In the days leading up to Tennessee's top-25 matchup with Florida, head coach Josh Heupel told his team to embrace the stage.

The game against the then-No. 20 Gators brought all sorts of national attention to the program, including ESPN's College GameDay airing live from Knoxville and a primetime slot on CBS. But as No. 6 Tennessee (5-0, 2-0 SEC) keeps winning, the outside noise has only gotten louder.

It's near defining now.

The Vols host No. 3 Alabama (6-0, 3-0 SEC) at Neyland Stadium on Saturday, again attracting College GameDay and the designation of CBS' game of the week at 3:30 p.m.

For Tennessee, it's another opportunity to showcase its rapid progression under Heupel on college football's biggest stage for the second time in three games. But that spotlight won't change how the Vols have prepared to this point in the season.

"The expectations that we should be concerned about are our own expectations," Heupel said Monday. "The reason our kids have gotten and continue to build and get better is because they've paid attention to the things that matter. This week, we have to prepare the right way. We have to practice well and the playing part of it will take care of itself.

"The outside noise has no bearing on how we play. Let's go compete and be our best on gameday."

Tennessee thumped LSU, 40-13, in its last outing — picking up its third ranked win of the season. The victory pushed the Vols up two spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll to set up their first top-10 meeting with the Crimson Tide since 2016 and a seemingly realistic shot at ending a 15-game losing streak to Alabama.

Hendon Hooker is well aware of the positive recognition Tennessee is receiving. It's virtually impossible to ignore, but the Vols' quarterback hasn't read too much into it. There's definitely confidence, but it doesn't stem from what others are saying.

"This is actually one of my first years where I haven't deleted social media off my phone during game week just because I kind of need it for business purposes," Hooker said. "But we really just take it as a grain of salt, not getting too high, not getting too low, just staying even keeled and making sure we're doing our job every day."

Tennessee's comfortability in preparing for what could be a program-defining win also comes from the example set by its head coach.

The Vols' players have fully adopted Heupel's personality and approach and it's never been more evident.

"We go out every Saturday with the mentality of doing everything we need to end up on the right side of the scoreboard," defensive back Christian Charles said. "We don't take anything for granted or anything like that. We're going to work for everything that we get."

"For us, it's about us," Heupel said. "We look back at last year and the things we did that hurt Tennessee. Prepare in a great way, practice well and that will lead you to kickoff. We don't have to do anything extraordinary. … We have to do the ordinary at a really high level and go lay it on the line and compete for 60 minutes."

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