Tennessee traveled to South Carolina last November as the No. 5 team in the country only to lose by 25 points.
Two years ago, in the first meeting between Josh Heupel’s Volunteers and Shane Beamer’s Gamecocks, it was a 25-point win by Tennessee in Knoxville.
Heading into Saturday night’s showdown (7:30 on the SEC Network) inside Neyland Stadium, neither coach finds much reason to revisit the past. Tennessee scored the first 35 points of the 45-20 shellacking in 2021, but the 63-38 loss by the Vols last year represented the most points they had ever surrendered in a Southeastern Conference game.
“It just has nothing to do with what’s going to happen in this one,” Heupel said this week. “To me, the team that wins this game is going to be the team that plays the smartest, which means you’ve got to be in control of your emotions. It’s also about your preparation and what you need to do throughout the course of a week to be able to play your best.
“For our fan base, if they want to use last year as motivation, I’ve got no problems with that. That’s the great thing about being a fan, and I expect our stadium to be rocking like it always is.”