AUBURN, Ala. – A decibel-blasting blend of crowd noise and “Rocky Top” at rock concert levels provides the soundtrack for Auburn’s practices this week at the Woltosz Center, designed to prepare the Tigers for Saturday at Tennessee.
While Auburn hasn’t played in Knoxville since 2013, Auburn tight end Arlis Boardingham, a transfer from Florida, knows what it’s like to be on the visiting sideline at Neyland Stadium and its capacity of 101,915.
“It’s one of the loudest places I’ve been, wholeheartedly,” said Boardingham, who scored a touchdown at Tennessee in 2024. “Being able to play in that environment is going to be a challenge but I’m more than confident that we’ll be able to handle the noise well.”
In addition to noise, the Tigers might also contend with nature, with rain in Saturday’s forecast.
“It’s football,” Auburn safety Kaleb Harris said. “We play in whatever weather they bring us.”
“Those are things you have to prep for,” Auburn coach Alex Golesh said after Wednesday’s practice. “But you can’t make it about that. It’s been about us. I think the focus has been really good. Now we’ve got to go finish our process through the week.”
After earning his inaugural SEC victory last week against Vanderbilt on Homecoming, Golesh leads the Tigers in their first road game of the season.
“It'll be our first time in a truly hostile environment,” said Golesh, who led Auburn to a 17-16 win over Baylor in Atlanta in the season opener. “But is the focus on that or is the focus on our daily process? Wherever your thoughts go, that's where your focus goes.
“We're going into a really cool environment. That's why you play in this league. That's why you coach in this league, to play in games like this.”
After opening the season with three consecutive victories, including a 45-24 road win at Georgia Tech, Tennessee lost 20-17 at home last week to top-ranked Texas. Volunteers true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon has thrown seven touchdown passes with no interceptions in his first four college starts.
“The arm talent is real,” Golesh said. “He makes the right read, highly intelligent, gets rid of the ball quick. He can do big-time damage with his feet. Powerful, strong runner. It'll be a big challenge for our defense to make sure we're able to contain him and stop what these guys are doing.”
Seeking to vanquish the Volunteers for the eighth time in their past nine meetings, Auburn (3-1, 1-1) takes on No. 17 Tennessee (3-1, 0-1) Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN and the Auburn Sports Network, where Andy Burcham, Jason Campbell and Bret Eddins will call the action for listeners.
“This will be a really good next step for us as a program,” Golesh said. “It's going to be a really big challenge for us, one that I'm excited about and our kids are excited about.”