Friday Briefing: 23 Tennessee vs. 19 Oklahoma

When the Oklahoma Sooners come to Neyland Stadium on Saturday (6, ESPN) to take on Tennessee, it will be the biggest football game that the once traditional-power Vols have been a part of in years.

Both teams will be ranked, with the Sooners coming in at No. 19 and Tennessee claiming the No. 23 spot.

Discounting the 2012 matchup with Florida (Tennessee finished the 2012 season unranked, with a 5-7 record, and fired their head coach), this will be the first game between ranked teams in Neyland Stadium since 2006, the season that Tennessee last won the SEC East.

Both the Sooners and the Vols being ranked, along with Checker Neyland in effect for a second season in a row, there will be no shortage of hype for this game.

The UT students set a record for this game with over 13,000 student ticket requests, and the stadium as a whole has been sold out for months.

Though Oklahoma in the history of their football program has never played in a true road game with an attendance of more than 88,119, their coach was dismissive of the atmosphere of Neyland Stadium having any impact of his team.

“Come on, we’ve had Notre Dame and Florida State prior to that,” Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops said. “We’ve been on this stage before. We’ll have the music blaring in the stadium this week for every road game this season.

“It shouldn’t be any different. It’s exciting but exciting things happen in any stadium across the country. In the end, we’ll be on the field like every other game ready to go. All of those guys have played in big games on the road. We go on the road all the time. I have a hard time understanding all the questions about a stadium. When we go somewhere, it’s usually not half full.”

A checkerboard-crowd of 102,455 that will be present on Saturday night disagrees.

In Tennessee’s down years (most of the past decade), Neyland Stadium hasn’t been what it once was.

In Butch Jones’s two full seasons on Rocky Top, the Vols are just 8-6 at home.

The opportunity to turn that trend around is certainly present. Teams like Oklahoma don’t come rolling into Knoxville every Saturday.

On the field, Tennessee has to like how the matchups play out.

Oklahoma’s offensive line is the Sooners’ biggest weakness, and Tennessee has sack machines Derek Barnett and Curt Maggitt.

Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, although a transfer from another Big 12 school, Texas Tech, is still young and has never played in an environment like Neyland Stadium.

On and off the field, everything seems to be lining up for the Vols.

Tomorrow night, the Vols and their fans will either be on top of the world or leaving Neyland Stadium with the all too familiar feeling of disappointment.

No one knows what will happen Saturday night, but it all seems to be falling into place for Tennessee.

#tennessee #oklahoma