Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Josh Malone (3) celebrates with Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (15) after catching a pass for a touchdown against the Virginia Tech Hokies during the second quarter at Bristol Motor Speedway.
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But all it took was one play to turn around the game and possibly the season for the Volunteers.
It was a record for attendance at a college football game and not likely to be broken any time in the future.
A win over the Bobcats this week would improve Tennessee to 3-0 for the first time since the 2004 season. He became Tennessee’s all-time leading rushing quarterback. Manning played college football at Tennessee and served s the team’s honorary captain for the game.
Tennessee players and coaches heard all the talk after their Week 1 adventure against Appalachian State. Tennessee fans were easily the majority in the mass of humanity that celebrated a weekend of music and football at a venue used to hosting motor sports.
“We don’t really care about the polls”, said Tennessee junior running back Alvin Kamara, one of three players to catch a touchdown pass from Dobbs.
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee erased an early 14-point deficit at Bristol Motor Speedway nearly as fast as drivers typically race around the half-mile track that circled the makeshift football field.
The scene is a little different in 2016: The crowd for Saturday’s Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol was more than 156,000.
The crowd total shattered the previous NCAA record of 115,109 who attended a Michigan victory over Notre Dame at Michigan Stadium in 2013.
“What a spectacle, ” added Jones. “I think everybody in that locker room is in this for Tennessee”.
On the first play of the second quarter, Virginia Tech (1-1) quarterback Jerod Evans mishandled the snap as the Hokies tried to run an end-around. He ran 14 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
Dobbs set up deep passes with his ability to scramble, Hurd pulled off monster runs and made defenders miss and DeBord’s quick-tempo offense wore down Virginia Tech’s defense, just like it was created to do.
The first half was largely a tale of two quarters. We knew that we were going to have to score more than 14 points if we wanted to win this ballgame. Virginia Tech ended up losing five fumbles, and three of those turnovers resulted in Tennessee touchdowns. We’ll look at it and come up with a plan, but what we’re doing, what we’ve done in the past, hasn’t been an issue. “But we’ve obviously got to do a better job of teaching or understanding or recognizing ball security, because we’re inadequate, to say the least right now”. Jalen Hurd had 99 yards on 22 carries.
Running back Travon McMillian, who had 14 carries for 127 yards and a touchdown, took a handoff and made it to the left edge as the majority of Tennessee’s defense headed to the right side of the field. The Vols recovered at the Hokies’ 5-yard line and scored for the first time on the next play, a turning point in the game. Cornerback Greg Stroman was responsible for botching coverage on Jennings in the end zone.
Dobbs started Tennessee’s next drive with a 40-yard run on a quarterback draw.
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Virginia Tech had some better numbers on the stat sheet.
