Why Are There Audio Issues During The Texas-Tennessee Game?

Less than six minutes into Saturday’s Texas vs. Tennessee top-25 showdown, sideline reporter Laura Rutledge touched on the potential communication issues that both teams could experience throughout the game due to President Donald Trump being in attendance. Rutledge spoke to both teams before kickoff, saying that the teams worked with Secret Service to make sure their radio frequencies were cleared and that the communications should be “perfectly OK” coach-to-coach. “The one concern they have is coach-to-player, but they have worked on all kinds of signaling if that does go down communication-wise,” Rutledge said. As Rutledge went on to explain that they can always take a TV timeout if there is a communication issue down on the field, she passed it back to the booth, and a strong static came over the broadcast as Chris Fowler began to speak. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian spoke about potential communication issues earlier this week, saying coaches can lose headset communication when Trump enters a stadium, leaves the stadium or moves to a different location. “The one thing that you have to be aware of when the president goes to any game is that any time he enters the stadium, leaves the stadium or changes locations within the stadium, they cut all communication,” Sarkisian said during a Zoom call on Thursday. “So they cut your headsets. They cut the headsets to coaches. They cut headsets for coach-to-player communication. So you have to have a plan for that, if and when it happens, and you get no warning. It just gets cut out.” As for what’s happening on the field, Texas held a 10-3 lead over the Vols midway through the second quarter. Running back Raleek Brown scored the lone touchdown of the game on a 9-yard run early in the first quarter. This is a developing story.​A strong static interruption during the Texas-Tennessee game followed discussion of potential communication issues tied to President Trump’s attendance.