Over 40,000 packed the stands of Bristol Motor Speedway for a larger than life tailgate party as fans gear up for Saturday night’s Battle at Bristol. Tennessee responded by scoring 31 straight points, including 24 in the second period.
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As expected, the game was played in front of a record 156,990 people.
Perhaps the only thing more peculiar than the sight of a college football game at a NASCAR track was the contest itself. Much like the opener, Bob Shoop’s group got off to a scary start as Virginia Tech rolled up 204 yards of offense in the first quarter. The Vols finished with five fumble recoveries on the evening, three of those recovering belonging to Abernathy, a Tennessee single-game record.
Tennessee, meanwhile, was able to adjust to the unprecedented atmosphere and focus on its game plan. 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.
Dobbs ran for 106 yards on 14 carries, one week after being held to negative rushing yards in a 20-13 overtime victory over Appalachian State. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs was just 16-of-29 for 192 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
“We watched on film (FIU cornerbacks) were going to play soft often so that was something we were going to attack”, Moore said. “In the first quarter, there was really no reason to panic. We talked about it all week”, junior running back Alvin Kamara said.
“How mentally tough as a unit we are when we go through ball security drills that we do day in and day out”.
Cam Phillips led Virginia Tech with seven receptions for 77 yards, but did have his second lost fumble in two games.
Tech coach Justin Fuente on the turnovers: “Well, obviously it’s reared its head in huge ways the first two ball games”.
“We woke up a little bit and played Tennessee-style football tonight”, Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. Rawleigh Williams III led all rushers with 28 carries for 137 yards. Virginia Tech’s Travon McMillian rushed 14 times for 127 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown. VT’s next snap? A fumble (!), which the Vols jumped on and brought to the end zone on the first offensive play to wrap up their scoring.
A fumble by Hokies quarterback Jerod Evans, however, would give the Vols the ball on their own 5 yard line. “You want to feed off of it in the situations where it is good, but you can’t get too high or too low, and I think we got ourselves too high when we were up 14-0”. Virginia Tech still must show that its offense can have similar success against tougher competition than Liberty.
“I’m from Virginia and I’ve always liked Tech”, she said. I put this all on me. From games to music and even meeting players, today’s Fanfest definitely has all the Hokies and Vols out there ready for gameday. The Hokies actually out-gained the Vols 400 to 330, but the turnovers proved costly.
“Once you are on the field, we take pride in that it’s still a football game”.
The Vols will face off against OH next Saturday at noon.
Tech’s Joey Slye trimmed Tennessee’s cushion to 31-17 via a 26-yard field goal with 3:41 remaining in the third quarter, but the Hokies would never get any closer. Boston College (1-1) will be coming off a 26-7 victory over MA.
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“We knew what it was going to be”.
