On Saturday, Tennessee football hosted Kentucky in a pivotal SEC rivalry matchup. In front of a rowdy home crowd at Neyland Stadium, the Vols handled business, defeating the Wildcats in blowout fashion, 34-6. That improved the series history to an 87-26-9 mark for UT, including a 46-11-6 record at home.

With the game in the rearview mirror, backup Kentucky tight end Mikkel Skinner gave his thoughts on the atmosphere on Rocky Top during a TikTok live stream. He made the claim that Tennessee pumped in fake crowd noise during the game. His reasoning is that he thought the crowd wasn’t as loud after the Vols scored, and he doesn’t think fans can be as loud as they were for a sustained stretch on defensive third downs.

“It was loud, but I started peeping what Tennessee was doing, though,” Skinner said on a TikTok live stream. “When the fans on offense scored, when Tennessee scored on offense, the fans, that sh*t 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, okay, I see what’s going on. It’s not real. If that was real then I would respect it. But the speakers are odee, though, like I’ll give it to them. But it was just loud for hella long, and I’m like, fans cannot keep it that loud for that long. Then I peeped it, it was just speakers pumping in fake crowd noise and music at the same time. Which is smart. It’s smart, though.”

Pumping fake crowd noise is pretty wild. https://t.co/OevTgUbFxx

— Steins Studs (@SteinsStuds) November 9, 2026

Skinner played just 12 snaps off the bench for Kentucky in the game. He caught one pass for two yards and ran the ball twice for six yards. On the year, he has 10 receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown and 10 carries for 63 yards.

Skinner is a sophomore who also began his career with the Wildcats. This meant that this was his first trip to Neyland Stadium. He took a visit to Knoxville as a recruit in March of 2023, but never announced an offer from the program or a game-day visit.

He is not the first to claim that Tennessee pumps in crowd noise at Neyland Stadium, but all claims have been unverified, with UT Athletic Director Danny White publicly denying the unbacked comments. Notably, Alabama play-by-play radio broadcaster Chris Stewart said the same during the Tides’ loss in 2024.