Josh Pate has made his position clear: if you want to know the hardest building in college football to walk into, he’s taking Neyland Stadium.
That stance puts Tennessee’s home field at the center of Saturday’s showdown with No. 1 Texas, which visits Knoxville to open SEC play against No.
14 Tennessee. Pate doubled down on his pick this week, backing up the argument he first made on his “College Football Show” podcast after EA Sports slotted Neyland at No. 12 in College Football 26.
“Not only is Tennessee top 10, Neyland Stadium's the toughest place to play in college football,” Pate said.
He repeated that view on Wednesday evening, and he didn’t hold back when addressing the EA ranking. “I've got all the respect in the world for the folks at EA,” Pate said. “To have Tennessee outside the top 10 of toughest places to play in college football is evidence of drug use.”
Pate, a Columbus, Georgia, native, said he has seen the place at full volume himself. “I've been there for the best of it,” Pate said.
“I shot this myself. I’ve been a part of it.
Deafening.”
For Pate, the noise isn’t the only thing that makes Neyland miserable for visitors. He also singled out the sound Tennessee fans lean on all game long. “There's also the psychological factor, because 'Rocky Top' is the most annoying sound in the world to anyone who's not a Tennessee fan,” Pate said.
He said opposing teams hear it all week in practice, and he believes it becomes especially brutal when Tennessee gets a late lead. “I've never been in an avalanche before, but I imagine Tennessee taking the lead on you in the fourth quarter and 'Rocky Top' blaring during one of the nine-minute commercial breaks, that's what an avalanche of orange feels like,” Pate said.
This isn’t a one-time opinion, either. Pate had Neyland at No. 1 when he ranked the sport’s toughest stadiums again on his show in March 2026, even putting it ahead of LSU’s Tiger Stadium. “At its best, I have never seen anything like it,” Pate said.
EA Sports has nudged closer to that view over time. College Football 27 has Neyland at No. 8, a move up four spots from last year and five from No. 13 in College Football 25. Tiger Stadium sits at No. 1, followed by Ohio State’s Ohio Stadium, Penn State’s Beaver Stadium, Georgia’s Sanford Stadium and Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Tennessee’s home field has still taken some hits in the actual results column. The Vols were 25-4 at Neyland during Josh Heupel’s first four seasons, but they dropped three home games last fall, falling to Georgia, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.
Saturday’s game carries plenty of firsts and familiar names. Texas enters at 3-0, Tennessee at 3-0, and kickoff is set for noon ET on ABC. ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be on campus, and the matchup will be Tennessee’s annual Checker Neyland game.
The schools have never met in the regular season. Their three previous meetings all came in the Cotton Bowl, with the last one played in 1969.
Texas already has one tight road win this month, edging Ohio State 24-23 earlier in September. Tennessee has been scoring in bunches, putting up at least 42 points in all three of its games.
Arch Manning will also be stepping into a new setting. The Texas quarterback, whose uncle Peyton Manning played at Tennessee, has never attended a Tennessee game, and Saturday will be his first time inside Neyland Stadium.
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Oregon State Has 4 Emerging Names Worth Watching Against UTEP
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Shephard has already flagged special teams as an area that has been uneven, a concern that stands out even more after the punt trouble late against Montana. And with UTEP likely to lean on creative pressure, disguised coverages and even the occasional trick look to unsettle the Beavers, Oregon States ability to stay composed and clean could end up being one of the defining factors of the night. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon States First Road Test Could Expose A Big UTEP Problem
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Bloomquist also pointed to the chess match on the other side of the ball, where UTEP will have to decide how much attention to devote to Oregon States Jesse Legree and the rest of the Beaver attack. The matchup comes with the kind of uncertainty that can make an early road game tricky, and it has enough moving parts that even a game that looks manageable on paper still carries some tension before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]