KNOXVILLE -- There's nothing like ending the week on a positive.

Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer liked what he saw from his Vols during Thursday’s practice session at Haslam Field. UT worked for 1 hour and 45 minutes finalizing game plans for Saturday’s visit from Marshall.

“I tell you what, we had one heck of a good practice today,” Fulmer said. “I am really pleased with what we got done. This is about commitment to each other, about physical toughness, mental toughness, about continuing improvement.

“It’s about other players stepping up after the losses of good players who ordinarily would be out there and becoming a good football team. Now we need to take that same enthusiasm to the game field Saturday. We need to play with intensity and passion and play like that for 60 minutes, from start to finish.”

That’s been the emphasis of the week as Tennessee prepares for its final a pair of non-conference games against Conference USA competition -- Marshall this week and then at Memphis a week from Saturday.

The Vols, 2-1, are getting support from a familiar face in the person of injured defensive tackle Justin Harrell.

“We have to call him ‘Coach Harrell’ now,” Fulmer said. “He’s been out here helping; he’s been in meetings and is one of the leaders and captains of this football team. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a guy like him. He’s one of those guys you want to stay around as long as you can keep them around.”

INJURY UPDATE (Marshall Week): Questionable -- TB Arian Foster (ankle), WR Austin Rogers (shoulder).

UT-MARSHALL PAY-PER-VIEW UPDATE
Dish Network and DirecTV have announced the state of Tennessee channels numbers for Saturday’s UT-Marshall football game at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee customers can order the pay-per-view game on Dish Network channel 461 or DirecTV channel 797. Customers should order the broadcast by going to the designated channel and following the ordering instructions on their TV screen using their remote before kickoff Saturday. Home satellite dish owners with large C-band dishes located outside the service areas of the participating cable systems in the state of Tennessee may order the game by calling (800) 887-8277.

Cable systems across the state of Tennessee are also scheduled to carry the telecast from the VideoSeat pay-per-view service. Fans should contact their local cable system to order the game and receive price information.
Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern time and 3 p.m. Central.

The announcing team for the game telecast will be Randy Smith (play-by-play), former Vol and NFL quarterback Pat Ryan (color analysis) and former Vol Mike Stowell (sideline). Lady Vol Basketball Coach Pat Summitt along with recent Lady Vol Hall of Fame inductees Tonya Edwards and Mary Ostrowski are scheduled to be guests at halftime. In addition, there will be a sneak peak behind-the-scenes look at Tennessee football during the intermission.

For residents living outside the state of Tennessee, the game should be made available through ESPN GamePlan.

Rules and guidelines regarding pay-per-view telecasts: (1) The telecast is available only in the state of Tennessee to participating cable systems and home satellite owners. Not all cable systems in the state of Tennessee may have the event available; (2) Per Southeastern Conference rules, ESPN GamePlan has the option to offer the game to fans outside the states of Tennessee via the ESPN GamePlan package; and (3) VideoSeat pay-per-view telecasts are a production of HOST Communications, Inc., with the authorization of the University of Tennessee.

(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)