The first time football was ever played at Bristol Motor Speedway was an NFL exhibition game, held on September 2, 1961, between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins.

"[10] The attendees omitted by this method are typically counted towards the official attendance number for college football game statistics.

It was featured as the Saturday Night Football prime-time game on ABC and was chosen to host College GameDay that week.

To tie in with the venue, former NASCAR on ESPN reporters Dr. Jerry Punch and Marty Smith joined Rece Davis (who filled in for Chris Fowler, who was working the 2016 US Open), Kirk Herbstreit, and Samantha Ponder during the broadcast.

[12] The coin toss ceremony featured alumni representatives from each school: Peyton Manning from Tennessee (1997) and Bruce Smith from Virginia Tech (1985).

On the following drive, Virginia Tech managed to reach the Volunteers 9-yard line but had to settle for Joey Slye's field goal.

[14] To start the fourth quarter, Virginia Tech's Mook Reynolds intercepted Joshua Dobbs's pass near midfield.

Quarterback Jerod Evans took his offense 45 yards in 10 plays, before a fumble recovered by Tennessee's Micah Abernathy ended the drive at the 21.

Virginia Tech totaled 79 yards in 10 plays on their final drive of the game, scoring on a 2-yard run by Shai McKenzie.

[14] A post game fireworks display and a trophy presentation to the Tennessee Volunteers were held on the field as fans exited the speedway.