Column by Carl Steward
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Even when empty, Neyland Stadium wows the eye and disconcerts the brain. Unlike other traditional wide-mouth college stadiums, it rises straight up into the heavens like a Deep South version of the Roman Colosseum, awaiting entry by unwitting, edible strangers. Even from Neyland's most stratospheric seats, spectators feel like they're on top of the action. To a significant degree they are. The lower-level stands are no more 30 feet from the field and the most striking monolithic shrine to SEC football is formidably enclosed, holding in the noise of more than 106,000 shrieking University of Tennessee loyalists.
Cal saw it empty and echo-ey late Friday during its one and only walk-through — intimidating enough, with the retired numbers of Reggie White and Peyton Manning hanging on the stadium's north rim — but the Golden Bears will experience it filled and frenzied today when they confront a highly motivated Volunteers team bent on restoring the fear factor of its hallowed home. Here's the overriding thought, beyond all the numbers and matchups and possible offensive and defensive schemes of this season-opening classic: Gulp, are the Bears really ready for a scene like this right out of the chute?
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