Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs threw three touchdown passes and rushed for two more, as the Volunteers rallied from a 14-0 deficit to knock off the Hokies in the first regular-season meeting between the two teams since 1937. According to multiple reporters who are on site, Bristol Motor Speedway has purchased approximately 545,000 beers for Saturday’s game. At the end of the day, Tennessee got a win that was at least as good as Virginia Tech’s win, when you consider the opponents.
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Bristol Motor Speedway lies nearly exactly halfway between Virginia Tech’s campus in Blacksburg, Va., and Tennessee’s campus in Knoxville, Tenn.
Bristol will be back to auto racing, but have already announced at least one other football game slated to go down at their venue this month- ETSU and Western Carolina University will play there September 17th.
Members of the University of Tennessee grounds crew paint the “Battle at Bristol” logo on the football field at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn. That would shatter the NCAA single-game record of 115,109 set in 2013 at Michigan Stadium for a Michigan victory over Notre Dame.
That pressure facing Tennessee is squarely on the shoulders of its coach, Butch Jones. Tennessee’s most recent shutout came 31-0 to Florida on September 17, 1994.
“How about our defense getting us five turnovers, ” Jones said.
Evans helped Tech open the scoring in the first quarter. After winning on debut, ArNorthwestern can also try to surprise # 15 TCU away, while Virginia Tech seeks the same before # 17 Tennessee. The Hokies have lost nine fumbles through their first two games.
Virginia Tech and first-year head man Justin Fuente got off to the hottest of starts, but they were cooled off by an inspired Volunteer bunch.
Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara combined for 34 carries and 131 yards, an underwhelming 3.9 yards per carry.
After a three-and-out, the Hokies made it 14-0 with 2:48 left in the quarter when McMillian raced 69 yards off left tackle, taking advantage of a good seal block and poor run fits by Tennessee. Dobbs found Jennings in the end zone on the next play.
Dobbs was almost infallible in front of the enormous crowd, heaving a 38-yard touchdown pass to Josh Malone and a 23-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Kamara before adding a 27-yard touchdown run with less than seven minutes remaining. “Neither of us has ever been here for a NASCAR race, but we knew it would be neat just to get to say we were a part of something like this”. I put this all on me. The Vols simply didn’t make many of those explosive plays through the air a year ago, and it cost them.
It’s also noteworthy that the Vols experimented with their offensive line.
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Hopefully fans won’t have a hard time seeing the game, because they’re not much better off than the media.
