Gary Danielson: Tennessee's Neyland Stadium has 'just about the same' noise as other SEC stadiums
Apparently Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium isn’t any louder than any other big stadium in the Southeastern Conference. At least that’s what CBS analyst Gary Danielson told the Knoxville News Sentinel ahead of Saturday’s game between the 19th-ranked Vols and Texas A&M.
“This is not a criticism,” Danielson said in the interview with Knox News, “just an observation. It has nothing to do with Neyland, per se, or any other stadium.
“(Home-field advantage) is about the same every week. Whether you’re playing at Ole Miss or LSU or Florida in The Swamp or Georgia … for a football player, loud is loud.”
Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) and Texas A&M (4-2, 2-1) will kick off at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS, with Danielson on the call alongside play-by-play man Brad Nessler. It’s the first time the Vols have been on CBS this season.
CBS last year had Tennessee’s home wins over Florida and Alabama and the loss at Georgia.
The Vols are currently riding an 11-game win streak at home, the program’s longest since 23 straight home wins from 1996-2000. Saturday’s ‘Checker Neyland’ game is the 10th-straight sell out in Knoxville.
Tennessee has the sixth-biggest stadium in college football with a capacity of 101,915. It’s third in the SEC behind Texas A&M’s Kyle Field (102,733) and LSU’s Tiger Stadium (102,321).
But according to Danielson, the country’s biggest stadiums aren’t that different with stadiums that seat 20,000 less fans.
“I don’t know if it makes any difference if there’s 80,000 loud people,” he said, “or 100,000 loud people.”
Playing on the road has been a riddle Texas A&M hasn’t been able to solve the last two years. The Aggies have lost seven straight true road games. Their last win on the road came at Missouri on October 16, 2021.
Tennessee has won its first three home games this season, went 7-0 at home in 2022 and won its final two home games in 2021, after a loss to No. 1 Georgia on November 13, 2021.
“We embrace it from a production standpoint, and it’s fun,” Danielson told the News Sentinel. “I love it all, the pomp and the circumstance and the storylines.
“Tennessee doesn’t have to take a backseat to anybody. But to me, it’s just about the same (as other SEC stadiums).”
