Despite tossing three touchdowns, Dobbs only finished with 91 yards on 10-of-19 passing.
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Game Pick, Virginia Tech +11.5: I like the Hokies in this one. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. Tennessee will host OH next Saturday beginning at noon.
The Tennessee Vols overwhelmed the Virginia Tech Hokies with an unanswered 31-point scoring spree Saturday and won the Battle at Bristol 45-24.
Josh Dobbs extends the Tennessee Football lead.
Now they have to get ready for the Ohio Bobcats, the final tune-up game before the Florida Gators. Joshua Dobbs and his beleaguered offensive line found a rhythm, and on the national stage showed how explosive and resilient the Tennessee offense can be.
Virginia Tech will leave Bristol Motor Speedway wondering what could have been.
Tennessee will need a better showing against the Hokies on Saturday.
The long-anticipated event drew a crowd of 156,990 fans and broke college football’s single-game attendance record, surpassing the 115,109 fans who witnessed Michigan and Notre Dame at Michigan Stadium in 2013. Tennessee benefited from a struggling offense and poor special teams play from Virginia Tech.
But Virginia Tech fumbled the ball away on the second quarter’s first play, with Evans botching a handoff on a jet sweep, and Abernathy recovered at its 5. Tennessee’s most recent shutout came 31-0 to Florida on September 17, 1994. Dobbs also ran for 106 yards and two scores.
“Just pleased the way we came out and played”, Durkin said. “In the first quarter, there was really no reason to panic”.
Tennessee’s defense made a statement early in third quarter, forcing McMillian to fumble on Tech’s first play of the second half.
“We’ve obviously got to do a better job either teaching or understanding or emphasizing ball security”, Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente said. In total, Tennessee ran for 268 yards on 46 carries.
4 Consecutive games with at least 100 rushing yards for Tennessee RB Jalen Hurd. After falling behind 14-0, Tennessee would march back to score 24 points in the second quarter.
Slye finally stopped a 31-0 run for Tennessee on a 26-yard field goal with 3:41 left in the third period. “Josh did a good job of putting it where he (Jennings) could get it”.
Virginia Tech completely dominated the first quarter, but the good work was undone on the first play of the second quarter. Virginia Tech has lost nine fumbles in their first two games of 2016.
Quarterback Jerod Evans was responsible for the fumble. “I put this all on me”. Perhaps to the surprise of many it wasn’t the Vols’ star running back who picked up the most yards on the night. It was announced by BMS general manager Jerry Caldwell at the Tennessee-Appalachian State game that the race track was expected to sell out.
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TCU had to settle for a field goal at the top of the second overtime and, faced with a 3rd-and-goal from the 5-yard line, Allen rushed toward the goal line, was stopped short, then surged again into the end zone for a Razorbacks victory.
