Josh Heupel expects 'as electric an atmosphere as we've ever had' for Tennessee-Georgia
It’s not just the noise at Neyland Stadium. Kirby Smart said Wednesday it’s more than that. It’s feeling like fans are breathing down your neck on the opposing sideline inside Tennessee football’s 102-year-old, 101,915-seat home.
“The setup of the stadium is unique,” Smart said during his weekly appearance on the SEC Coaches Teleconference. “It’s really vertical. It feels like (the fans are) right on top of you. It’s not as leaned back (as a stadium). It’s right there on (you), a lot of fans very passionate fans. And that makes it tough.”
Two streaks come head-to-head when No. 1 Georgia (10-0, 7-0 SEC) visits No. 21 Tennessee (7-3, 3-3) on Saturday (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS) at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
Smart’s back-to-back defending national champion Bulldogs have won 27 straight games, dating back to 2021. The Vols have won 14 straight home games and have sold out 12 straight.
‘Neyland presents one of the toughest (road environments) there is in the country’
The last time Tennessee lost in Knoxville? November 13, 2021 … against Georgia.
“It’s a tough environment when you go on the road in the SEC,” Smart said. “It’s never easy. Neyland presents one of the toughest (road environments) there is in the country in terms of environment and noise.”
The current 14-game win streak is the longest at Neyland since Tennessee won 23 in a row from 1996-2000. The sellout streak dates back to last season’s 63-6 win over Akron.
The streak started with a 60-14 win over South Alabama on November 20, 2021 and continued with a 45-21 win over Vanderbilt in the 2021 regular-season finale.
Tennessee went 7-0 at home last season with wins over Ball State, Akron, Florida, Alabama, UT Martin, Kentucky and Missouri. So far this season the Vols have home wins over Austin Peay, UTSA, South Carolina, Texas A&M and UConn.
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It’s been four weeks since Tennessee’s last home SEC game, the 20-13 win over Texas A&M on October 14. Since then, the Vols went to Alabama and Kentucky, hosted UConn and went to Missouri.
No. 21 Tennessee vs. No. 1 Georgia, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS
That, on top of the No. 1 team in the country coming to town, is why Tennessee coach Josh Heupel expects an elite environment on Saturday.
“I expect it to be as electric an atmosphere as we’ve ever had there,” Heupel said Wednesday, “which is as good as there is in college football.”
Georgia used noise to its advantage last season, when the Dawgs beat Tennessee 27-13 — both teams entered the game with 8-0 records — in front of 92,746 fans at Sanford Stadium in Athens.
“Crowd noise can have a factor in the football game if you don’t do things, control the controllables and operate and communicate effectively during the course of the game,” Heupel said. “Some of that happened to us last year.
“We need to make it extremely difficult for them to communicate, that needs to be a part of the football game. And I certainly expect to see our crowd ready for this one when we kickoff.”
