A little less than 48 hours before the first stanzas of Rocky Top filled Neyland Stadium, Tennessee's football team received a quiet message from, of all people, Jayson Swain and Al Pacino.

In a players-only gathering at the stadium Thursday night organized by the senior wide receiver, the Vols gazed up at the JumboTron in the south end zone from the sideline.

There they watched scenes of offseason workouts and fall camp. They watched as a few plays from 2005 -- some memorable and some that stung -- flashed onto the screen in a video compiled by Tennessee's sports video coordinator Joe Harrington.

They listened to Pacino's hoarse whisper deliver a goose-bump-filled pregame speech from the film "Any Given Sunday."

Before "Rocky Top" began blaring, the Vols spent a few quiet minutes in front of 104,079 empty seats to reflect on all the hard work they'd done to make 2005 a distant memory.

"We prayed as a team and looked around at an empty stadium," senior cornerback Jonathan Wade said. "We looked at ourselves and told each other this is our family, this is us. The people in here right now are the people who believe in us."

Two days later, the Vols made a few more believers after building a 35-0 lead in 2A 1/2 quarters against No. 9 Cal on that same field.

The seed for the 35-18 victory to open the season was planted last December, watered in spring practice and fall camp and sprouted Saturday.

Thursday's trip to the stadium was just a little extra fertilizer.

"From Thursday night, it was all focus," quarterback Erik Ainge said.

The ringleader was Swain, who went to UT coach Phillip Fulmer with the idea before organizing the meeting.

"I think this team has done a lot of things, taken it upon themselves to be there for each other and that was just an example of one thing," Fulmer said. "They asked me if they could do it, and if we'd put a little video together for them. I thought it was a great idea."

It sure didn't hurt.

"Guys were ready, guys were walking off the field jumping up and down like they were ready to go play a football game, and it was on Thursday," Ainge said. "That kind of focus and intensity two days until we play, that's always good."

The Vols took a quick refresher Saturday immediately following the Vol Walk.

Still in their dress clothes, the team gathered at midfield for several minutes.

Senior tailback David Yancey read the team a Bible verse, and they prayed again.

"We feel like this team is more family-oriented than it was last year. We're a lot closer," sophomore linebacker Jerod Mayo said.

Mayo said the Vols would likely continue their pregame meeting at midfield before games.

Thursday night, though, probably won't happen again.

"It was more of a one-time thing," Wade said. "Because it was the beginning of the season, we wanted something at the beginning to kind of set the tone for the rest of the season."

The Vols did that Saturday by ending an 0-for-6 streak against top-10 opponents in Neyland Stadium.

Thursday just helped sharpen the focus.

"The biggest thing is they went to the field and they played hard and with great effort, played the kicking game and won the line of scrimmage, all those things," Fulmer said. "I think a lot of that stuff is really good stuff and everything, but it still comes down to playing on Saturday."

Praise for Air Force: Fulmer said before Monday's practice he doesn't expect the Falcons to be intimidated by their first trip to Neyland Stadium.

"You have to have tremendous respect for those young men and what they stand for and what they're trying to do with their college lives, and obviously to be defenders of our country one day," he said. "We certainly understand the type of young man we're playing against: determined, committed and focused. They're not going to be intimidated one bit coming into Neyland Stadium. They're prepared to go to war in Afghanistan or Iraq."

Fulmer was a member of Tennessee's 1970 team that defeated Air Force 34-13 in the '71 Sugar Bowl.

Game captains: Seniors Marvin Mitchell, Jonathan Wade, David Ligon, Cory Anderson and Ryan West will be Tennessee's captains for Saturday night's game against Air Force.

The Vols are using individual game captains for the first time since 1990.

More for Mayo: Mayo was named the SEC's defensive player of the week for his three-sack performance in Saturday's win against No. 9 Cal.

In that game, Mayo missed some time after his ankle took a hit on his first play from scrimmage.

"I'm probably at about 80 percent," said Mayo, whose right ankle was taped Monday morning when he met with reporters. "I feel like I'll be 100 percent by Saturday."