It wasn't like Kevin Simon guaranteed a Tennessee victory at Alabama on Saturday.

He just said the Vols wouldn't lose.

"We're not losing any more football games," UT's senior linebacker said on Tuesday. "We've got our minds made up."

It was a group decision.

Simon just happened to be one of the ringleaders of a collection of Vols' seniors who gathered for a meeting on Monday.

They came away with a unanimous feeling.

"We got together and pretty much said we refuse to lose," Simon said. "We're not going to lose this football game. We're not going to be 3-3.

"No one came here from California (like Simon), or Hawaii (like defensive tackle Jesse Mahelona), or Florida, or Texas, or up north in New Jersey to be 3-3. We're not a .500 ball club."

All the 17th-ranked Vols (3-2, 2-2 SEC) have to do to avoid .500 is avoid a loss to Alabama (6-0, 4-0).

It's that simple. Travel to the home of the unbeaten Crimson Tide and win for the ninth time 10 years. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m. (TV: WVLT).

Alabama fans know all about players who guarantee victories.

It was one of their guys — an old Alabama quarterback named Joe Namath — who predicted the biggest upset in NFL history.

He was right. The New York Jets shocked the football world with a Super Bowl III victory against the heavily favored Baltimore Colts.

Simon didn't pull a Namath, but it was close.

This isn't a Super Bowl. Tennessee's only a 3A 1/2-point underdog. But it is Alabama.

"It's not about guaranteeing a victory," UT's leading tackler said. "It's about having the will to win and a desire to get back on top.

"Every field that we've stepped on this year, we've been the most-talented team. But we haven't been putting W's up."

Offensive players were at the meeting. Defensive players were at the meeting.

"It's the whole team that has taken on this mentality," Simon said. "I think a lot of it has to do with getting our swagger back."

Remember the swagger? The Vols had it when they entered preseason ranked No. 3 in the country.

Simon admits losses at Florida and at home to Georgia — each hampered by offensive struggles — zapped some of UT's confidence.

"We haven't had it since we lost to Florida," he said. "With swagger comes confidence. With confidence comes good football.

"I think Monday we started to get some of our swagger back."

Beating Alabama could put the Vols right back in full-bore strut mode with games upcoming against South Carolina and Notre Dame.

Tennessee coaches obviously have stressed the tradition of the Crimson Tide series to players more accustomed to focusing on Florida and Georgia.

Head coach Phillip Fulmer, defensive coordinator John Chavis and offensive coordinator Randy Sanders each has his history lessons for the 2005 Vols.

"Coach Fulmer played here," Simon said. "Coach Chavis played here. Coach Sanders played here. They've been through the battles with Alabama.

"They know about the rivalry and they know about that stretch where Alabama whipped us about 12 years in a row (actually 11 in a row from 1971 to 1981). So for them this is THE game."

And it's THE game for a lot of different reasons.

This is Tennessee's fourth game against a top-10 ranked team in the past five matchups.

Against a schedule like that, UT coaches just want to stop the bleeding.

"Out of the fires of adversity there's a lot of extraordinary accomplishment that can be had," Fulmer said. "That's the way I'm expecting our team to approach it.

"We've always been fighters — as a staff and as a football team, and we expect that we'll go down there and fight our rears off to get a win versus Alabama."