The “Battle at Bristol” between Tennessee and Virginia Tech on Saturday night set a new NCAA football attendance record. A predominantly orange-clad crowd was quiet, their team resembling a auto that wrecked on the first turn in the first lap.
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All of the promise Virginia Tech showed early on was fleeting, vanishing in a flurry of turnovers. Running back Jalen Hurd accounted for 110 of the 127 rushing yards – almost 100 fewer than Tennessee’s average in 2015 – and is sure to attraction plenty of attention from Virginia Tech’s opportunistic defense. On the ground, he had 14 rushes for 106 yards and 2 TDs.
The Vols extended the 10-point halftime lead in the third period on Dobbs’ scoring toss to Kamara, capping a 67-yard, five-play drive in 1 minute, 22 seconds.
After a brutal first quarter the Vols for a stretch looked like the top-10 team many expected going into the season, but Virginia Tech made far too many mistakes to overcome Tennessee. Quarterback Josh Dobbs had a 40-yard run and a 38-yard touchdown pass to Josh Malone, and Jalen Hurd had runs of 17 and 18 yards. The Vols came nowhere close to covering as a 21.5-point home favorite and was in danger of losing the game until finally putting away App State, 20-13. Virginia Tech had issues of its own in the first half against Liberty before stretching out the lead for a comfortable win in the opener. Dobbs hit Jauan Jennings on a fade pattern on the next play and Tennessee was on the board 17 seconds into the quarter. They have lost a total of nine fumbles in their first two games.
On the first play of the second quarter, Evans’ fumble, which was recovered by free safety Micah Abernathy, put Tennessee in business at Tech’s 5. Now they get a pretty significant test in the Tennessee defense, and we’ll learn a lot about where the Hokies’ offense is right now and what kind of potential they have against quality opponents this season. We’ve obviously got to do a better job either teaching or understanding or emphasizing ball security. Dobbs ran in a score from five yars out to give the Vols a 24-14 lead at the half. It was reminiscent of his 67-yard touchdown catch to tie Appalachian State in the fourth quarter of Tennessee’s Week 1 escape.
“What a spectacle”, Jones said. He found Sam Rogers for a 7-yard touchdown pass that initiated scoring at the 4:32 mark of the first quarter. The Hokies actually out-gained the Vols 400 to 330, but the turnovers proved costly.
“It was a matter of being patient”, he said.
“It’s a mentality to not want that ball to come out of your hands, and also it’s an effort thing in practice when we have hard practices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays”, Tech quarterback Jerod Evans said.
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ABOUT TENNESSEE (1-0): The Volunteers, who have won seven straight games – their longest streak since 2001 – dropped four spots in the USA Today coaches poll after their lackluster performance against Appalachian State that produced only 319 yards of offense.
