Watch: Josh Heupel previews Tennessee-Alabama during Thursday's press conference

Head coach Josh Heupel held his final press conference of the week Thursday afternoon, previewing No. 17 Tennessee (5-1, 2-1 SEC) at No. 11 Alabama (6-1, 4-0) on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS) at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa:

If he thinks Tennessee-Alabama should be played every season after Texas and Oklahoma are officially added to the league and the scheduling model changes

“Man, I think this is a great rivalry and it’s important to our fan base. I’m sure it’s important to their fan base too. And it’s one that is special. Just, it’s a unique, unique game and a unique setting. So obviously I think the league, with everybody that’s coming in, there’s a lot of factors that go into it and how they schedule, certainly hope so.”

The importance of Tennessee containing a quarterback like Alabama’s Jalen Milroe

“Yeah, you gotta have great, great gap integrity in normal downs. You gotta do that in situational football too, and in particular in the red zone. But it’s not just design runs for him too. His ability to escape and make plays with his feet off his drop back is a huge, huge factor in the game too. So you do have to apply pressure to him. You can’t just sit there at the line scrimmage. They got good skill out on the perimeter too, so we gotta push the pocket, but we can’t let him escape it either.”

What it has been like for him to be part of the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry the last two seasons

“I just think the fanbase, this is one that’s circled. I’ve said multiple times, before I even got introduced at the press conference, met a couple of former players, but donors too. This is a game that matters to everybody in this fanbase and it matters to us too. It’s always had huge implications in your race to try to get to Atlanta as well. So this is a big football game for us. Huge test, really good football team. But it’ll be a great, great afternoon.”

If Tennessee’s offensive tempo is what he wants it to be right now

“For us it is always within the scope of what we’re doing. Are we operating as efficiently within the tempo as as we can be. And I feel like we’re doing a good job. There’s always some things after a ball game that you want to continue to clean up. This football game, man, you gotta win the line of scrimmage and your personnel on the outside, gotta go win one-on-ones. That’s true on both sides of the football.”

What Tennessee has done this week to simulate crowd noise

“Yeah, we’ve actually been doing that since our last road game in portions of practice and again, for us, you gotta settle in and do the ordinary things in this game at a really high level and you gotta do them consistently. It’s nothing extraordinary. And if we can, we can do that, then we’ll operate the way that we need to.”

How impressive it has been to see Tennessee’s sophomore James Pearce not only rush the passer but play with versatility

“From James and everybody at that position, the versatility of those guys is important to us. What we’re looking for is we bring guys into to the program. James is a young football player that continues to get smarter, just his football knowledge and IQ and then fundamentally has continued to sharpen his fundamentals and that’s a huge part of why he’s playing the way he is. Huge credit to Coach Garner and Coach Ekler. In a short amount time in his development. Wes, let me say this into James suit.”

How to avoid the possibility of Tennessee players making too much of a rivalry game

“I think every week they feel like it’s the biggest game of the season. I say that meaning it’s the only one that we got. They’ve been great in the preparation, practice has been good. We gotta go finish it the right way, to go put ourselves in a position to play the best that we can. This football team’s got great confidence though in who we are and what we’re about and how we’re gonna go compete.”

How Tennessee’s offense can limit Alabama’s Dallas Turner

“Yeah, in protections, you gotta do a great job. You gotta identify, then you gotta go win your one-on-one matchups with him coming. But you gotta do a great job in the run game too. He’s a factor there.”