September 10, 2016: American Football's Biggest Crowd

September 10, 2016: The biggest crowd in the history of American football, at any level, is recorded. And not at a place known for hosting the sport.

The University of Tennessee is in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a.k.a. Virginia Tech, is in Blacksburg, Virginia. Their stadiums are 237 miles apart, separated by Interstates 81 and 40. However, they are not rivals, because they are in different leagues: Tennessee are in the Southeastern Conference (the SEC), Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference (the ACC).

Perhaps the fact that they are not rivals made this neutral-site game easier to set up. Tech's Lane Stadium seats 65,632. Tennessee's Neyland Stadium seats 101,915. But they set up a game against each other at a racetrack, the Bristol Motor Speedway, in Bristol, Tennessee, 110 miles from Neyland Stadium, 138 miles from Lane Stadium, and 7 miles from the Virginia/Tennessee State Line that Bristol straddles. (Bristol, Virginia is home to 17,000 people; Bristol, Tennessee, to 26,000.)

The Speedway opened in 1961, is a regular on the NASCAR "short track" circuit, and is known as "The World's Fastest Half Mile." Officially, it seats 153,000. But when the Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Tech Hokies played each other there on September 10, 2016, the attendance was a new record for a game of the sport the rest of the world calls "American football": 156,990.

The current NFL record is 112,376, for an exhibition game at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in 1994. The Houston Oilers beat the Dallas Cowboys, 6-0. The biggest crowd for a regular-season game was 105,121 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on September 20, 2009. The Cowboys lost this one, too, to the New York Giants, 33-31.

Here's what the 156,990 at "The Battle at Bristol" saw. Tech scored 2 touchdowns in the 1st quarter, for a 14-0 lead. The Volunteers took over from there, scoring 31 unanswered points: 4 touchdowns and a field goal, making it 31-14. The Hokies added a field goal to close it to within 31-17 at the end of 3 quarters.

The Vols scored 2 more touchdowns in the 4th quarter. The Hokies added a touchdown, but that would be it: Tennessee 45, Virginia Tech 24. Tech football is known for 2 things: Michael Vick and good defense. On this night, they had neither.

Tennessee went 9-4, staying at home for the postseason, winning the Music City Bowl in Nashville. Virginia Tech went 10-4, winning the Coastal Division of the ACC, losing the ACC Championship Game to Clemson, and winning the Belk Bowl (now the Duke's Mayo Bowl) in Charlotte.

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September 10, 2016 was a Saturday. These other notable college football games were played that day:

* Number 1 Alabama beat Western Kentucky, 38-10 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

* Number 2 Clemson beat Troy, 30-24 at Clemson Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.

* Number 3 Florida State beat Charleston Southern at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida.

* Number 4 Ohio State beat the University of Tulsa, 48-3 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

* Number 5 Michigan beat Central Florida, 51-14 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.

* Number 6 University of Houston beat Lamar University, 42-0 at TDECU Stadium in Houston.

* Number 8 University of Washington beat Idaho, 59-14 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

* Number 9 Georgia beat Nicholls State, 26-24 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* Number 10 Wisconsin beat the University of Akron, 54-1 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.

* Number 15 Texas Christian (TCU) were upset by Arkansas at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.

* Number 22 Oklahoma State were upset by Central Michigan, 30-27 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

* In a major rivalry, the University of Pittsburgh beat Penn State, 42-39 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* Among the service academies, Army beat Rice, 31-14 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; Navy beat the University of Connecticut, 28-24 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland; and Air Force beat Georgia State, 48-14 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

* And Rutgers beat Howard University, 52-14 at High Points Solutions Stadium (now SHI Stadium) in Piscataway, New Jersey.

It was a little early for the NBA and NHL seasons to start. But these baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Masahiro Tanaka was the winning pitcher, and home runs were hit by two men who became pariahs among Yankee Fans, Jacoby Ellsbury and Gary Sánchez.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 4-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Adonis Garcia singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-0 at Nationals Park in Washington. How many Nats pitchers does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? This time, 4: Max Scherzer, 6 2/3rds innings; Marc Rzepczynski, 1 inning; Shawn Kelley, 1/3rd of an inning, faced only one batter, but, because he was their pitcher when the Nats took the lead, on a 3-run home run by Bryce Harper in the bottom of the 8th, he was credited as the winning pitcher; and Mark Melancon, who got the save.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins, 5-0 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami. How many Dodger pitchers does it take to pitch a 2-hit shutout? Also 4. At least this time, the starter got the win: Rich Hill pitched 7 no-hit innings, before manager Dave Roberts replaced him with Joe Blanton, who allowed a hit in the 8th; Grant Dayton allowed a hit in the 9th, and Kenley Jansen got the last out.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-7 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-5 at U.S. Cellular Field (soon to be renamed Guaranteed Rate Field, and now named just Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Joe Mauer singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 2-1 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 11-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-3 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-5 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics, 14-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Hampshire team Southampton, 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.