Tennessee football looking to extend a pair of streaks at Neyland Stadium
When Tennessee football returns to Neyland Stadium on Saturday, the Vols will be looking to extend a pair of streaks. The Vols have won 11 in a row on Shield-Watkins Field in Knoxville and have sold-out their last nine home games.
The current 11-game win streak is the longest at Neyland Stadium 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 current home win 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 8-0 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 and South Carolina.
Atmosphere last night was 🔥. That’s now 9 straight sellouts of Neyland Stadium and counting. #GBO https://t.co/O9Rvzuk0XX
— Bill Martin (@Bill_Martin) October 1, 2023
The 22nd-ranked Vols (4-1, 1-1 SEC) host Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0) next Saturday (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS) in their annual ‘Checker Neyland’ game, which Tennessee announced plans for on Thursday. The Aggies have lost their last seven true road games, dating back to November 2021.
“Not a better place in all college sports to call home than Neyland Stadium,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said on the SEC Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday.
The 23-game home win streak started in October 1996 with a 20-13 win over Alabama. It continued with a 6-0 home records in both 1997 and 1998 and a 7-0 home record in 1999. The streak ended in September 2000 with a 27-23 loss to Florida, after a 19-16 home win over Southern Miss to start the season.
Heupel, who is 22-9 in his first 31 games as Tennessee’s head coach, has won 15 of 18 games at Neyland. He’s led Tennessee to 15 wins in its last 18 games in total, too.
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He said this week that the home-field advantage the Vols enjoy starts long before kickoff.
“It starts early in the week,” Heupel said. “There’s a bunch of boats tied up on the river, Vol Navy on game day —100, 150 deep. You take the Vol Walk into the stadium and there’s 35,000-plus people there. Every Saturday, 102,000 (fans) on game day.”
No. 22 Tennessee vs. Texas A&M, Saturday, Oct. 14, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS
Tennessee finished last season fifth in college football and second in the SEC in average attendance, at 100,532 per game, trailing Michigan (110,246), Penn State (107,379), Ohio State (104,663) and LSU (100,596).
The Vols over the offseason sold out their entire allotment of 70,500 season tickets.
After hosting Texas A&M on Saturday, Tennessee has remaining home games against UConn on November 4, No. 1 Georgia on November 18 and Vanderbilt on November 25.
“Man, challenge our fans to be a huge part of the (Texas A&M) game,” Heupel said. “They always are. They were on Saturday night (against South Carolina). And that’s important to us and this football team as we continue to go through this journey.
“(The fans) gotta play a factor in the football game. I told our fans to enjoy bye week and get ready for a big one against A&M. And I’m sure they’ll be ready when the Aggies come to town.”
