Tennessee has a 35-15-1 record against ACC opponents.
Advertisement
Tennessee is led by star running back Jalen Hurd, who rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown against Appalachian State.
Tennessee: After averaging just below 3 yards per carry in a season-opening 20-13 overtime victory over Appalachian State, the Vols regrouped this week and ran the ball much more effectively. Virginia Tech still must show that its offense can have similar success against tougher competition than Liberty. Ferguson transferred to Louisville from Penn State, sat out his next year and did not play in 2015. The Volunteers’ two-time consensus All-Americans have been LB Steve Kiner in 1968-69, G Chip Kell in 1969-70, E Larry Seivers in 1975-76, DL John Henderson in 2000-01 and S Eric Berry in 2008-09. At that point, it had been speculated for almost a decade that Smith was willing to pony up millions to see the game happen at his track, but now he was going public with it.
Wow, how about the season’s first weekend (6-6) for teams from the Southeastern Conference?
For the first time in many decades, Frank Beamer was at a Tech football game Saturday as a fan. The Vols won all 13 of their games in 1998 and their 1999 opener. Virginia Tech wasn’t able to break free on a lot of players whereas Tennessee has the ability to make those big offensive plays for the win. The Volunteers took a 27-0 victory over Virginia Tech on October 2, 1937.
If Utah wants to move into the top 25, they need to first hand their business and win their games, but they also need teams ahead of them to lose. Virginia Tech’s most recent shutout came 16-0 to Cincinnati on September 16, 1995. Tennessee (2-0) responded by scoring 31 straight points, including 24 in the second period.
It’s the Battle at Bristol, as the Hokies take on the Vols for an 8 pm ET kickoff at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The “Colossus”, a 68 foot wide, 30 foot tall video screen, is “the world’s largest outdoor center-hung four-sided video screen”, according to the Bristol Herald Courier. Morgan Moriarty of SBNation did a great job highlighting the transformation of Bristol from a NASCAR track to a college football stadium, which you can read about here.
A man named O. Bruton Smith was offering Tennessee and Virginia Tech $20 million apiece to play a football game at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, a NASCAR-sponsored cathedral of racing owned by the company Smith founded, Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
Advertisement
The crowd would shatter the NCAA single-game attendance record of 115,109, set at Michigan Stadium for Michigan’s 2013 victory over Notre Dame. Those games at Soldier Field in Chicago featured Notre Dame playing Southern Cal on November 25, 1927, and Navy on October 13, 1928.
