Neyland Stadium lived up to its reputation as one of college football's most intimidating venues during Tennessee's Week 10 showdown with Kentucky. The Volunteers controlled the game from start to finish, handing the Wildcats a 34-6 defeat on Saturday night.

However, Kentucky tight end Mikkel Skinner appeared to have his suspicions about the source of the deafening noise inside the stadium, accusing Tennessee of playing artificial crowd sounds over its speakers.

“It was loud, but I started peeping what Tennessee was doing,” Skinner said on Monday. “When Tennessee scored on offense, the fans, that shit was not nearly as loud. But when we was on third down it was loud because the speakers were pumping fake crowd noise. So, I'm like, ok, I see what's going on. It's not real. If that was real, then I'd respect it.

“It was just loud for hella long, and I'm like fans cannot keep it that loud for that long. But then I peeped it. It was the speakers pumping fake crowd noise and music at the same time.”

The accusations followed the Wildcats' worst offensive performance of the season. Kentucky managed just six points without scoring a touchdown, bringing an end to its streak of reaching at least 21 points in every game this season. The Wildcats also committed seven penalties for 50 yards.

Skinner contributed only one reception for two yards and added two rushing attempts for six yards in the loss.

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The Volunteers, meanwhile, improved to 7-2 with the victory. Tennessee entered the matchup ranked No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings and is expected to move into the top 10 when the updated standings are released on Tuesday.

This is not the first time Tennessee has faced similar allegations. Alabama radio broadcaster Chris Stewart made comparable accusations after the Crimson Tide's 24-17 defeat at Neyland Stadium in 2024 before later retracting his comments.

Although the Volunteers occasionally play music through their stadium speakers between plays, there has been no proof that the program uses artificial crowd noise.