Honestly...I think we shouldn't be on the list at all. Maybe even on the worst list.
I love my Vols and I will stick up for them through thick and thin, but when you have a closed-in stadium that seats over 100k, and you can hear a pin drop after we gain 6-7 yards on a run on 1st down, that just doesn't cut it as a top 10 fan base. Our main set of fans remember watching the Neyland-coached teams, practically. It's stand until 1 good play happens, then everyone claps, then everyone sits. The reason our basketball home-court advantage is so great is because the students stand all the time. Just being forced to stand (due to no chairs) almost intrigues the students to be loud. If the fans in Neyland stood for half the game, Neyland would be a force. As it is now, though, it's just a really big crowd that's great at being quiet.
I can say that we travel VERY well. You won't find many teams that travel fans better than UT. That being said, we travel the quiet fans. How else do you explain getting overpowered by the LSU fans last year at the SEC CG? That stadium was easily 2/3 orange, yet the sound was about 3/4 in favor of LSU. That should never happen. When you are in a closed dome with that stark of a difference in the percentage of fans, it should have been roaring on each UT possession. Sadly, however, all you could hear was the yelling of the Cajuns from the other side of the field.