BYU Football Team Arrives In Knoxville For Tennessee Game

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The BYU football team has officially arrived in the Volunteer State for a battle against the Volunteers of Tennessee.

Whenever BYU travels to the eastern time zone, the Cougars arrive at the destination for the game two nights before. Thursday night around 9 p.m. (EDT), the BYU football team pulled up to their team hotel.

The players and staff were greeted in the hotel lobby by staff employees and some parents of the players who were chanting, “B-Y-U! B-Y-U!”

Head coach Kalani Sitake wants his team to create cheers for the fans of BYU on Saturday at Neyland Stadium rather than at the team hotel lobby.

Kalani Sitake and the #BYU football team have landed in Knoxville. @kslsports pic.twitter.com/0rlOTZ2vYA

— Zak Hicken (@zakhicken) September 6, 2019

Tennessee fans in the Knoxville area are down and out about their chances of coming away with a victory against the Cougars, but Sitake isn’t taking the Volunteers lightly.

“They’re a great coaching staff. Coach Prewitt and Jim Chaney are going to have that team ready to roll,” said Sitake. “So when you watch the film, you notice there is a lot of athleticism and size and strength. There’s a lot of great looking athletes on the field. It was just like a lot of bad things have happened at the wrong time for those guys. It’s an opportunity on which team is going to learn the most and execute cleanly and minimize mistakes.”

Knoxville, Tennessee 📍

— Khyiris Tonga 🇹🇴 (@khyiristonga) September 6, 2019

Along with players and coaches, support staff coaches wives, and medical staff arrived in Knoxville on Thursday night.

BYU will take a walkthrough Neyland Stadium on Friday and lock in for gameday on Saturday night.

The @BYUfootball team has arrived in Knoxville! 🏈 #KSLsports #BYU https://t.co/EdGlePx7Ud

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 6, 2019

Kickoff between BYU and Tennessee kicks off at 7 p.m. (EDT)/5 p.m. (MDT). You can listen to the game on KSL Newsradio. Cougar Sports Saturday goes live beginning at noon (MDT) all the way up to 3 p.m. where BYU Sports Network pregame coverage will take over from there.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.