Opening the 'Battle at Bristol' week with his standing press conference, Ninth-ranked Tennessee Vols coach Butch Jones laughed off a question about the injury status of quarterback Joshua Dobbs.

Speaking to media inside the Ray & Lucy Hand Digital Studio, Jones emphasized that Dobbs would be the Vols' starting signal-caller Saturday night (8 p.m., ABC) when they play the Virginia Tech Hokies in the 'Battle at Bristol' game sponsored by Pilot and hosted on a new turf field inside Bristol Motor Speedway.

"Y'all need to check some of your sources," Jones chuckled.

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Asked later to evaluate the opening-game performance of Dobbs, as he helped Tennessee avoid disaster in a 20-13 overtime win against visiting Appalachian State, Jones said it was a mixed bag.

He pointed to Dobbs' good things of at times standing in the pocket and making some plays happen but also decried the Tennessee offense laying the ball on the ground four times on fumbles. Jones also said that Dobbs must throw away the ball more on third downs, obliquely referencing the third-down pass that was intercepted just before halftime when Jones felt the Vols were in field goal position.

"Sometimes an incompletion is a great incompletion," Jones said.