Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea leaves no doubt on how he feels about Neyland Stadium ahead of matchup against Tennessee
The Tennessee Vols will host the Vanderbilt Commodores in Knoxville on Saturday afternoon.
The Tennessee Vols have the opportunity to play the role of spoiler this weekend.
Tennessee is set to host the Vanderbilt Commodores in Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Commodores need a win to get to 10-2 and have a serious shot at earning a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
The Vols’ playoff hopes are essentially non-existent, but Tennessee should still be motivated to win a big rivalry game against Vandy while also eliminating the Commodores from the playoff.
Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea leaves no doubt on how he feels about Neyland Stadium
Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea joined Hot Mic on Monday, and he discussed the Commodores’ upcoming game against Tennessee.
Lea made it clear that he has a lot of respect for Tennessee’s program and praised the environment at Neyland Stadium.
“This is a really good team,” said Lea. “And again, anytime you’re going to Knoxville, you’re talking about playing in one of the toughest environments in the world. And so we have to do a great job at not inviting 100,000 plus into the game. We have to handle the noise. We have to handle the emotions of it all. This is a rival. This is a big game. And so I think we’re going to spend time this week just making sure we understand what that will feel like, how we channel emotion into execution, how we don’t get involved in some of the side games that come up in these moments where it takes your eye off the point — and that’s to win the football game between the lines.
“But I’ve got a ton of respect for Josh (Heupel), and obviously the program at Tennessee. This is also exactly how you want to be finishing the season as a Vanderbilt coach — playing a meaningful game against your rival, this one on the road, in one of the great environments. It’s a really cool way to finish [the regular season].”
Neyland Stadium should have plenty of energy on Saturday with the Vols coming off a big road win over the Florida Gators.
Tennessee will certainly need that energy. This is a good Vanderbilt team, with an extremely competitive quarterback under center in Diego Pavia. The Vols will need to play well defensively while playing clean on offense if they want to get their seventh straight win in this rivalry.
Tennessee Volunteers News
‘I like a lot of points in that game’ – ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit predicts who will win the matchup between Tennessee and Vanderbilt
The Tennessee Vols will host the Vanderbilt Commodores in Knoxville on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 PM ET.
