Oh, Will Stein, oh no. Did he really think giving Tennessee fans extra motivation to be loud and proud from start to finish during Tennessee vs. Kentucky was a good idea? Maybe that wasn't his intention, but he sure had done just that.
While speaking to the media ahead of this monster SEC clash, Stein confirmed that throughout the week of practices, he's been raising the roof volume-wise to pump up crowd noise to try to replicate the environment that's waiting for him and his players at Neyland Stadium in Week 10.
Sure, it only makes sense to make some in-week adjustments to help your team get ready for a wild road atmosphere, but raising the volume to 50 out of 50 on the loudspeakers won't even come close to 100,000+ people doing everything possible to rattle the Kentucky offense. Good luck here, coach.
Tennessee fans have been given extra motivation to rattle Will Stein and Kentucky in Week 10
"They have a very passionate fan base," Stein said of the Tennessee faithful. "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.“So, we do our best during practice to crank up crowd noise. It’s always hard to replicate exactly what you’re going to get into, but we do our best as coaches, 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.”
With the greatest respect for Stein and the No. 6 Wildcats (per the CFP rankings), maybe there's a better use of your time than this? Hey, if they think cranking up the noise like this is going to work, again, best of luck to Kentucky - because it's not going to, not one bit.
Kentucky already spooked this AM 👀 @AstroSmokeyX pic.twitter.com/GEujW9wxvh
— MiKE WESTiNHAM (@westinham) November 5, 2026
Neyland Stadium is not only one of the best college football environments in the SEC, but in college football as a whole. With this being a make-or-break game for Josh Heupel and his players, too, the stands are going to be packed with die-hard supporters who will be ready to do their part in helping the Vols come out on top.
That's going to be trouble for Stein, especially since Tennessee is 8-2 in the last 10 rivalry matchups between these two sides. Kenny Minchey is in the middle of a fantastic season for Kentucky, but the Tennessee defense will look to throw him completely off his game. Add in the crowd ready to make life difficult for him, and it could be a long night for the stud signal-caller.
Jim Knowles is going to scheme some stuff up for Minchey as well, which is something Stein should be focused on. All in all, this is going to be a monster showdown, and with Tennessee favored by 6.5 points, it should give people some extra hope that UT will improve to 7-2 on the year. Stein could leave Knoxville 7-2 himself, but he could also make his way back to Lexington a bit shell-shocked over just how much Tennessee fans impacted the game. He's not ready for what's coming.
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