BRISTOL, Tenn. — For Tennessee coach Butch Jones, this one was special.
“We talk to the players all the time about leaving a legacy,” he said.
And the 17th-ranked Volunteers certainly made some memories while taking strides toward being the team they want to be Saturday night, overcoming a rocky start in the Battle of Bristol as they routed mistake-prone Virginia Tech 45-24 in front of the largest crowd in football history.
As 156,990 fans watched at Bristol Motor Speedway in a game 20 years in the making, Tennessee (2-0) was outgained 204-28 in the first quarter and trailed 14-0. A predominantly orange-clad crowd was quiet, their team resembling a car that wrecked on the first turn in the first lap.