Heading into Saturday's once in a lifetime football game at Bristol Motor Speedway, Butch Jones wanted his team prepared for anything and everything that could happen on college football's biggest stage.
So, in sticking with the NASCAR theme, the Tennessee football coach showed his players clips of some great pit stops to illustrate the focus and togetherness great teams have to have when adversity strikes.
This sea of orange is what the #Vols arrived to at the #BattleAtBristol for the Vol Walk. pic.twitter.com/lJFzl4j1Mk
— Steve Layman (@SteveLayman) September 10, 2016
But even Jones couldn't have foreseen what his Vols would face in the first 15 minutes of the Battle at Bristol.
Virginia Tech put the pedal to the metal in the first quarter, building a 14-0 lead behind 204 yards of total offense. When Travon McMillan broke free for a 69-yard touchdown run to give the Hokies the two-score lead, more than half of the record crowd of 156,990 sat silenced.
But just when you thought the Hokies may just lap the Vols on college football's biggest stage, Tennessee found itself, seemingly getting a new set of tires and a full tank of fuel inside the world's fastest half-mile.
Bristol Motor Speedway is big. #Vols #Hokies #BattleAtBristol pic.twitter.com/ZKoHbHF5Yy
— Steve Layman (@SteveLayman) September 11, 2016
The fortunes turned on the very first play of the second quarter when Virginia Tech botched a handoff exchange and Micah Abernathy fell on it at the 6-yard line. One play later, Joshua Dobbs hit Jauan Jennings for a touchdown to get Tennessee on the board and ignite the half of the stadium dressed in orange.
As bad as the Vols were in the first quarter, they were even better in the second, running off 24 unanswered points to take a 10-point halftime lead on Dobbs' short touchdown run.
The run eventually reached 31-0 when Dobbs scrambled and found a wide open Alvin Kamara for a third quarter touchdown, allowing Tennessee to coast to the finish line in the 45-24 win.
Let's check in on Virginia Tech's night at Bristol... pic.twitter.com/g0UesQwDJw
— Steve Layman (@SteveLayman) September 11, 2016
It was not a perfect performance. Virginia Tech actually still outgained Tennessee for the game (400-330) but, on the track known for crashes, kept slamming itself into the wall with five fumbles. Abernathy recovered a school-record three of them and the Vols took full advantage rallying from a double-digit deficit for the second straight week.
The Vols have suffered flat tires early against both Appalachian State and Virginia Tech, but have still found a way to take the checkered flag twice.
That wouldn't have happened a year ago when Tennessee ran out of gas in the homestretch three times, blowing double-digit second half leads in frustrating and season-shaping defeats.
But while Team 119 was still figuring out how to win, Team 120 has been at its best when the finish line is in sight, outscoring its two opponents 62-16 over the final three quarters of games.
And Saturday night with seemingly the whole world watching at the great coliseum nestled in hills of East Tennessee, Tennessee found another gear, and for the first time this year looked like the contender many thought it could be.
#Vols win the #BattleAtBristol in front of 156,990 on a historic night in college football. pic.twitter.com/9dEgnZnHWK
— Steve Layman (@SteveLayman) September 11, 2016
After the game the Vols celebrated in Victory Lane, receiving t-shirts and the 88-pound Battle at Bristol trophy.
It's too early for any serious celebration. The Vols know they are just 2-0.
But inside the track known for testing the patience and toughness of the world's best drivers, Tennessee showed it has the toughness and resilience that championship drives are made of.
