Josh Heupel Expects Tennessee to Handle Crowd Noise From Georgia

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel met with the media Wednesday morning and said they he expects his team to handle the crowd noise from Georgia's fans.

Christian Goeckel | Nov 3, 2022

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Tennessee head football coach Josh Heupel addressed the media Wednesday morning ahead of the Volunteers’ matchup with Georgia. Heupel was mum on the potential impact of a packed Sanford Stadium when his No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers take on No. 3 Georgia on Saturday at 3:30 pm.

“We’ll find out on game day. At the end of the day, there’s been times since we’ve gotten here that we’ve handled being on the road extremely well. There’s other times we haven’t handled it. That’s [coaches]. The communication, and playing smart football, will be important on Saturday. Anticipate us handling it well.” said Heupel.

What Tennessee should anticipate is perhaps the rowdiest crowd in the history of Sanford Stadium. Multiple stories have been written this week about the huge games that have been played in Athens in the past. 2019 Notre Dame, 1965 Alabama, 1942 Georgia Tech. None have been as massive, or as highly-ranked, as this one. This is the highest-ranked game in the history of Sanford Stadium. The previous being No. 3 Auburn vs No. 4 Georgia in 1983.

“Anticipate it being a great environment. Big football game. Obviously they’ve been highly successful, and their fanbase is excited for this one too. Ours is too. It’ll be a great environment, so anticipate crowd noise being a part of the football game for sure.”

Georgia coach Kirby Smart implored the crowd to get out early and be as loud as they’ve ever been in a post on Twitter. “Saturday we need Dawg Nation to affect the game !! If you can talk when you leave, you didn’t yell enough !!”

Tennessee has played on the road just twice this season: a 34-27 OT win at Pitt and a 40-13 win at LSU.

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