A couple of weeks ago, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel told reporters that he showed his team film of the Vols’ loss to South Carolina in 2022.

Heupel wanted his team to understand the history of Tennessee’s struggles in Columbia before playing the Gamecocks.

The plan kind of worked. The Vols played well enough to win the game, but they committed too many penalties and made too many self-inflicted mistakes to leave Williams-Brice Stadium with a W.

Kentucky head coach Will Stein is taking a different approach this week before the Wildcats’ big game against Tennessee in Knoxville.

UK has only beaten Tennessee three times since 1984. And only one of those wins came in Knoxville (in 2020 when fan attendance was limited due to the COVID pandemic). The Wildcats’ three wins against Tennessee since 1984 came against three of the worst Vols teams of the last four decades (2011, 2017, and 2020).

Stein, who grew up rooting for Kentucky, isn’t interested in revisiting the past. Unlike Heupel’s approach two weeks ago, Stein says he isn’t talking to his team about Kentucky’s struggles against Tennessee in Neyland Stadium.

“No, we don’t talk about anything that happened in the past,” said Stein on Tuesday when asked if he’s talked with his team about Kentucky’s history against Tennessee. “There’s really no reason to. It doesn’t do anything with our current team. Most of these environments, if not all, play a factor in your approach.

“Tennessee, in particular, is one of the most hostile environments in all of college football. They have a very passionate fan base. They typically play really well in all three phases every single year. It’s a really outstanding football program. So they’re very passionate about their team. We do our best during practice to crank up the crowd noise. It’s always hard to replicate exactly what you’re going to get into, but we do our best as coaches, and as players, to really focus. And when we do have the crowd noise cranked up as loud as humanly possible to just really focus on each play and focus on the call and to go execute your job.”

I’ve been writing about sports long enough to know that coaches handle these situations all kinds of different ways. Some are more up front about the history of a rivalry, while others take Stein’s approach. I think most good coaches mix up their approach depending on the vibe of the team and which side of the rivalry they’re on. I certainly don’t think there’s a “right way” to handle it.

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of energy Kentucky comes out with. They’ll be looking to take the crowd out of the game early, while the Vols will be looking to ramp up the pressure early to make sure the Neyland crowd is at its best.