Alabama play-by-play announcer Chris Stewart clarified his allegation that Tennessee pumps artificial noise into Neyland Stadium during a radio interview on Wednesday.
But it wasn't an apology. Instead, he appeared to double-down on his comment during UT's 24-17 win over Alabama that that UT pipes in crowd noise.
"I didn't think anything about it when I said it, and somebody with nothing to do decided to go back and find a clip from our four-hour broadcast," Stewart said on WJOX 94.5 FM in Birmingham. "I misspoke, but it wasn't in theory off. I said that you've got 100,000 and piped-in crowd noise, which is not what I should've said. What I should've said was amplified noise, and that's clear.
"They do it. They've got speakers all on the field level behind our benches pointing toward the stands. It was extremely loud, and it absolutely adds to the noise level, which was my point. Although I may have misphrased it, that's a fact."
Stewart was referring to the speakers positioned at field level in Neyland Stadium. A UT spokesperson said those broadcast music and the public address announcer, just like speakers anywhere in any stadium, but not artificial crowd noise.
Alabama was called for 15 penalties in its loss to UT, including three false starts. The Tide was flagged for a false start on its second play of the game, which prompted Stewart to declare that UT uses speakers to add noise beyond the sellout crowd of 101,915.
On Wednesday, Stewart said he wasn't making excuses for Alabama losing to UT.
"It had zero to do with Alabama losing the football game. I never once said that it did," Stewart said. "That's something that fans choose to do. They've won now twice in the last 18 years. And rather than celebrate it, they opted to pick that. It really wasn't anything derogatory towards Tennessee . It was not an excuse. It was a comment about the noise in that moment."
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Coach Josh Heupel defended UT fans against the allegation of fake crowd noise at Neyland Stadium .
"Neyland doesn't need anything fake or piped into the stadium to be the loudest place in America," Heupel said at his weekly press conference on Wednesday.
"Hopefully our fans take that personally, enjoy this bye week and come back and be louder than ever the next time we're at home."
No. 8 Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 SEC) is off this week before playing back-to-back home games. The Vols host Kentucky (3-4, 1-4) on Nov. 2 and Mississippi State (1-6, 0-4) on Nov. 9 at Neyland Stadium.
The Vols have a 22-4 record at Neyland Stadium in Heupel's four-year tenure, including 17 of their last 18 home games. And his teams have outscored opponents 2,048-475 at home.
Center Cooper Mays , a Knoxville native, echoed Heupel's sentiment.
"I think the suggestion that it's artificial is a huge compliment to the crowd, the fans, the environment in general," Mays said. "There's no better compliment for it. (It was) crazy loud. You can't really explain it. I think it's the best environment in all of college football"
Heupel and Mays join a long list of UT coaches, players, administrators and fans scoffing at the allegation made by Stewart.
UT athletics director Danny White dismissed the declaration, writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the noise is "just 100K+ beautiful, booming, Big Orange voices!"
And tight ends coach Alec Abeln did the same Monday at the Knoxville Quarterback Club.
"I have been places where they do pump in the crowd noise," Abeln said. "It is 100% legit in that building. That stadium, when it is rocking, is better than any other environment in the country. It truly is an impact on our game."
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com . X, formerly known as Twitter @AdamSparks . Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe .
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football: Alabama broadcaster repeats fake crowd noise claim
