Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel spoke at the SEC Coaches Weekly Teleconference on Wednesday about the recent sellout ahead of the Ole Miss game.

Heupel immediately thanked the Tennessee fans who made it possible (via 247Sports):

“We’ve got the greatest fan base in America,” said Heupel. “That’s why our stadium looks the way that it does.”For them to recognize what’s going on, on the field, as far as the effort, strain and progress that our players are making, excited for that. Yeah, personally excited to go through the Vol Walk and see about 45,000 fans there, and then come out to a checkerboard stadium that’s packed out. But excited for our players — the effort that they’ve put in, in the eight-and-a-half-plus months that we’ve been here. Extremely exciting opportunity for our players.”

Next, Heupel emphasized how important the support from the fans will be for the remainder of the season.

“And, like I said after the football game last week, and I said it this week too, our fan base has to play a part in this football game,” said Heupel. “They’ve got to make it extremely difficult for them to communicate and help us on Saturday night. Looking forward to that environment.”

Tennessee (4-2) and No. 13 Ole Miss (4-1) meet in Neyland Stadium for Lane Kiffin’s return to Knoxville at 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network on Saturday.