The largest crowd in the history of college football is expected for Saturday’s game between the Virginia Tech Hokies and Tennessee Volunteers on ABC. The game will take place at Bristol Motor Speedway which is expected to have about 150,000 fans watching the game. The current record for the biggest college football crowd is just over 115,000 set at Michigan in 2013. “I don’t know if you can control the awe other than focus on the task at hand,” said Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente. “To me, that’s the biggest thing. It’s the same for both teams. We have to focus on understanding that it’s just a different stage. It’s still a game. The stage shouldn’t determine the way we prepare or the way we perform.”
Week 2 College Football Odds
Tennessee Volunteers -11.5, total 54.5
Bristol Motor Speedway Gets the Spotlight
It is not often when the location gets more attention than the game itself but that is definitely the case for this matchup between Virginia Tech and Tennessee. The Volunteers are double-digit favorites at the best sportsbooks.
“The opportunity to break the world record for fan attendance at the game of football is a tremendous opportunity for these young men,” said Tennessee head coach Butch Jones. “It will be with them for the rest of their lives.”
The chance to play at Bristol Motor Speedway is helping people forget about the bad performances from the Hokies and Volunteers last week. “Obviously, everybody’s talking about the stage that we’re going to play on, but it’s not about that. It’s about the game.” Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster said, “And we’re playing a dynamic football program and I’m excited about the opportunity to go play those guys. It just happens to be in one of the pretty special venues.”
Tennessee was nearly beaten at home last week by Appalachian State before winning 20-13 in overtime. “Everyone in our program has to have a tremendous sense of urgency to make the progress that’s necessary from Game One to Game Two,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said.
Virginia Tech wasn’t much better as they defeated FCS foe Liberty 36-13 in a game they led just 17-13 late in the second quarter. “We need to get better at all three phases of the game,” Fuentes said. “By and large, we tried to be intelligent with the football. Obviously, we made some mistakes but we were able to overcome them and win the game.”
Game Trends
The Hokies are 7-17-2 ATS in their last 26 non-conference games. The Hokies are 2-6-1 ATS in their last 9 neutral site games. The Hokies are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 vs. the SEC. The Volunteers are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 neutral site games. The Volunteers are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 vs. the ACC.
The Over is 4-0-1 in the Hokies last 5 vs. the SEC. The The Over is 6-0 in the Volunteers last 6 neutral site games.
Week 2 College Football Picks
I will take the Hokies plus the points at TopBet sportsbook and also play the game under the total.
