The people of Knoxville, Tennessee take their responsibility in Neyland Stadium on fall Saturdays quite seriously.

Anyone who doubts is kindly invited to further explore Tennessee’s 2023 matchup against the Georgia Bulldogs — one in which a record-breaking noise of 137 decibels was reached in the first quarter.

As Texas braces for its trip to Knoxville this upcoming weekend to commence Southeastern Conference play, its personnel aren’t naïve enough to think crowd noise won’t make a difference. Rather, the Longhorns are trying their best to accept the otherworldly noise as a potential reality without letting it control them.

“It’s going to be 103,000 fans,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said in a media availability on Monday. “We’re going to have 74 players and probably another 30-40 staff members. That’s pretty much all we got. But that’s plenty enough to go win, right? That’s all we really need.”

This won’t be the first time in the past few years Texas has played in a strenuous away environment. The Longhorns took both Georgia and Florida on away last year alone.

However, they lost both matchups in a disappointing fashion.

But Sarkisian believes his team this year is more prepared to embrace the chaos associated with playing in loud stadiums on the road.

“We didn’t play well in Florida last year, but we are 13–3 in SEC play, which is the best record in the conference in our two years in the conference,” Sarkisian said. “So I’m very confident in our ability to go along the road and play well.”

Experienced Longhorns players like senior offensive tackle Trevor Goosby also believe the team is up to the challenge. Goosby also said the team is actively considering how to work around ear-splitting crowd noise as they approach practice this week.

“(The noise is) definitely hard for sure, especially on the offense, and that’s what makes communication super key for us up front,” Goosby said on Monday. “That’s something we’ve been hammering at today.”

Establishing a rhythm offensively can be incredibly difficult when those on offense can’t hear one another, which demonstrated itself at Texas in week two against Ohio State. Buckeyes junior quarterback Julian Sayin had a difficult time communicating and receiving communication, which helped contribute to the team’s fourth-quarter collapse.

Tennessee is an undeniably tough place to play as the away team. Former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn once said the crowd noise in Neyland made the ball shake, and former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield identified the stadium as the craziest he had ever played in.

What this test ultimately provides for the Longhorns is an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to maintain composure on the road in the most extreme of environments. It won’t be easy by any means, but it could help them prepare to play in places like Baton Rouge and College Station later in the season.