KNOXVILLE - David and Goliath, meet Tennessee and Alabama.
The top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide have won 12 straight games in their long series with the Volunteers heading into Saturday night's 9 EDT matchup at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, which will be televised by ESPN. Those 12 wins have come by an average of 25.6 points, and the two programs have gone in completely different directions during that stretch.
While Nick Saban has manned the Tide since 2007 - and led the program to five national championships - the Vols have had five coaches during that time. Alabama (6-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) was a 34-point favorite over Tennessee (2-4, 1-2) for this "Third Saturday in October" as of Friday evening.
"We don't care about none of that," Tennessee senior linebacker Darrell Taylor said. "That's just what people think. You can't tell nobody about their own opinion, so all we have to do is worry about what we control. And that's playing good on defense every snap every Saturday."
Tennessee is coming off a 20-10 home win over Mississippi State last Saturday that ended a six-game skid against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents. It was the Vols' most complete performance of the season, with their defense and running game dominant.
Alabama obviously poses a much different and much steeper challenge. While the Tide are just looking to take the next step in their season by beating what has been deemed an overmatched opponent, the Vols are looking to continue to "build the right habits," second-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt said.
If that results in what would amount to be the biggest win for the Tennessee football program in decades, so be it. The Vols' most recent success in the series was a 16-13 victory in 2006; they haven't won in Tuscaloosa since a five-overtime triumph in 2003.
"That is kind of the secret," said Pruitt, Alabama's defensive coordinator before taking over at Tennessee. "We have talked to our players about it. At the end of the year, there is only one team that stands on that stage. It doesn't matter who it is or what conference they play in, when you have to win 14 or 15 games to be there, you are talking about creating the right habits and doing it over and over again.
"It's hard to do. It takes discipline. It takes mental toughness. It probably takes a little luck there, too. It's something that we talk to our team about. If you want to be one of those teams one day, then it's the habits that you have to sustain in this league to play like that every week. You have to be able to do it."
The season obviously hasn't gone the way the Vols would have liked. Losses the first two weeks to Georgia State and BYU put them in a hole as they fight for bowl eligibility - they did not play beyond the regular season the past two years - and now they have to face one of the most dynamic offenses in the country, led by quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. The junior has completed more than 73% of his passes this season to compile 2,011 yards, 27 touchdowns and just one interception.
If those "right habits" can be built against a team like Alabama, it would be helpful even if the Vols still need four wins in their final five regular-season games to qualify for a bowl.
"Obviously, it's not what we expected it to turn out to be, but we're just trying to keep going and trying not to look back at it. And really, if you look at it, we're just a couple plays from starting off better than what we did," senior receiver Marquez Callaway said. "But we take it as a lesson, and we try not to make the mistakes going forward in the season."
Added Pruitt: "You are always looking to play the perfect game, and we are nowhere near close. I feel like we have a high ceiling with some of the guys we've got. As we play more games, we gather more experience. We've got to continue to improve. I feel like we have improved every game this year, but we've got a long ways to go. We've got to work hard every single day to create the right habits so we can improve."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.