KNOXVILLE — The playing surface at Neyland Stadium wasn’t given credit for making any tackles in the box score of Saturday’s game between Tennessee and South Carolina.
Perhaps it should have.
Players from both teams were slipping all over the wet field as chunks of grass were ripped up over the course of the Volunteers’ 27-24 win against the Gamecocks.
It’s the second straight season Neyland’s field has become a talking point, and Tennessee coach Butch Jones said Monday morning that there was even a meeting about it prior to his 10 a.m. press conference.
Tennessee head football coach Butch Jones (left) talks with South Carolina’s interim head coach Shawn Elliott before the start of the game. The South Carolina Gamecocks visited the Tennessee Volunteers in SEC football action November 7, 2015.“It is difficult when you’re slipping, and I think sometimes it creates hesitation amongst your players,” Jones said. “But I also think it’s been an unusual season in terms of grass. I’m not a grass expert or a field expert. I think the unusual season with the rye grass, all that goes into it.