Alabama's Chris Stewart addresses comments about Tennessee using piped-in crowd noise

Alabama’s Chris Stewart on Wednesday during a radio interview addressed his comment from Saturday’s game that Tennessee uses piped-in crowd noise at Neyland Stadium. 

The Crimson Tide Sports Network’s play-by-play broadcaster appeared on ‘3 Man Front’ on WJOX 94.5-FM in Birmingham, saying he meant nothing “derogatory” toward Tennessee while also saying the Vols use speakers on the field to increase the noise level inside Neyland Stadium. 

Here’s what Stewart said while addressing his comment:

“I didn’t think about it when I said it. And somebody with nothing to do decided to go back and find a clip from a four-hour broadcast.”

“I misspoke, but it really wasn’t, in theory, off. I said that you have 100,000 (fans) and piped-in crowd noise. Which is not what I should have said. What I should have said is amplified noise. And that’s clear they do it. They’ve got speakers all on the field level behind our benches pointing toward the stands.”

“It was extremely loud and it absolutely adds to the noise level, which was my point, although I may have misphrased, but that’s a fact.” 

“It had zero to do with Alabama losing the football game. I never once said that it did. That was something that fans choose to do. And they’ve won now twice in the last 18 years. And rather than celebrate, they opted to pick that. It really wasn’t anything meant derogatory towards Tennessee. It was not an excuse. It was a comment about the noise in that moment.”

Early in Saturday’s game Stewart said on the radio broadcast that the Vols “also pipe in crowd noise” on top of the 101,915 capacity in Knoxville.

“Second-and-16 is not what you’re looking for,” Stewart said during Tennessee’s 24-17 win over Alabama, “especially with the noise level being what it is here.

“You’ve got 100,000-plus and they also pipe in crowd noise as well.” 

The clip was shared on social media on Monday and went viral. Tennessee athletic director Danny White wrote on social media that piped-in crowd noise is not used at the stadium and a Tennessee spokesperson confirmed it doesn’t happen. The Vols only use speakers for music played during the game, for The Pride of the Southland Marching Band and for anything said over the public address system. 

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel was asked about the topic during his press conference on Wednesday morning.

“Neyland doesn’t need anything fake piped into the stadium for that to be the loudest place in America,” Heupel said. “Hopefully our fans take that personally, enjoy this bye week and come back and be louder than ever next time we’re at home.”

No. 7 Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 SEC) is off this week, before hosting Kentucky (3-4, 1-4) next week in Knoxville.

Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe addressed the Neyland Stadium environment after the 24-17 Crimson Tide loss.

“We do got to acknowledge that it was a great crowd that we just played in front of,” Milroe said after the game. “One of the greatest crowds in the country. So it’s on us to control our controllables, understand our assignment, understand our snap count and understand what we need to do so that we can move forward when playing games like this. 

“… Now we can reflect, now we can understand what it takes to win games like this and understand what we need to improve on. So, I thought today was very important for us.”