On Saturday evening, as anticipated for almost three years, the Battle at Bristol between No. 9 Tennessee and Virginia Tech officially reigned in the highest attendance for an American football game in history: a record 156,990 fans were on hand to watch the game.
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Aside from a 90-yard drive that led to Tennessee’s tying touchdown, Dobbs’ 38-yard pass to Josh Malone, the Vols went 58 yards or less on five of their other six scoring drives. The Vols scored 21 points off of five Hokies’ fumbles.
Indeed, the Hokies could afford missteps in their opener against Liberty – they lost four fumbles. Florida’s Luke Del Rio threw it 44 times against UMass for 5.8 yards per attempt.
Virginia Tech (1-1) still led in yardage 234 to 182 at halftime, and still held the advantage by 70 yards (400-330) at the end of the game.
Maybe Tennessee thumps Virginia Tech regardless. Tech managed only 196 yards after the first quarter, Tennessee’s front seven generating a spate of lost-yardage plays.
Tennessee added another score in the third quarter on a 23-yard scoring toss from Dobbs to Alvin Kamara, one possession after Medley missed on a 47-yard field goal attempt. The defense made big plays, forcing five turnovers while holding to Hokies (1-1) to only 10 points in the final three quarters after yielding 14 in the first. Dobbs’ later sealed the deal with a 27-yard touchdown run, his fifth score of the game (three passing, two rushing).
Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) celebrates a touchdown with offensive lineman Coleman Thomas (55) during an NCAA college football game against Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, in Bristol, Tenn. Past year the Vols curtailed their need for explosive plays by dominating field position thanks to excellent special teams work.
But the Hokies’ confidence after the fast start proved fragile, and Tennessee chipped away as ball security became a bigger problem.
NOTES: Before Saturday night, the teams’ last meeting was in the 2009 Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, a 37-14 Virginia Tech win that capped Lane Kiffin’s only season as Tennessee coach. The Vols came away with the ball again, then put an exclamation point on the blowout with a 4-yard touchdown run by John Kelly.
A win over the Bobcats this week would improve Tennessee to 3-0 for the first time since the 2004 season.
When the teams switched ends of the field to start the second quarter, momentum swung to Tennessee. Dobbs says he’s feeling fine and will be ready to go.
With time running down Dobbs drove the Vols 58 yards in nine plays, capping the drive with his own 5-yard run pushing the shocked Hokies into a 24-14 hole. They reeled off 24 straight points in the second quarter to lead 24-14 at the half. “We’re going to look at it and come up with a plan”. Teammate Micah Abernathy set a school record by recovering three fumbles. “I feel like we wouldn’t be a good team if we prepared differently for different games”.
Next up for Virginia Tech is a home date against Boston College at 3:30 pm.
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