Tennessee coach Josh Heupel kicked off Alabama week bolstering the hype a bit for the undefeated, SEC showdown that will take place at Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
“This is why you come to Tennessee and want to be in this league,” he said to start his news conference.
Was Heupel buying in to the circus that will envelop Knoxville, complete with ESPN’s “GameDay” crew? Was he acknowledging that his red-hot team was primed for its best chance to end No. 1 Alabama’s decade-plus mastery of the orange and white?
Not exactly.
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“The outside noise will have no bearing on how we play,” Huepel said. “Everybody in the program is excited about Saturday afternoon and I know the fan base is too. The great thing about being a fan is you get to enjoy the week and the buildup. As competitors, it is about your routine, your habits and preparing the right way.”
Several Tennessee players followed, echoing their coach’s mantra of each week being “a one-game season” (quarterback Hendon Hooker) and being “focused on preparation and what it takes to win” (defensive back Christian Charles).
“The big thing is keeping an even keel,” said center Cooper Mays, a Knoxville native who knows all about Alabama’s 15-game winning streak. “I’m not a guy that gets too high or too low. You need to stay on point and get the task at hand done.”
The task this week is monumental, and yet, feels absolutely attainable. Alabama comes in undefeated and ranked in the Top 5, which is how Alabama has come into this particular rivalry game 10 times in the past 15 years. But the Crimson Tide have two narrow escapes on their resume, and their Heisman-winning QB will either return from a shoulder injury or sit out a second straight game.
Tennessee, meanwhile, is picking up steam after an overtime victory against Pitt early in the season. The Vols held off Florida, then bulldozed LSU last week, showing there would be no looking ahead to Alabama and an ability to play elite SEC football for four quarters.
With the Vols at 5-0 and ranked No. 6 in the nation, it really wouldn’t be a surprise to see them end their misery against the Tide on Saturday. Tennessee is armed with the nation’s No. 1 offense at 548 yards per game, led by a quarterback who has 10 passing touchdowns, three rushing touchdowns and no interceptions. Hooker has been without No. 1 receiver Cedric Tillman since Week 3, and it hasn’t mattered. Tillman may be back for Alabama, but this group is far from dependent on him.
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Coming into the season, the question was whether Tennessee’s defense had made adequate progress to vault it into the upper echelons of the league. The Vols are No. 22 in the nation at 17.8 points per game after finishing 90th in the nation a year ago. It should be noted that Tennessee is 89th in yardage allowed, but the bend-but-don’t-break approach has worked to date. As a side note, dating back to last season, the normally potent Alabama offense has been held to 24 points or fewer by four of the past seven Power 5 opponents it has faced.
The Tennessee fan base has been waiting for an afternoon like this for a long, long time, through on-campus riots (Lane Kiffin), disastrous coaching searches (Greg Schiano), an incompetent AD (Phil Fulmer) and golf ball/mustard bottle-throwing fans (Kiffin, again). The pent-up emotion has already filled SEC Twitter and other social media outlets, and the online college football world is bracing for a tsunami of Vol-generated content should Smokey prevail on Saturday.
Huepel seems to have his guys focused, at least publicly. His team is improving on both sides of the ball and the Tide haven’t exactly been road warriors the past two seasons. The stars are aligned for a 15-game streak to be broken between the checkerboards.
Tennessee’s time is now. It best take advantage.
