that "The work of the whole team was superb," but eventually settling on the work of Dalton, at guard, and that "The A. & M. people declared they had never met his equal. The Cadet agreed with the former statement, adding that "Coach Brummage showed that he has developed a team with eleven star players." Lexington Gazette, on the other hand, gave Witte the star status of the game, for making VMI's goal kick, though Dalton and Youell were also praised for their defense, as was Moore for his punting. For A&M, the stars were considered to be Phillips, Hurtt, and Robertson, whom The Cadet wrote was "easily the star of the team" (The Cadet, Vol. V No. 5 (October 21, 1911), pp. 1, 4; Red and White, Vol. XIII No. 2 (October 1911), pp. 146-148; The Lexington Gazette, October 18th, 1911, p. 4; The Bomb (1912), pp. 132-134).

The Virginians celebrated the win with a bang--literally. Some time in the previous schoolyear, a large collection of fireworks had been confiscated by VMI administration; they were returned to the students, who descended upon downtown Lexington despite a "steady downpour from supper to tattoo." Though running contrary to standard military discipline, the Cadets were actually invited by the mayor to "come up and take the town."

The Cadets heeded his call, descending upon downtown Lexington armed with fireworks, paint, and paintbrushes. They repainted several objects and buildings downtown, frequently including the score on their handiwork. Though their celebration bothered some of the members of the regularly-quiet downtown, the police force seems to have been cognizant of their vandilization; The Cadet even included a report that several policemen and their horses were painted in the celebration.

Apparently, rumors had reached Lexington pre-game about A&M playing dirty. However, The Cadet was proud to report that the game was clean and well-fough all around, adding that "we'll give it to A. and M. everytime [sic] over Davidson. The latter can't travel on Sunday, etc., but they can deliver some monstrous duty blows when on the gridiron." Instead, the main criticism of dirtiness that evening was levied at VMI students, who were scolded by their school paper for shouting insults like "'Put him out,' [']We've got a hospital,' ''Kill him,' and other such remarks." The school paper appreciated the students' passion, but asked that they show a little more courtesy to visiting teams (The Cadet, Vol. V No. 5 (October 21, 1911), pp. 4).

The Keydets went on to have a highly successful season, finishing with a 7-1 record under their first of two seasons under new head coach Arthur Brummage. Following the A&M game, the Lexington boys beat Randolph-Macon 25-0, but lost their first and only game of the season to Virginia by a score of 6-22. They won out with games against Richmond (38-0), Catholic University (80-0), and St. John's of Maryland (5-0). Significantly, the Farmers were one of only two teams to score on the Keydets the entire eason, a minor consolation for their narrow loss.

Richmond's Times-Dispatch had a nice quip about the game which was repeated in the school journals of both teams, refering to the Civil War histories of both teams:

"That was a nice victory Virginia won over North Carolina Saturday when the V. M. I. eleven conquered A. & M. College of North Carolina. The Tarheels were big and heavy, but the determined grit and gameness of the Virginians prevailed, and the brilliant headwork of a Richmond quarterback [Witte] turned the trick. The North Carolinians have been first at Bethel, farthest at Gettysburg and last at Appomattox, but not first at Lexington last Saturday" (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 16th, 1911, p. 4).

The quip alluded to the purported actions of both North Carolinian and Virginian troops during the Civil War: North Carolina often lauded itself as the state that sent the most soldiers to fight for the Confederacy despite their late entry to the war. Additionally, a term at the time often derisively applied to Virginians was 'sorebacks'; though the details are hazy and vary from source to source, several variations of the story claim the term came to use during the Civil War, when North Carolinians defended land like they had tar on their heels (hence, Tar Heels) and the Virginians frequently ducked and hid; their purported propensity for doing so was said to have made their backs sore.