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Two ranked teams, both with a 6-2 record, will clash at Neyland Stadium this Saturday. Neither team can afford to lose, as it will hamper its playoff position. A win for Oklahoma will put Tennessee’s chances at just 2% as per the Allstate playoff predictor. HC Josh Heupel’s focus will be to lead the Volunteers to a back-to-back win. But even before the kick off, we have had an issue raised by Sooners broadcaster, Toby Rowland.

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In a post on X, Rowland shared that the Josh Heupel-led Tennessee management will not be providing a broadcast location for Los Sooners, the Spanish broadcasting team for Oklahoma. The post read, “Tennessee is not providing a broadcast location for our @LosSooners broadcast crew this week. Tennessee suggested we leave them at home to broadcast off television. We don’t want to set that unfair precedent. Enrique & Luis are treasured members of the Sooner Radio Team“. Within a few hours of this tweet, UT issued a resolution and Rowland even apologized. Before that, it was all chaos.

Many pointed fingers at Tennessee management for not allowing the Sooners’ Spanish broadcast team. Instead, officials instructed them to cover the game remotely from Oklahoma rather than live at the stadium. The game is on Saturday, but the fireworks have started early between the two rivals.

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First, it was Rowland who shared the solution as they decided to share their booth with their Spanish broadcasting colleagues on Saturday. “It’ll be cozy & we may hear each other in the background occasionally. But, we’re excited for this experience, value our awesomely talented @LosSooners crew & hope future SEC foes will be more accommodating.

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Feeling disrespected by the Tennessee management, Rowland’s team decided to take matters into their own hands, coming up with a solution. While they may have solved the ‘problem’, this gave Tennessee a bad rep. That’s why the UT football spokesman replied to Rowland and set the record straight.

Josh Heupel’s Tennessee has issues of its own

In less than an hour, Bill Martin from UT gave an explanation for the current issue. Further adding that even the Vols’ Spanish broadcaster calls games from a WNML studio. “Toby – look forward to seeing you. For the record, our own Spanish broadcast team doesn’t call the game in our stadium because we have no booth or deck to safely accommodate. They call in a studio.” Martin also stated that the University of Tennessee has more booths than most FBS facilities. So, why the issue?

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There are three radio booths in Neyland Stadium for home, visitor, and national radio crews. Since a national radio broadcast carries UT’s SEC games, the rest get covered by a TV broadcast crew, home and visiting coaches, and writers covering the game. Understanding the situation, Rowland was also quick to offer an apology for the tone of his first set of tweets.

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“My sincere apologies for the tone of my earlier tweet. It was clumsy. Absolutely no shade intended. Simply want fans to know why Saturday’s broadcast may sound different.” Toby Rowland even called UT “1st class” and was eager for the game to kick off. A good thing for both programs is that the solution came along before the intense week 10 SEC clash.

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