Taking care of the ball is certainly going to be at the top of the priority list for Virginia Tech when they get back to work this week. Jerad Evans with Virginia Tech, but Cam Sutton swats the ball away from him.
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Though the crowd of 156,990 set a record for college football, Tennessee plays in front of more than 100,000 at home.
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. Despite only 330 yards by the offense, the game was a complete performance.
Volunteers quarterback Josh Dobbs was a spark. The score is 14-0 Hokies with 2:48 left in the first quarter.
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee erased an early 14-point deficit at Bristol Motor Speedway nearly as fast as drivers typically race around the half-mile track that circled the makeshift football field.
With a thrilling win over Virginia Tech in front of a historic crowd at the Battle at Bristol now in the rearview and a challenging gauntlet of SEC contests looming in the near future, Dobbs was adamant that his team has all of its attention placed firmly Saturday’s game against Ohio.
More than 150,000 fans are expected to pack the speedway, a number that would shatter the NCAA single-game record of 115,109 set in 2013 at Michigan Stadium for a Michigan victory over Notre Dame.
“Just an unbelievable spectacle”. The largest crowd to watch any National Football League game was 112,376 in a preseason matchup between the Cowboys and Houston Oilers in Mexico City in 1994. The Vols’ last win over Virginia Tech was a 45-23 victory in the Gator Bowl on December 30, 1994, in Gainesville, Fla. He returned the ensuing punt 34 yards to midfield, then immediately snagged a 43-yard catch-and-run, setting up a seven-yard Kyle Hicks go-ahead touchdown run. Dobbs was 10 for 19 with 91 passing yards and three passing touchdowns in the game. “In the first quarter, there was really no reason to panic”. Last night’s game plan looked a lot like the one we saw at Florida previous year for what it’s worth. 10 fumbles in the first two games of the season is … not good. He found Sam Rogers for a 7-yard touchdown pass that initiated scoring at the 4:32 mark of the first quarter. But those three wins came after the Vols had already lost three, five, and three games.
“Obviously, it’s reared its head in huge ways the first two ballgames”, Hokies coach Justin Fuente said. “But the great thing about sports is that we get another chance”. His longest run was 40 yards. Virginia Tech’s Travon McMillian rushed 14 times for 127 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown.
There were some growing pains for a young Virginia Tech squad while Tennessee’s experience and focus overcame some adversity after the first quarter. One play later, Joshua Dobbs hit Jauan Jennings for a touchdown to get Tennessee on the board and ignite the half of the stadium dressed in orange.
I would not be shocked if Virginia Tech pulls off the upset.
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As we get set to hand out our Smokey Points for this game, it’s worth noting that numerous players we are recognizing did not show anything in the first quarter of the game.
