By Jimmy Hyams, News-Sentinel assistant sports editor

MIAMI - The 13 1/2-point line shows oddsmakers don't respect Tennessee's football team.

Nebraska's secondary showed at two outings it doesn't respect UT's receivers, either.

"Their guys feel like we can't play with them," Vols receiver Peerless Price said. "They feel like they ought to have a better opponent. They feel like they're going to run all over us. That's very disrespectful."

Price and Jeremaine Copeland said Nebraska defensive backs Jerome Peterson, Erwin Swiney and Joe Walker were trash talking at the Seaquarium and at a bar called Liquids several days ago.

"They were like, we're going to kill y'all," said Price, whose first name was spelled "Pearless" on the media table name plate. "We want to go out and prove them wrong and make them eat their words."

Copeland said he'd not heard taunting like this at previous bowls.

"They were basically saying we shouldn't be on the field with them; you're not a real team; you're not a powerhouse team; and we're just going to crush you and run you right off the field," Copeland said. "I feel like we're getting downed by Nebraska.

"No. 25 (McGraw) said, 'Don't come across the middle.' And No. 11 (Peterson) said, 'They're not going to get off the line of scrimmage 'cause we play man so much and we'll be all in their mouth.' They said they were going to shut us down, period."

Copeland said he and his teammates got up and left.

"It ticked us off," he said. "We were getting madder than we should have."

Price and UT's receivers are confident, however.

"We feel like we can run past any DBs in the country," Price said. "I feel like we can run past these DBs."

Copeland said he expects the ill will to carry onto the field with more jawing.

"I think everybody might as well get ready for this to be like a big rumble," he said. "You'll like see a lot of trash talk|ing."

CHAVIS CAN'T RELATE: UT defensive coordinator John Chavis couldn't relate to long-time Nebraska assistant Frank Solich being promoted to replace the retiring Tom Osborne as the Cornhuskers' head coach.

That's because Chavis doesn't want to be a head coach.

"I have no desire to be a head coach," Chavis said. "My commitment will be and always will be as an assistant coach.

"The higher you go up the ladder in terms of this profession, I think the farther you are away from the players in one sense. My love of football is working with young men on a daily basis. I enjoy that interaction."

Chavis, who has been a coach since 1979, the past nine at Tennessee, said he decided early in his career he didn't want to be a head coach.

"Obviously it would be flattering to be a head coach," Chavis said. "But I think the head coach has so many responsibilities and if you're not careful, you get spread so thin.

Chavis said interaction with players "is an opportunity for me to give back something to the profession that has meant so much to me."

DOUBT THE SCOUTS: Try as it might, Tennessee's scout team looks nothing, absolutely nothing, like Nebraska's option, said Vols safety Tori Noel.

"You can't simulate great athletes in practice," Noel said. "Nebraska's guys are speedy and physical."

Noel said Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost is a 6-3, 250-pound running back, and UT is using redshirt freshman receiver Bobby Graham - "he's 6-2, probably a buck-95" - to emulate Frost.

LEWIS LIKELY TO GO: Don't expect UT freshman tailback Jamal Lewis to do like Peyton Manning and stay four years at Tennessee. Lewis said the pounding that a running back takes likely will lead him to turn pro sometime before his senior season.

"From a health standpoint, that would be the reason I'd leave," Lewis said. "It wouldn't be for the money.

"I would just want to make sure that when I get to the NFL, I'd be the best running back I could be."

MIDAS TOUCH?: Vols offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe visited with Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf at the Heisman Trophy ceremonies three weeks ago in New York.

"I wished Mr. Leaf good luck (against Michigan in the Rose Bowl)," Cutcliffe said. "I rubbed his shoulders down and told him to throw it to the guys on his team."

A Washington State win and a UT win could give the Vols their first national title since 1951.

RECRUITING: Receiver Marquise Walker, a USA Today first-team All-American from Syracuse, N.Y., has committed to Michigan. Walker visited UT earlier this month.

PRACTICE NOTES: UT coach Phillip Fulmer said Manning and Terry Fair are "ready and able" to start. Manning will wear a small, black brace to protect his right knee. . . . Backup middle linebacker Shawn Johnson (sprained neck) should be available . . . Although Fulmer said cornerback Dwayne Goodrich is "very doubtful," Goodrich said he would not play. Goodrich (thigh strain) did not practice again Wednesday.