Neyland Stadium

[UOducksTK1]

So my wife and I are on a road trip in the Midwest/East. We decided last minutes to make a short detour to go to a Tennessee football game. We rolled into Knoxville in Ducks jerseys during the Florida Vs Tennessee game day.

Great night for football, fun to stroll around town a couple hours before the game. So many confused Tennessee fans! (“you’re a long way from home.”, “Why are you here???”) We decided to buy Tennessee Volunteer hats to at least portray “we come in peace”.

Overall, Tennessee fans are SOO hospitable and kind. So many fun interactions! The craziest part is how many fans kept asking me if Oregon had played Ohio State yet or if they were winning (or won). Many fans also said they’re rooting for the ducks, while maybe only one or two fans had said “Go Bucks”. There was also someone two rows in front of us who was watching the Oregon/OSU game on his phone the whole time haha! So I was definitely glancing at his phone throughout the game. Related side note, I’m in Louisville now and will be in Indy on Thursday and talked to some Big Ten fans this week and many of them said they were rooting for Oregon to beat Ohio State. But a couple of these fans also mentioned they didn’t love the idea of Oregon coming and winning the Big Ten in their first year. Lose-lose situation for Big Ten fans perhaps? Interesting though to hear the perspective of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin fans.

Game day atmosphere… it’s a different culture. Football feels bigger there. The southern vibe just adds a little zest too. Noise levels, at its loudest, was LOUD. Up there with the loudest games I’ve been too. However, that was only on the first drive or some 3rd/4th downs. Noise levels the rest of the game were kinda meh for 102k fans. Keep in mind, this was a very boring game and Tennessee did almost nothing offensively. They kinda suck (to be fair, fans in the stands mentioned to me that they’re missing two OL starters and their offensive line sucks and teams are taking advantage of that) However, Autzen is louder overall. No doubt. Oregon fans bring it every down.

One of my favorite sports experiences ever. Even though the game was miserably boring, the Tennessee fans and Neyland culture offer an environment I’d imagine is hard to replicate anywhere else.

Go ducks!!!

I’ll be at the Oregon vs Purdue game and plan to attend Penn State @ Wisconsin the weekend after.

[Phalanx]

What a great experience; I hope the rest of the time goes great for you and that you get to watch a convincing Duck victory in West Lafayette.

[OregonFan4Life]

I was actually at the 2010 game in Tennessee, fantastic stadium and fantastic fans for sure! Did have one idiot talking way too much trash but the rest were so hospital and kind. To this day I root for Tennessee above all other SEC team cause of how great their fans were.

[Everythingsducky]

I was actually at the 2010 game in Tennessee, fantastic stadium and fantastic fans for sure! Did have one idiot talking way too much trash but the rest were so hospital and kind. To this day I root for Tennessee above all other SEC team cause of how great their fans were.

Yep. My pops was in a Tennessee suite that game, tailgated prior, had nothing but great things to say about how cool and polite their fans were. Obviously helps to be on the winning side, but some fan bases could have been obnoxiously rude. Neyland was very well behaved, and he was kinda shocked how cool their fans were.

[UOducksTK1]

I was actually at the 2010 game in Tennessee, fantastic stadium and fantastic fans for sure! Did have one idiot talking way too much trash but the rest were so hospital and kind. To this day I root for Tennessee above all other SEC team cause of how great their fans were.

Yeah I’m not surprised now after my experience. I feel like in SEC games I don’t care for that include Tennessee, I’ll subconsciously be rooting for Tennessee a little more.

[UofDuck]

I was at the TN vs O game too. Great time. We were losing early and I was getting some ranker about “Welcome to the SEC… big boy football” stuff. Then LaMichael went en fuego on them and not another peep. They were complementary after the game. Good time.

My experience at the LSU was polar opposite. Total arse holes. And not just a few of them. A ton of them.

[duckfan96]

Went to the game in Knoxville. Great atmosphere, 99% of the fans were cool. Had one drunk fool trying to fight my buddy, who isn’t even a Duck fan he just went to go. Heard rocky top a lot more in the 1st half than the 2nd. Haha