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Dual-threat quarterback Joshua Dobbs and hard-charging running back Jalen Hurd can be Heisman Trophy candidates.Īs for Virginia Tech, Beamer stepped aside after a 7-6 season and a victory over Tulsa in the Independence Bowl. Tennessee will be the SEC Media Days pick to capture the SEC East, as Jones and Co. The Hokies struggled in the twilight of Frank Beamer’s career.įortunately for everyone involved, there are reasons to be optimistic in Knoxville and Blacksburg again. Coaching turnover was hampering the Vols. Virginia Tech’s streak of eight consecutive 10-win seasons had ended in 2011. 14, 2013, when this spectacle was finally unveiled: Tennessee was in the middle of its third straight 5-7 campaign. It took about two decades for his vision to become reality.įlash forward to Oct. Bristol is one of eight NASCAR tracks he owns. The game was originally the brainchild of Bruton Smith, the billionaire CEO of Speedway Motorsports. Guys come to Virginia Tech to play in big games, and the Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol will be big on a number of different levels.” We’ll keep our team focused on the game itself, but playing on the national stage in front of the biggest crowd ever is something we’ll embrace.

Said Hokies coach Justin Fuente: “I know Virginia Tech fans and Tennessee fans have wanted this game in this venue for a long time. “I remember doing the first press conference, and now we are just months away from it actually happening.” “The Pilot Flying J Battle of Bristol has been many, many years in the making,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones told Saturday Down South. 7, 2013, when Michigan hosted Notre Dame in Ann Arbor. That would shatter the record of 115,109 set Sept. With a capacity of about 150,000 and even more auxiliary seating in the works, the crowd is expected to be in the neighborhood of 160,000 for the game. 10 in the Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol.īristol Motor Speedway, a half-mile racetrack and the self-proclaimed “last great colosseum” on the NASCAR cicruit, will transform into a monster football stadium.

However, the ninth installment could be what transforms Tennessee-Virginia Tech into a legitimate rivalry.Īfter each program opens the 2016 regular season with the proverbial cupcake - Appalachian State for the Volunteers, Liberty for the Hokies - they will match up Sept. However, despite their pigskin history and shared border, the schools have only played each other eight times - first in 1896, last in 2009 at the Chick-fil-A Bowl. The Hokies took to the gridiron just one year later. The Volunteers initially started playing football in 1891. About 125 miles to the East is Blacksburg and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, better known as Virginia Tech. Depending on exactly where you stand in the twin city of Bristol, you might be in Tennessee or Virginia.Ībout 110 miles to the West is Knoxville and the University of Tennessee.