Record crowd watches No. 17 Vols beat Virginia Tech 45-24

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee erased an early 14-point deficit at Bristol Motor Speedway almost as fast as drivers typically race around the half-mile track that circled the makeshift football field.

Joshua Dobbs threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more scores Saturday night as the 17th-ranked Volunteers beat Virginia Tech 45-24 in front of an NCAA-record crowd of 156,990 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The crowd total shattered the previous NCAA record of 115,109 who attended a Michigan victory over Notre Dame at Michigan Stadium in 2013.

"Just an unbelievable spectacle," Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. "I think the reality hit our players when we came here yesterday for the walk through with all the campers and trailers again this is truly a special evening that we'll remember for a lifetime."

Virginia Tech (1-1) outscored Tennessee 14-0 and outgained the Vols 204-28 in the first quarter. Tennessee (2-0) responded by scoring 31 straight points, including 24 in the second period.

Dobbs ran for 106 yards on 14 carries, one week after being held to negative rushing yards in a 20-13 overtime victory over Appalachian State. He was 10 of 19 for 91 yards through the air and threw touchdown passes to Jauan Jennings, Josh Malone and Alvin Kamara.

"We just executed," Dobbs said. "In the first quarter, there was really no reason to panic. We knew that we were going to have to score more than 14 points if we wanted to win this ballgame. There's just that expectation and confidence throughout the unit that we'll be fine, we'll go out, make our plays and our time will come."

Tennessee's Micah Abernathy set a school single-game record with three fumble recoveries. Virginia Tech ended up losing five fumbles, and three of those turnovers resulted in Tennessee touchdowns. The Hokies have lost nine fumbles through their first two games.

"We've obviously got to do a better job either teaching or understanding or emphasizing ball security," Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente said. "We're inadequate, to say the least, right now."

Jalen Hurd ran for 99 yards on 22 carries. Virginia Tech's Travon McMillian rushed 14 times for 127 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown.

The turning point of the game came when Abernathy recovered a fumble on the Virginia Tech 5 in the opening play of the second quarter. Dobbs found Jennings in the end zone on the next play.

Tennessee's next three drives resulted in a 38-yard touchdown pass from Dobbs to Malone, an Aaron Medley 34-yard field goal and a Dobbs 5-yard touchdown run.

THE TAKEAWAY

Virginia Tech: The Hokies simply must do a better job of protecting the football. Virginia Tech's dominant first-quarter performance showed the Hokies' potential, but they can't keep hurting themselves with turnovers and ill-timed penalties. Virginia Tech players said the breakdowns may have resulted from a bad week of practice.

"As a leader, I will do a better job of making sure my guys are in tune," Virginia Tech quarterback Jerod Evans said. "I put this all on me."

Tennessee: After averaging just below 3 yards per carry against Appalachian State, the Vols regrouped this week and ran the ball much more effectively. The Vols still must improve their passing attack and gain consistency along the offensive line.

SPEEDWAY TO STADIUM

This marked the first football game to take place at the Bristol Motor Speedway since the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles played a 1961 exhibition game here that drew 10,000 fans to a facility that seated 20,000 at the time.

Work began on the speedway's temporary conversion into a football stadium the morning after a Sprint Cup race three weeks ago. The facility will host a Football Championship Subdivision game between East Tennessee State and Western Carolina on Sept. 17.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Tennessee tumbled eight spots in the Top 25after the Appalachian State game, but this decisive victory could get the Vols back into the top 15.

UP NEXT

Virginia Tech: The Hokies host Boston College on Saturday in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener. Boston College (1-1) will be coming off a 26-7 victory over Massachusetts.

Tennessee: The Vols host Ohio on Saturday. Ohio won 37-21 at Kansas this week.

Statement from Joey Gucciardo on Matthew Owens

The following is a statement from UNB! Network owner Joey Gucciardo on broadcaster Matthew Owens:

Matthew Owens recently
earned a broadcasting job
at South Stokes High School
in North Carolina.

Matthew, we crossed paths back in February on RabbleTV. Since then, we have started a partnership between Overtime With Owens and the UNB! Network beyond what I ever thought it would be.

You really have what it takes to become a network broadcaster. I know eventually you'l move on from our network family, and believe me, we'll be very sad to see you go.

The reason I'm writing this statement is to congratulate you on your recent broadcasting job at South Stokes High School in North Carolina! We're all so proud of you, including me, and other network broadcasters Seth Eaves and Scott Baron, and the rest of our broadcast team. We know you've mentioned of maybe doing some of their games for us here at the network, nd for that, we are so happy to have you and to be getting us the exposure we're getting.

We've come a long way in such a short time. Let's keep it going!

With thanks,

Joey Gucciardo, UNB! Network owner and creator.

Chris Buescher wins rained-out Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono

By the ‘Overtime with Owens’ Staff

LONG POND, PA – Chris Buescher overcame a speeding penalty exiting the pits on lap 94 and led only the final 12 laps to win Monday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, the Pennsylvania 400.

Buescher started 22nd and won the race after the 160-lap event was called official due to overwhelming amounts of fog at the track with 22 laps to go. The race was supposed to be held Sunday but inclement weather postponed it to Monday.

Following Buescher to round out the Top-10 finishers was Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwads, Kyle Busch, and Kurt Busch.

The win is Buescher’s first-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.

Now that Buescher has won a race, he needs to finish in the Top-30 in the Sprint Cup points standings before the first race of the 2016 Chase if he wants to compete for the 2016 Sprint Cup championship. After the win, Buescher is currently six points behind 30th-place David Ragan.

The race was supposed to be 160 laps for 400 miles, but the ending of the race with 22 laps to go made it only 138 laps for 345 miles.

Jeff Gordon, who has won six times at Pocono in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, finished 27th in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet filling in as a driver of the car for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ next race is on August 7 at Watkins Glen International.

BAD LUCK FOR THE 24

On lap 106, Chase Elliott spun exiting the track’s ‘Tunnel Turn’ (Turn 2) after making contact with Joey Logano’s No. 22 Penske Racing Ford. Elliott would then make contact with the inside wall. He would finish 33rd in the event while Logano would finisg in the 37th position. The wreck hurt Elliotts chase grid position. Fortunately, he is still in the Top-16 in the Chase Grid’s outlook.

Logan led the most laps in the event, leading 38, having led at three different points in the race Larson led the second-most laps, leading 37 He led at four different points in the race.

TO THE BACK

The No. 43 team of Aric Almirola and the No. 41 team of Kurt Busch had to drop to the rear of the field for the start of the event due to respective reasons. The No. 43 team had a rear differential change, while the No. 41 team made an unapproved adjustment, both happening pre-race.

FALLING BACK FROM THE POLE

After starting the race from the pole, Martin Truex Jr. had multiple incidents in the race, as he had an incident in Turn 2 on lap 21, and again in Turn 1 o lap 100. Truex won the pole for the race on Friday in qualfying with a speed in the final round of 179.244 MPH. He would ultimately finish in the 38th position.

FAST FACTS
- The time of the race was 2 Hrs, 42 Mins, and 15 Secs.
- There were 7 cautions for 31 caution laps.
- There were 19 lead changes among 11 drivers.
- The average speed of the event was 127.581 MPH.

OTWO Fantasy Football Rankings: 2016 Top-20

OTWO Press Release
By 'OVERTIME WITH OWENS' Sta

NORTH CAROLINA (July 18, 2016) – Matthew Owens of 'Overtime with Owens' released his Top-20 fantasy football rankings for the 2016 NFL season.

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown topped the list, followed by New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurey.

The list of the Top-20 is below, including player names, teams and positions, plus the player's 2016 bye week.

2016 Fantasy Football Rankings (Top-20)
Player Name	Team/Pos.	Bye Week
Antonio Brown	PIT/WR	8
Odell Beckham Jr.	NYG/WR	8
Todd Gurley	LA/RB	8
Le'Veon Bell	PIT/RB	8
Julio Jones	ATL/WR	11
DeAndre Hopkins	HOU/WR	9
Rob Gronkowski	NE/TE	9
David Johnson	ARI/RB	9
Devonta Freeman	ATL/RB	11
Adrian Peterson	MIN/RB	6
Dez Bryant	DAL/WR	7
Ezekiel Elliott	DAL/RB	7
Allen Robinson	JAX/RB	5
Jamaal Charles	KC/RB	5
Jordy Nelson	GB/WR	4
AJ Green	CIN/WR	9
Lamar Miller	HOU/RB	9
Brandon Marshall	NYJ/WR	11
Cam Newton	CAR/QB	7
Thomas Rawls	SEA/RB	5

Drivers look for clarity after Truex's pit-road passing penalty

The Overtime with Owens staff found this article from Kenny Bruce of NASCAR.com on the Martin Truex Jr. pit road penalty at Kentucky that occurred this past weekend and found it to be very interesting. We figured we would share it for our fans and allow them to read it.

- - - - -

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- When Martin Truex Jr. was penalized for a pit-road infraction during Saturday night's Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway, the penalty cost him a shot at the lead and a possible victory.

The penalty, for passing a car or cars on the left when on pit road, is often referred to as "pulling up to pit" and is made by NASCAR officials in the control tower. According to the post-race infraction report, the infraction on Truex was called a "safety violation" for passing on entry to pit road.

It's not one of the more common infractions among NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers. According to pit road statistics, Truex was the third driver in the series flagged for the infraction this season. Records show it was called only three times in the series in 2015.

"I understand that it’s always been a rule, you can't pass to the left coming into the pits," 2003 series champion Matt Kenseth said Tuesday during a break in testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "You can (pass) leaving them … (that) has always been my understanding of it. I think it's always tough. Personally, I haven't seen it. … but it's just something that they haven't really called, either very much or not at all, in years and years and years.

"I think it's one of those things that, probably the letter of the law … again I haven't seen it, but if you pass to the left, it's technically against the rules; it's just one that they haven't called in a long time."

Truex was running second to race leader Harvick when the field pitted under the final caution flag of the race at Lap 195 of the 267-lap race. As the field made its way down pit road, Truex pulled to the inside of Harvick's Stewart-Haas Racing entry and shot forward into his pit box. After taking right-side tires and fuel, Truex was first off pit road in his No. 78 Toyota.

After returning to pit road to serve the penalty, Truex restarted 22nd and made it back to 10th by the end of the race.

"I think everyone knows, or think they know, the rules there," Kenseth said. "It's just that there's something not being called and you're trying to get every advantage you can and the cars are all so incredibly close to the same speed right now and the rules are so tight. Pit road is as competitive as the race track; you're always trying to get any advantage you can with speed lines or what have you."

Kenseth said the size of the track likely often plays a role in the maneuver as well, with shorter venues being where drivers are more likely to try and gain an advantage.

"There are some places where there have been some pretty questionable situations … like a Martinsville or somewhere like that," he said. "You've got a speed line, people pull left and pass five cars coming to their pit stall. Places like that, they probably need to get it calmed down.

"Now when you have places like Kentucky … typically when you're pulling into your pit stall you just gas it up, pull in there and stop. You really don't think much of it. I didn't really think that's a track where typically you see that."

Earlier this week, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that in addition to the rulebook stating it is illegal to pass to the left when pitting, the matter is "brought up in every drivers' meeting.

"Has there been some driver pulling off just as they pull into their pits that kind of pull up alongside a car? Sure that's happened," he said.

O’Donnell said officials saw a "trend that's getting bigger and bigger."

Richard Childress Racing driver Paul Menard said the location of the pit box allowed Truex to accelerate once he passed the first of two timing lines in his section.

"He had a really good pit box where he could really accelerate hard," Menard, who was also among the 12 drivers testing at Indy, said. "At some of these tracks you can't be as aggressive as that. I was surprised at the penalty for sure. I always thought you couldn't pull up … on the access road before you get to the commitment line, that's kind of what we're always told every week. But as far as on pit road, if you're within your timing lines and you're not speeding, I always thought that was fair game so I guess we need some clarification on that."

Overtime with Owens: ACC Preview Podcast

Matthew Owens on Monday broadcasted his College Football ACC Preview on RabbleTV. Carter Floyd joined the show/podcast.

The podcast is 31:42 in length and was recorded on July 11, 2016.

Coastal Carolina wins College World Series

OMAHA, NEB. -- The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on Thursday night defeated the Arizona Wildcats 4-3 in Game 3 to win the 2016 NCAA College World Series.

The championship if Coastal Carolina's first in any sport.

Coastal Carolina (55-18) became the first team since Minnesota in 1956 to win the title in its first College World Series appearance.

Arizona (49-24) was trying for its second national title since 2012 but came up just short.

The Wildcats cut the Chanticleer's 4-0 lead in half with two unearned runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning against Coastal Carolina pitcher Andrew Beckwith.

Arizona's Bobby Dalbec (11-6) pitched 5 2/3 innings, striking out eight to increase his College World Series total to 26 in 20 2/3 innings.