Josh Heupel doubles down on his message to Vols fans ahead of game against South Carolina
On Monday, while meeting with reporters, Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel urged fans to be at their loudest on Saturday night when the South Carolina Gamecocks visit Neyland Stadium. "Home field advantage matters," said Heupel. "We need energy and momentum. We need to make it extremely difficult for them to communicate. For us, our […]
On Monday, while meeting with reporters, Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel urged fans to be at their loudest on Saturday night when the South Carolina Gamecocks visit Neyland Stadium.
"Home field advantage matters," said Heupel. "We need energy and momentum. We need to make it extremely difficult for them to communicate. For us, our fans need to be a huge part of this football game."
The third-year Tennessee head coach doubled down on that message on Wednesday night during Vol Calls. Heupel asked fans to be "hostile" on Saturday night, noting that a loud home crowd can help apply pressure to Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler.
"Somebody asked me the question today, is it about last year? For our players and our staff, it’s not," said Heupel during Vol Calls. "You’ve got to refocus. Last year has nothing to do with this year. For our fans, yeah, I hope they bring that experience with them into the stadium. And I say that meaning we need to be loud. We need to make it, I’m going to use the word 'hostile environment'. I expect it to be at a fever pitch. You can start to feel it a little bit tonight. We need to make it really hard for them to communicate when they’re on offense. We’ve got to create an advantage for our defensive line getting off of the football applying pressure to (Spencer) Rattler."
“It should be as loud as it’s ever been inside of that stadium on Saturday night," added Heupel. "This football team needs that. We need that at this point in this season from our fans. They need to be a huge part of us playing our best football on Saturday night.”
Tennessee has lost some big games under Heupel because they didn't handle crowd noise well (Georgia and South Carolina last year and Florida this year).
Saturday night, however, is a chance for Tennessee fans to repay the favor to South Carolina for the debacle in Columbia last November.
The Gamecocks are more than capable of leaving Knoxville with a win on Saturday. But a rowdy Neyland home crowd can be a huge factor in a game that Tennessee badly needs to win. For the Vols to be at their best against South Carolina, they'll need the fans to also be at their best.
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