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Kirby Smart: Tennessee's Neyland Stadium will 'be as loud as it ever is' vs. Georgia

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey09/09/25GrantRamey
Neyland Stadium, Tennessee Athletics
KNOXVILLE, TN - October 19, 2024 - Cheerleaders run through the T during the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

Aaron Murray still remembers the drive to Neyland Stadium before his first game at Tennessee. Just seeing the 101,915-seat stadium sent the former Georgia quarterback’s mind all the way back to ancient Rome. 

“I felt like I was in Gladiator walking into the Colosseum for the first time,” Murray said Monday while speaking to the Knoxville Quarterback Club, just down the road from the 104-year-old stadium. “I was like, this is wild.”

Even crazier was what he saw — and what he felt — on the inside.

“You get in the stadium and you see it,” Murray said, “like this is absolutely incredible to imagine playing in front of 100,000 people, then to do it.”

SEC Opener: No. 15 Tennessee vs. No. 6 Georgia, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC

Murray never lost to Tennessee. His final game against the Vols was the 34-31 overtime win in Knoxville in 2013, when he threw for 196 yards and three touchdowns. He threw the final one with five seconds left in regulation, forcing OT after a 10-pay, 75-yard drive.

“We’re backed up,” Murray said, “… and I am screaming at the top of my lungs and no one in the huddle could still hear me. That is how difficult it was.”

No. 15 Tennessee (2-0) will be looking for that same level of noise when No. 6 Georgia (2-0) visits on Saturday (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, ABC) in the SEC opener in Knoxville. 

“One of the toughest places to play in all college football,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “It’ll be as loud as it ever is. It always is one of the loudest in the SEC, for sure.”

Tennessee has one nine straight at Neyland, dating back to the 2023 home loss to Georgia. The Vols had won 14 straight when Smart’s team won in Knoxville two years ago. 

The only teams not named Georgia to win in Knoxville during the Josh Heupel era have been Pitt and Ole Miss, both in Heupel’s first season in 2021.

‘When you open up on the road in the SEC, it’s always challenging’

What’s different from recent Georgia games, though, is timing. Tennessee and Georgia have played in November the last four seasons. The two teams played in October in 2019 and 2020 and haven’t played in September since 2018. 

This season is Tennessee’s earliest game against Georgia since the Vols hosted the Bulldogs on September 9, 1995, winning 30-27.

Smart was a freshman defensive back on that Georgia team, which lost three of its first five games and finished the season 6-6.

“When you open up on the road in the SEC,” Smart said, “it’s always challenging. It’ll be important that our players understand that the environment is something that you don’t have to worry about. 

“You got to worry about how you play. And sometimes that’s easier said than done, especially with young players.” 

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