Instead of 156,990 creating the kind of sound and fury 102,455 create in Neyland’s architecture, much of the volume last night was lifted to Colossus and the heavens.
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The Hokies dominated the first quarter, edging the Vols in yards (204 to 28), first downs gained (nine to one) and points (14-0). The previous record was 114,804, set by MI in 2013.
“At home, we play in front of a lot of people and we have a lot of crowd noise”, defensive back Cameron Sutton said. One school would build an addition to get the most seats and the other school could follow right behind. “We talked about hunting some turnovers and winning the red zone”.
It’s also noteworthy that the Vols experimented with their offensive line.
“We just executed”, Dobbs said. He walked onto the field and was introduced to the crowd during a pause in the first-quarter action Saturday.
Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) for a touchdown while being chased by Virginia Tech defensive tackle Tim Settle (97) during an NCAA college football game at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, in Bristol, Tenn.
Virginia Tech’s first three drives yielded 198 yards, two touchdowns and a missed field goal.
Virginia Tech lost four fumbles in their opening win against Liberty.
The Vols tied the game on a lovely 38-yard connection between QB Joshua Dobbs and WR Josh Malone with 9:42 left in the second quarter. Vols punt again early.
Josh Hobbs and Jalen Hurd are to good of a combination to let the Volunteers keep struggling. He found Sam Rogers for a 7-yard touchdown pass that initiated scoring at the 4:32 mark of the first quarter.
The Vols covered the 90 yards in seven plays and used 2:22 to reach paydirt.
The heavens is where many of us were looking when Travon McMillian went 69 yards late in the first quarter to put Virginia Tech up 14-0, finding plenty of open air of his own.
The Vols look too good on paper to continue to play poorly, Butch Jones has to get his team ready to go in this one.
OH (1-1) averages 45.5 points and 563 yards per game.
Fuente on the penalties: “At times, we lacked discipline out there, which is very disappointing”.
There were some growing pains for a young Virginia Tech squad while Tennessee’s experience and focus overcame some adversity after the first quarter.
“Micah has great instincts for the football and he’s always around the football”, UT’s coach said. Hodges going over the middle of the field with players like Reeves Maybin lurking, and a smaller player like Reeves Maybin trying to cover up such a match up nightmare.
“We made big plays and we just handled business”. “We’ll have to get those corrected”.
This will be an event, a three hour-plus football game that will set a record for the highest attendance for any football game, college or pro. I thought our kids for the most part played really, really hard.
“What a spectacle. It will never be replicated it will never be duplicated”, Jones said. “It’s something our student-athletes will remember for a lifetime”.
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Moore finished with six receptions and 147 yards for Maryland (2-0).
