Dan Fleser: The Neyland Effect

A crowd of 96,874 packed Neyland Stadium on Oct. 13, 1990, for the Tennessee vs. Florida football game, and were treated to essentially two different games in the same setting that Saturday night.

In the first half there was a tense battle. However, that all changed when UT All-American Dale Carter had a 91-yard touchdown run to start the second half, sparking a 38-point attack. In short order, fans went from being excited about the result to enjoying a 45-3 rout.

At the end of the game they were enjoying themselves very loudly. They all stayed to enjoy every last second. Well, it seemed like they were still there as I walked across the field to the Florida locker room. Their collective roar came from above from the darkness like thunder. Their sound filled my ears and stirred my blood. How else can I explain that the hairs on my arm suddenly stood on end, like soldiers standing at attention.

I stopped in my tracks for a few moments and absorbed the experience. It was the flip side of my first impression almost exactly two years ago when I was at the stadium on my official recruiting visit (football jargon for my interview with the Knoxville News Sentinel) for a game against Washington State. The Vols were neck-deep in a six-game losing streak and much of the upper deck was empty. This place looked more like a mausoleum than a madhouse.

It’s amazing what a difference winning just two years later has made. “So this is what everyone was talking about,” I thought as the soldiers stood at their post.

The echo has returned to me several times since then to remind me of the possible powerful synergy between a stadium filled with that fan base and its football team. In 1998, the press fluctuated in reaction to an overtime win over Florida that was vital to the Vols’ national championship win. David Grim, who acted as announcer in the press box, recalled being “terrified” by the moving experience.

“It had to be because of the noise,” Grim said. “It was like an earthquake. I thought the press box was coming off (the stadium). I’ve never felt anything like this.”

Vols safety Fred White, who said the game still gave him chills when I interviewed him in 2018, spoke of the fan effect in uncanny terms.

“Every ounce of you is put into this game,” he told me. “They made us play outside of ourselves. Me and my teammates have been talking about this for years. I’m not tired. The crowd gave me energy. After the game I was dead tired.”

He summed up the experience by concluding: “I felt like we all won this game together.”

The effect White described could be understood by Josh Heupel. After the Vols and 101,915 fans combined for a 24-17 victory over Alabama earlier this month, the Tennessee coach lingered with fans who then swarmed the field to celebrate. He joined them, smoked a victory cigar and handed over the five. While neither the game nor the celebration were as rowdy as Tennessee’s 52-49 win during the Crimson Tide’s previous visit in 2022, Heupel still savored the moment. “This is college football, it’s as good as it gets.”

Later, back in character during a postgame media interview, the coach called what he had just seen and felt “the Neyland effect.” It looks like he would also like to give away thousands and thousands of game balls.

“Our fans were elite, their performance was elite all night,” Heupel said. “I appreciate that they stayed with us offensively when we had problems.”

It was probably no coincidence that defensive lineman prospect Tyson Bacon committed to Tennessee that night and then informed Heupel of his decision in the locker room. Bacon mentioned the atmosphere and how great it was.

While winning in general does wonders for boosting crowds, rivalry games especially serve this purpose. Alabama’s victory was preceded by a 23-17 overtime triumph over Florida that unfolded in a similar manner. Under Heupel, Tennessee reeled off four straight home wins over the Crimson Tide and Gators. In the 16 years before his arrival, five different coaches combined for 2-30 records against those two opponents.

“These are two big games, historically our fans, what this means to them, you know what I mean,” Heupel said. “. . . You know, the last two weeks on this field are just special because we had to be on the right side of the scoreboard.”

Even better, he said, was walking off the field after Alabama’s win surrounded by fans.

During the game, the Alabama radio announcer said that the “Neyland effect” was amplified by the crowd noise. The former Crimson Tide player echoed that statement last week. With rival Kentucky here on Saturday night, Heupel urged fans over the weekend to respond accordingly.

“Neyland doesn’t need anything fake in the stadium for it to be the loudest place in America,” he said. “I hope our fans take this to heart. . . come back and be louder than ever.”

The coach further reinforced that sentiment during Monday’s press conference, calling on fans to be a “huge part of the game.” The team will wear Dark Mode uniforms at the game.

It’s all for the sake of Effect.

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Dan Fleser is a 1980 graduate of the University of Missouri who has covered University of Tennessee athletics since 1988. He is a member of the Tennessee Sportswriters Association, the Basketball Writers of America and the Greater Knoxville Sports Halls of Fame. He can be reached at [email protected].