A big accusation.
Alabama play-by-play announcer Chris Stewart made quite the claim during Saturday’s Tennessee-Alabama call. Stewart, who was explaining that second and long wasn’t a great place to be in Neyland Stadium, casually made the claim that Tennessee pipes in extra crowd noise.
Listen to the moment below.
“They also pipe in crowd noise, as well.”
Suuuuurrrreeeeee. pic.twitter.com/c6pyTistyP
— Rob Harvey (@RobMHarvey) October 21, 2024
Alabama was called for 15 penalties on Saturday afternoon — three of those were false starts. Jalen Milroe struggled to even get the snap off a times, with the play clock striking zero multiple times.
Former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron backed up Stewart’s claims today.
100% they do
— AJ McCarron (@10AJMcCarron) October 21, 2024
A Tennessee spokesman came out and said the claim was false earlier today. Tennessee AD Danny White also responded via X.
No, we don’t! Just 100K+ beautiful, booming, Big Orange voices! #GBO https://t.co/ygDuwTUrBI
— Danny White (@AD_DannyWhite) October 21, 2024
Tennessee tight ends coach Alec Abeln was asked about the accusation at the Knoxville Quarterback Club today, and he also denied the allegation.
“I have been places where they do pump in the crowd noise,” Abeln said. “It is 100% legit in that building.”
Tennessee has enjoyed one of the best home field advantages in the country since Josh Heupel arrived, getting Neyland Stadium back to being a truly feared venue. Tennessee is 22-4 under Heupel at Neyland, which includes winning 17 of their last 18 games in Knoxville. Three of those losses came in year one back in 2021.
Stewart made the claim during Alabama’s second play of the game, so it’s not exactly a sour grapes situation here. But considering McCarron’s post, it’s clearly something that has been circulation in Alabama circles for a while.