Vols find another gear, roar past Virginia Tech in Battle at Bristol
BRISTOL — They actually pulled it off.
Bristol Motor Speedway’s grand football dream became a spectacular reality Saturday night.
And Tennessee raced to the checkered flag.
The No. 14 Vols drubbed Virginia Tech 45-24 before a college football record crowd of 156,990 in a venue that names its grandstands after heroes like Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty.
Twenty busy days after Kevin Harvick won a NASCAR race here, the Vols (2-0) rallied from a 14-0 deficit, scoring 31 unanswered points in the second and third quarters.
Tennessee recovered five Hokie fumbles. Safety Micah Abernathy accounted for three of them, a school single-game record
Joshua Dobbs passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more on a night when he became Tennessee’s career rushing leader for a quarterback.
Dobbs’ 27-yard touchdown run with 6:45 to play closed the door on the Hokies, making a three-score lead for the Vols at 38-17.
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Thirteen seconds later John Kelly’s 4-yard touchdown following a Virginia Tech fumble extended the margin to 45-17.
Dobbs was 10 of 19 passing for 91 yards. He rushed for 106 more, breaking Jimmy Streater’s career mark for a quarterback that had stood since 1979.
The Vols return to Neyland Stadium next week to face Ohio as owners of an eight-game winning streak, third longest in FBS.
The crowd — orange was the majority — broke the previous record of 115,109 at Michigan Stadium in 2013 to watch Michigan and Notre Dame.
After Peyton Manning assisted with the coin toss, the first half was simple. Virginia Tech (1-1) owned the first quarter, Tennessee the second.
The Vols, however, got more — 24 points — from their quarter.
The Hokies opened the game making all the right moves on both sides of the ball — except for missing a 47-yard field goal on their first possession.
Their second resulted in a 7-yard TD pass from Jerod Evans to Sam Rogers.
Their third was a two-play drive that ended with Javon McMillian’s 69-yard touchdown sprint for a 14-0 lead.
The Hokies had nine first downs in the first quarter, Tennessee but one.
When the teams switched ends of the field to start the second quarter, momentum lurched violently to Tennessee.
The first snap of the second quarter, from Virginia Tech’s own 16, resulted in an 11-yard loss and fumble that was recovered by Micah Abernathy at the 5.
The next play was a Dobbs lob that Jauan Jennings wrestled away from from a Hokie defender in the end zone.
The Vols were on the board.
They were soon on the board again. Dobbs ripped off a 40-yard run, followed two plays later by his 38-yard scoring pass to Josh Malone.
Suddenly, it was 14-14 with 9:42 still left in the half.
Tech’s misadventures continued. An 11-yard Virginia Tech punt and a roughing-the-passer penalty on the Hokies set up Aaron Medley’s 34-yard field goal. The Vols led 17-14.
Make that 24-14. A nine-play drive featured an 18-yard Jalen Hurd run and ended with Dobbs waltzing in untouched for a 5-yard score.
Dobbs and Alvin Kamara connected on a 23-yard scoring pass in the third quarter to make it 31-14.
Virginia Tech broke the run with a field goal and the fourth quarter began with UT up 31-17.