The unofficial start of football season came and went this week with coaches and players meeting with the media in Tampa for the 2026 SEC Media Days. AL.com’s Nick Kelly did a fun story, asking 25 players across the country about the hardest stadium to play at in the SEC.
What did players at various SEC schools have to say? Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium finished in first place, Texas A&M’s Kyle Field and Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium tied for second place while Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium finished in fourth place.
Check out the complete results and the full story from Kelly here.
Ironically, Tennessee is coming off its worst season at home of the Josh Heupel era. The Vols went just 4-4 at home and only 1-3 at home in SEC games, losing to Georgia, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.
From 2022-24, Tennessee went 20-1 at home with its lone loss coming against Georgia during the 2023 season. During the first five years of Josh Heupel’s Tennessee tenure, the Vols boast 29-8 record at Neyland Stadium.
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The 2026 season will heavily test the home field advantage at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee plays five SEC home games including three extremely difficult tasks against Texas, Alabama and LSU. The Vols’ four other home games are against Furman, Kennesaw State, Auburn and Kentucky.
If Tennessee is going to get back to the College Football Playoffs in 2026 then they need to be great at Neyland Stadium next season and likely can not drop more than one game at home.
The SEC’s media predicted Tennessee to finish eighth in the conference and right in the middle of the 16-team league this week at media days.
The Vols’ nine-game conference schedule appears largely balanced based on preseason expectations. Tennessee plays home games against Texas (No. 2), LSU (No. 5), Alabama (No. 6), Auburn (No. 12) and Kentucky (No. 14).
Josh Heupel’s sixth Tennessee team has four SEC road trips and will face off against Texas A&M (No. 4), South Carolina (No. 11), Vanderbilt (No. 13) and Arkansas (No. 16). In total, Tennessee will play four teams predicted to finish higher than them ands five teams predicted to finish lower.
