As far as Kevin Simon is concerned, it's the perfect scenario.

LSU runs. Tennessee's defense is there to greet them.

Physical, old-school football is what UT's senior linebacker is expecting Saturday night at No. 3-ranked LSU.

Just the way he likes it.

"They're really going to try and cram it down our throats," Simon said. "They'll have two backs, two tight ends and go. It's going to be a dogfight, a physical game on both sides with a lot of head-busting.

"The team that plays the toughest between our defensive front and their offensive line is going to win this game."

Welcome to SEC football 101. Strength on strength, man on man, may the best team win.

All UT defensive coordinator John Chavis has to do is look at LSU's depth chart to get an understanding of what the Vols are walking into.

"It's amazing the guy who two years ago was the MVP in the SEC championship game and the national championship game (Justin Vincent) is their backup tailback," Chavis said. "I think that says enough."

LSU ran the ball 47 times for 190 yards in its 35-31 victory at Arizona State two weeks ago.

Joseph Addai, the guy who supplanted Vincent as starting tailback, gained 109 yards on 16 carries. Shyrone Carey got 56 yards on 11 tries and Vincent 31 yards on nine attempts.

"I'm telling you, they've got three backs that could start anywhere in the SEC," Chavis said.

And it's the job of the Vols' defense to stop them.

A weather forecast calling for heavy rain all day and all night Saturday could put even more emphasis on the running game and a team's ability to defend it.

"It's going to be, here we are, let's see if you can stop us," Simon said. "I'd rather have it like that. It's me against you. Who's going to win that battle?"

To hear Chavis tell it, LSU runs the sweep with the kind of success unseen since the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s.

"They do a great job," he said. "Years ago the sweep was probably the number-one play in football and LSU probably runs the sweep better than anybody. We don't see it. Nobody else runs the sweep.

"It's going to be a big-time power-I game, play-action pass, that type of game."

There's no Florida spread-option gimmickry to worry about. Chavis and his defense did their part in quieting all that talk despite a 16-7 loss to the Gators last week.

UT cornerback Jason Allen feels this could be the game when the No. 10-ranked Vols put it all together - meaning defense, offense and special teams.

"We feel like we have something to prove," he said. "We don't feel like we've played our best ball yet."

Offensively, Tennessee has been missing in action. Special teams - the Vols don't even want to think about the disasters on that front in Florida.

"I think we have the attitude our backs are against a wall," Allen said. "We know we haven't played our best on either side of the ball.

"We're just waiting to have that one game when the offense and the defense are both playing on the same page."

LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell is another threat Allen, Simon and Co. will have to contend with.

"It'll be hard to find a team that's more talented than LSU offensively," Chavis said. "They've got talent everywhere."

Russell, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound sophomore, appears to have come into his own after starting four games last year as a freshman.

Against Arizona State, he was 16 of 29 for 232 yards, but was sacked four times.

"JaMarcus Russell seems to be very comfortable in what he's doing," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "He's a guy we'll have to give some different looks and hopefully pressure him as well as we did against Florida."

Russell obviously has the attention of outside linebacker Jason Mitchell.

"(Florida's Chris) Leak and (UAB's Darrell) Hackney were pretty darn good," Mitchell said, "and he's better than those guys."