Tennessee’s home field advantage might have given the Vols an assist last Saturday.

Backed by a sold-out crowd at Neyland Stadium, Tennessee beat Alabama for the second-straight time in Knoxville, 24-17. The affect that the noise had on the Crimson Tide when they had the ball was evident.

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Alabama committed a number of pre-snap penalties and were forced to change plays at the line of scrimmage as the play clock ticked down, including late in the fourth quarter.

Tennessee’s home crowd has a long-standing reputation of making the Vols’ storied venue difficult to play in, but an accusation levied by Alabama radio play-by-play announcer Chris Stewart during the broadcast claimed that some of that noise among the 101,915 was is piped in.

"2nd-and-16 is not what you're looking for, especially with the noise level being what it is here," Stewart said on the air. "You've got 100,000-plus, and they also pipe in crowd noise, as well."

Heupel scoffed at that notion during his press conference on Wednesday, touting the stadium as the loudest in college football and issuing a challenge to fans ahead of back-to-back upcoming home games against Kentucky and Mississippi State.

“Neyland doesn't need anything fake or piped into the stadium to be the loudest place America,” Heupel said. "Hopefully our fans take that personally, enjoy this bye week and come back and be louder than ever the next time we're at home."

Cooper Mays, Tennessee’s fifth-year senior offensive lineman, defended the environment, too, spinning the claim into a positive for Vols fans.

"I think the suggestion that it's artificial is a huge compliment to the crowd, the fans, the environment in general," Mays said. "There's no better compliment for it. (It was) crazy loud. You can't really explain it. I think it's the best environment in all of college football.”

Tennessee certainly has the claim that it’s the best. The Vols have been dominant at home under Heupel, including a 4-0 mark this season.

Since 2021, Tennessee is 22-4 at Neyland Stadium and has won 17 of its last 18 games there.

The No. 7 Vols (6-1, 3-1 SEC) will look to continue that trend coming out of their bye week against Kentucky (3-4, 1-4) on Nov. 2 at Neyland Stadium.

A kickoff time and TV designation will be announced next week.

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