Bristol Motor Speedway lies nearly exactly halfway between Virginia Tech’s campus in Blacksburg, Va., and Tennessee’s campus in Knoxville, Tenn.
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Playing at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile, in front of the largest crowd ever at a college football game provided a moment in the spotlight for a program trying to regain its footing nationally.
Virginia Tech controlled the first quarter before Tennessee woke up and rolled off 31 straight points. And a new crew chief (Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente) can bring new ideas and new energy. The Vols’ last win over Virginia Tech was a 45-23 victory in the Gator Bowl on December 30, 1994, in Gainesville, Fla. Virginia Tech will win the Battle at Bristol 35-21 as the ACC continues to crawl out of the shadows of the “big bad SEC”. 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.
Leading by two touchdowns, Virginia Tech squandered momentum with a botched exchange between quarterback Jerod Evans and receiver C.J. Carroll on a jet sweep.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Volunteers are 11-point favorites versus the Hokies while the over/under now sits at 52 points. Previously, the largest college football game to date was 2013’s MI vs. Notre Dame matchup, which hosted 115,109 fans. Dobbs says he’s feeling fine and will be ready to go Saturday, and Tennessee coach Butch Jones says the senior quarterback is “100 percent healthy”.
Tennessee (2-0) trailed 14-0 and had been outgained 204-28 after the first quarter, but the initial play of the next period sparked the Volunteers on a 31-point run that that didn’t end until Joey Slye connected on a field goal late in the third quarter. After forcing a quick three-and-out, Virginia Tech wasted no time scoring again, as running back Travon McMillian scored on an impressive 69-yard touchdown run.
“We talked about all week just being patient”, Dobbs said after the game. Most of the errors occurred after it raced to a two-touchdown lead during a dominant first quarter. “We’re going to go out and make plays …”
“We made big plays and we just handled business”.
Hills threw for three touchdowns, two to Moore, to lead Maryland to a 41-14 win over Florida International on Friday night.
Tech’s five lost fumbles were its most since at least 1986. But as Dobbs reminded, “We’re right where we want to be”.
Tennessee added three more scores in the second quarter, tying the score at 14-14 on its next possession with a four-play, 90-yard drive on a 38-yard scoring pass from Dobbs to Josh Malone.
The turning point of the game came when Abernathy recovered a fumble on the Virginia Tech 5 in the opening play of the second quarter.
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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.
