Florida and Tennessee are going head to head on Saturday, and Tennessee is looking to break an 11-year losing streak. Let’s put that into perspective, shall we? I’m a college graduate now. The last time Tennessee won, I was in the 7th grade. Joshua Dobbs, the Tennessee quarterback, was in the 4th grade. George W. Bush was serving his very first term in office. Peyton Manning hadn’t won his first SuperBowl ring yet.
Florida backup quarterback, Austin Appleby, is making his very first start for the Gators on Saturday. He was quoted saying that “he’s not scared of Neyland.” Maybe he should look at what Ty Darlington had to say after coming to Neyland Stadium last year when he was playing for the Oklahoma Sooners. He wrote on his blog that he had never believed in home field advantage, that fans couldn’t have an impact a football game.
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“The noise was a constant, oppressive force. I could literally feel it on my skin. But these fans weren’t just loud on the first drive. Or just on 3rd down. Or just in the fourth quarter. It was every. single. play.” Ty Darlington isn’t lying either. I was there in that crowd, standing amongst 102,455 screaming fans. It was so loud the stands shook. I couldn’t hear a thought in my own head. Everyone was so loud that I’m surprised people left with their voices intact. Even when Tennessee started to fade and eventually lost the game, the fans never gave up. They never quieted down. It was just a constant thrumming of noise.
That night, the stands reached 114 decibels. Did you know that prolonged exposure to noise over 90 decibels can lead to hearing loss? Did you know that 114 decibels is as loud as a rock concert? Did you know that it’s only 26 decibels shy of the sound of a jet plane taking off? I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty impressive considering it’s an open stadium and there were no guitars, no drums, no impressive sound technology to enhance the sound. It was just people, yelling and stomping and screaming as loud as they could. When Oklahoma played Tennessee last year, their coach Bob Stoops said they’d prepare by “blasting music during practice” because it wouldn’t be much different. That seems laughable now.
Bob Davie, a former coach of Notre Dame said “the Tennessee crowd can flat out take you out of the game” . I could sit here and type out so many quotes that former players, coaches, and spectators have said about the feelings they felt while they were in that stadium. As someone who’s stood in the crowd and on the field, I can tell you that it’s truly something you have to experience to understand.
It’s one of the loudest things you’ll ever hear. The ground shakes, your heart stutters in your chest, you can’t think straight, and everything is loud loud loud. It’s electric. When you’re standing around all those people, screaming for your team while they’re on defense, there’s absolutely nothing like that. It’s like every nerve in your body is on fire. It’s an adrenaline rush like you’ve never felt in your life.
So Florida, Austin Appleby, or anyone who isn’t “scared of Neyland”, here’s something you should know. You may not be scared, or even worried, but you should be.
Neyland is powerful. It’s more than just a stadium. It’s a feeling like nothing you’ll ever experience or probably ever know again. I’ve been to Georgia, LSU, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and various bowl games, and I can tell you one thing: none of those games were as intense or amazing as a game in Neyland Stadium.
See you Saturday, Gators.
