Photos: Tennessee Athletics
Knoxville has hosted big games. This one is sitting in a different category.
ESPN College GameDay is setting up on the lawn of Ayres Hall at 9 a.m. Saturday. The last hour moves inside Neyland. Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and Nick Saban will be on the set. That is already enough to turn campus into a circus. Then you add the rest of it.
No. 1 Texas is coming in 3-0 for the SEC opener. Tennessee is 3-0 and sitting in the teens in the polls. It is the first time these two programs have played on a campus field. The last meeting was the 1969 Cotton Bowl. Arch Manning is walking into the stadium where his uncle Peyton became Peyton. The game is sold out. Checker Neyland is back. Kickoff is noon on ABC.
And the White House confirmed President Donald Trump plans to attend.
That last part is why this Saturday is going to feel different before a ball is even snapped. Extra security. Longer lines. Gates at 9 a.m. Police telling people to show up earlier than they already planned. GameDay signs cannot have political messages on them, which tells you how loud the outside noise is going to get around a football game.
None of that changes what happens between the lines. Tennessee still has to stop a Texas offense that has enough talent to make a true freshman quarterback uncomfortable. Texas still has to deal with Neyland when it is packed and orange. Faizon Brandon still has to play the first real SEC game of his life. DeSean Bishop looks like he is going to be out there. That is the part that actually decides whether this turns into a day people talk about for ten years or just a loud afternoon that ends 10-2 for somebody.
This site is not here to grade a presidential visit. The football is the point. The rest of it is the wrapper.
But if you are trying to explain to somebody why Knoxville feels like the center of the country this weekend, you do not need a long speech. GameDay on the Hill. No. 1 Texas in the building. A sold out Checker Neyland. And the President in the stadium.
That is not a normal Saturday. The Vols have to treat it like one anyway. The circus will be there either way. The score will not care who is sitting in the suite.
Saturday at noon. Neyland. The whole country is going to be watching whether they came for the football or the sideshow.