Greg McElroy raises concern over Tennessee’s ability to deal with crowd noise

College football expert Greg McElroy has been addressing some of the questions, comments, and concerns from fanbases across the country. Recently, the former SEC quarterback was asked about the Tennessee Volunteers’ inability to handle crowd noise on the road on his show Always College Football. And sorry, Tennessee fans, this college football expert sees those struggles as a significant red flag.

“One example of a poor performance on the road is an anomaly,” said McElroy. “Well, the Vols had to grind out an overtime win here in a mistake-filled game against Pitt, where they fell behind 10 nothing, answered. Then fell behind 17-7. So that’s the first sign; that would be an anomaly.

“Two; now it becomes an eyebrow-raiser. They trailed Georgia 21-3 in the second quarter. Three times it happens, it becomes a trend. You let South Carolina start fast, and we’re down 21-7 at the end of the first quarter. Well, four times it’s now happened, in the last four road trips into truly hostile environments; now it is who you are.”

There is one game that was omitted from the list of hostile environments Tennessee struggled with. And that was last year’s trip to LSU. That contest for the Tigers had an 11 a.m. start time, unlike their traditional night games for marquee matchups. Nonetheless, Tennessee was able to neutralize any chance LSU’s crowd had of being a factor in the game as they buried the Tigers early, taking a commanding 20-0 lead midway through the first half and winning the game handly 40-13.

In their Week 3 matchup against Florida, Tennessee could not com their early game road struggles yet again. The Volunteers fell behind 26-7 at the half and could never climb out of the insurmountable hole, losing 29-16. While these road struggles are alarming for Tennessee, McElrory believes they can overcome them if they address a few things.

“Florida went into the break at halftime down 26-7. So yes, this is clearly an issue for Tennessee right now, and they’re going to have to get it addressed. And I think the way that you can get it addressed is you have to make sure you work better with your nonverbal communication. Oh, you have to tackle, by the way. I don’t think crowd noise has to do with tackling, but you have to try and recreate similar things that give you a massive advantage at home because, on the road, it’s been a completely different Tennessee team.”

Tennessee has some time to right the ship before they play their next road game. The Volunteers will take on UTSA, followed by South Carolina and Texas A&M at home, before hitting the road to take on Alabama on October 21, followed by another road trip to take on Kentucky on October 28. If the Volunteers truly want to dethrone Georgia as kings of the SEC East and the conference as a whole, these struggles on the road must quickly come to an end. Otherwise, a regression back to what Tennessee has been for much of the 2000s could be in the future.