Cole Cubelic on Neyland Stadium: 'It's the loudest stadium I've ever heard in my life'

Georgia offensive lineman Tate Ratledge turns heads earlier this month when he described Neyland Stadium as “the best stadium in the SEC.” He clarified later he was referring only to the build of the stadium, including its height and the enclosed bowls of the lower and upper decks.

“Neyland Stadium is, no offense to Sanford or Georgia fans, but Neyland Stadium is the best stadium in the SEC,” Ratledge said on the Real Talk Georgia podcast, hosted by Ratledge and his Georgia teammate Zion Logue.

The discussion led Cole Cubelic, the SEC Network analyst and former Auburn offensive lineman, to dedicate an episode of his podcast, The Cube Show, to talk SEC stadiums — both his experiences playing in the stadium and working the sidelines as an SEC Network reporter.

Cubelic detailed each stadium and ranked them in terms of the most difficult places to currently play, with Neyland coming in at No. 2 behind Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Here’s what Cubelic said on his podcast about Neyland, the 101-year-old home of Tennessee football:

On Auburn’s 24-0 loss at Tennessee in 1999

“I played in Neyland Stadium the year after they won a national championship. I promise you, they always do the little jet engine or whatever to (measure) the decibels, it’s the loudest stadium I’ve ever heard in my life. And it ain’t close.”

“Neyland Stadium, oh man. I put this one up there next to LSU as far as just cathedral-like, history, tradition. You can’t walk into this place and not start thinking about different eras and different players. Reggie White and Carl Pickens and Tee Martin and Peyton Manning and Jamal Lewis and Al Wilson. You see the pictures of the guys up top, General Neyland. And you get those squares with the ‘V’, the ‘O’, the ‘L’ and the ’S’ that are lit up, like an old Phillips 76 sign or something. Like a 1950s gas station, but it’s awesome.”

On the size of Neyland and the noise factor

“Obviously the big bowl, when you look up there it feels like it never stops. When you’re in those stands, and you step out in the aisle to walk down, especially if you’re up a little higher, you feel like if you tripped and stumbled, you would end up on the field. And there actually is a little bit of distance behind the middle of the benches, so it’s not necessarily on you as some other places. But God almighty does it get loud. We played Tennessee tough in ’98 at home, the win the national championship. We go there  in ’99, Ben Laird is hurt, Jeff Kline — God rest his soul, I love you Jeff, rest easy my friend — turns and throws and uncovered check the first play of the game. Deon Grant intercepts it, takes it back. And that right there, folks, that moment, is the loudest I have ever heard any stadium in my entire life. I remember Ben Laird was standing next to me, because we were both hurt for that game. I turned over and I was like, ‘Man, that’s loud.’ And he didn’t even (acknowledge me), he was looking up. And I said, ‘MAN, THAT’S LOUD.’ Like I’m yelling at him as loud as I can, he can’t hear me. Just nothing. That is a volume that is intimidating because it gets to the point where it cuts off your communication. It legitimately does. And when that happens, that becomes a real problem. And when people face problems, people start to panic. Therefor, that’s allowing intimidation to set in and affect you as a player, as a team, as a unit, as a side of the football. It just is. Smokey is running around, he barks after every time the fans starts going nuts. That’s incredible. Then you have the actual mascot Smokey that is running around. The checkered end zones, that’s tough to beat, man.”

The new LED lights at Neyland and the experience of a night game

“What they’ve done recently to upgrade the in-game experience, when the lights go out and the orange LEDs around the top, then they orange the ’T’ and they get the orange spotlight on it, man, I’m going to tell you what, that’s about as cool as I’ve ever seen. Like anything, anywhere in college football. It’s up there. That entrance, when that ’T’ opens up and they’ve got the orange LEDs on and the spotlight down on it, psh, get out of here man. That is legit. Undefeated at home last year. And with where this program is crawling back to and has become, 101,915 people, it’s always going to be one of the most difficult places to play. And on top of all that, on top of everything we’ve said, you’ve got Rocky Top 7,596 times a game. And I can tell you as a player — it doesn’t bother me anymore, it kind of used to, it’s just kind part of it — after the fifth or sixth time, you’re like alright, that’s enough, I’ve had it. Please, do something to make that stop. And it doesn’t matter if they’re down 50, it ain’t going to stop. So it’s up there with one of the best everything. And if you want to go outside the stadium, I think one thing that makes it unique is all the hills around campus and it really feels like it’s kind of tucked away. It’s not out there all by itself. And you’ve got the Vol Navy if you come in that way. It’s just spectacular. It’s a cool place, man.”

Why he ranked Tennessee No. 2 on his list of toughest places to play in the SEC

“It’s wonderful. Unbeaten at home last year, as I mentioned. But this place, I’m telling you, when that neon goes around the bowl and the black it out and the ’T’ opens up, and it’s orange and the spotlight is down on it — another part of this kind of where they are versus where they’ve been. This is the hungriest fanbase in the Southeastern Conference. Now, do they stay there? Probably, but I don’t know. Baseball, ripping. Basketball, pretty good. Football, back. So they have a lot of things to be happy about right now. A lot of things. And you look at just exactly what Tennessee football can be, I think the fans see that again. They feel that again. When I was there for the Ole Miss game two years ago, it was back. Neyland was back. That’s the way it supposed to be, it’s the way I remember it, it’s the way people know of it. So if that’s the case, there aren’t too many places that are better. Now you’re playing with a team that can score points and do different things.”