Picture this:
The Tennessee Volunteers hoist a giant, football-shaped trophy toward the once sweltering sky of an early Tennessee Sunday morning.
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With the multicolored slips of paper dancing, lingering and falling sweetly to the turf around him, Smokey engages in his own bit of fun amidst the celebration.
As the Nike-clad Vols prance around their costumed mascot, Smokey makes angels in the confetti that swirls and dances in the hope-filled air.
Finally, Tennessee coach Butch Jones flashes a smile for the cameras, as his team has once again proven that, unlike last year, it can return with a vengeance when given the chance.
Sound familiar?
It should.
On Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, Tennessee stormed back from a 14-0 deficit to beat the Virginia Tech Hokies 45-24 in the first-ever Pilot Flying J "Battle at Bristol".
A world record-shattering attendance of 156, 990 highlighted the Vols' weekend-capping win, but the 48-hour-long ceremony as a whole was nothing short of spectacular.
PART I: ON A HALLOWED BATTLE'S EVE
Country music star (and East Tennessee son) Kenny Chesney kicked off the festivities, playing the Friday night before the game to spark what would become the tailgate of a lifetime.
Near the end of Chesney's show, former Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning strolled onto the stage, and while the crowd roared its approval, the anticipation for the long-awaited "Battle" only heated up from there.
PART II: TAILGATING
Finally, Saturday arrived, and with it came ESPN's College Game Day crew to the Earhart East Parking Lot of Bristol Motor Speedway.
Throngs of Hokie supporters and Vol fans alike crammed into the madness, doing everything possible to get on TV and make some noise for their respective teams.
Longtime broadcaster Lee Corso ended the pre-game show with a bang, placing a large Tennessee football themed racing helmet onto his head to symbolize his mascot-heading ritual, as well as giving fans a hint of the intoxicating combination of blood-curdling football and adrenaline pumping racing fuel that was to come.
Following the Game Day setup, fans rushed to the opposite side of the speedway to catch country star Sam Hunt in a quick concert in what seemed nothing short of a county fair-like atmosphere.
The alcohol flowed, the party raged on, and the ear-splitting shrieks consumed us all.
The craziest part, though, is that the game hadn't even started, and it wouldn't for another four hours.
PART III: PRE-GAME FESTIVITIES
Finally, after 36 hours of waiting, the time had finally arrived.
A national anthem for the record books began a matchup for those same annals.
Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles gave a chilling rendition of the national anthem, but even more chilling were the theatrics behind a moment that is now frozen in time and plastered across the Internet.
As Nettles sang on, red, white and blue fireworks boomed over the speedway.
Unfurling signs they had been given earlier, fans across the expanse of the landscape formed two waving, rolling banners of the American flag.
Across the turf, military servicemen and women spread three gigantic versions of Old Glory, which shone under the lights in all her splendor.
Finally, a jet shot low over the speedway, and as the crowd sang along to the final, fleeting lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner," another few flashes of light erupted into the Tennessee sky.
PART IV: THE SLUGGISH START
Much to Volunteer fans' dismay, Virginia Tech leapt out to a 14-0 lead that literally no one saw coming.
The Bob Shoop-led Volunteer defense crumbled before our very eyes, as Hokie playmakers scrambled and shot through holes so wide they could've driven the equipment truck straight through the gaps.
Through the first quarter, the Vols gave no indication as to why they deserved a spot in the Top-10, or even the Top-25 for that matter.
Then, in a sudden, swirling surge of momentum, the comeback emerged.
PART V: THE RACE TO THE FINISH
To open a game-securing second quarter, Tennessee's Micah Abernathy recovered a fumble on the five-yard line.
Things only got better from there.
Whether the advancements were through Hokie penalties or solid runs didn't matter; the Vols began their march to victory either way.
Josh Dobbs couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the first 15 minutes, but with 14:43 remaining in the second quarter, the aerospace engineering major connected with wideout Jauan Jennings to tack the Orange and White's first score on the board.
Aaron Medley, a question of accuracy for all of last season, booted the extra point through the uprights, and fans finally had a game to watch rather than the slaughter they thought would ensue.
Last week, Josh Malone's 67-yard touchdown grab put the Vols in line for victory against Appalachian State, and this week, his impact was no different.
Malone's fingers stuck like glue to Dobbs' second touchdown pass of the game, and just like that, the sounds of "Rocky Top" formed a roar not unlike that of a NASCAR race as Tennessee fans finally had hope.
Medley knocked another kick through the uprights in the second quarter, and perhaps to cement a feisty comeback, Dobbs scampered into the end zone for a touchdown of his own to make the score 24-14 at the half.
One part of Tennessee's infamous "RUN CMG" duo of Alvin Kamara and Jalen Hurd put the lead at 17 points in the third quarter, as Kamara powered into the end zone for Tennessee's fourth score of the game.
Each team would get two more scores from there, but by the middle of the third quarter, "Rocky Top" blared, and the maroon-clad Hokie fans flew to the exits and toward an inevitably ensuing traffic jam.
The "Battle at Bristol" is a game many fans have been waiting for for a long, long time, and it did not disappoint in any aspect whatsoever.
In fact, it soared above the expectations of myself and so many others.
Point blank, Butch Jones wasn't the only one smiling after such a grueling, scrappy win.
Everyone who attended was and still is grinning from ear to ear, as the record-breaking attendance ranks at the bottom of the list of things we loved about the first-ever "Battle at Bristol."
NASCAR great Ricky Bobby once said,
"If you ain't first, you're last."
While I admire Bobby's stubborn loyalty to victory, there was a lot more to celebrate this weekend than just a football game.
