Neyland Stadium was at its loudest on Saturday for the Alabama versus Tennessee game, but was all of the noise authentic?
During the Crimson Tide Sports Network broadcast of the game, Alabama play-by-play announcer Chris Stewart suggested that some of the noise was artificial.
“Second-and-16 is not what you’re looking for,” Stewart said. “Especially with the noise level being what it is here. You’ve got 100,000-plus, and they also pipe in crowd noise as well.”
Stewart believed that his remarks were insignificant until he started receiving text messages from friends.
On Wednesday, during his appearance on “3 Man Front” on WJOX 94.5-FM, Stewart clarified his comments and essentially doubled down on the situation.
“I misspoke, but it really wasn’t, in theory, off,” Stewart said. "What I should have said is amplified noise. And that’s clear they do it. They’ve got speakers all on the field level behind our benches pointing toward the stands. It was extremely loud and it absolutely adds to the noise level, which was my point, although I may have misphrased, but that’s a fact.”
Stewart also clarified that it was not an excuse for Alabama losing the football game.
"It had zero to do with Alabama losing the football game. I never once said that it did," Stewart said. "That’s something that fans choose to do. They’ve won now twice in the last 18 years. And rather than celebrate it, they opted to pick that. It really wasn’t anything derogatory towards Tennessee. It was not an excuse. It was a comment about the noise in that moment."
Tennessee head football coach Josh Heupel was asked about the accusation during his weekly press conference.
“I had not heard that,” he said. “Neyland doesn’t need anything fake piped into the stadium for that to be the loudest place in America. Hopefully, our fans take that personally."
Tennessee athletics director Danny White also denied the allegations with a response on X.
"No, we don't!" White wrote on X. "Just 100K+ beautiful, booming, Big Orange voices!"
The use of artificial noise does appear to be legal as long as it is consistent throughout the game for both teams. The same rules apply as the current rules with the band, which has to stop playing when the snap is imminent.
Artificial noise or not, Neyland Stadium was extremely loud for the Volunteers’ 24-17 win over the Crimson Tide.
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