NASHVILLE -- Despite inclement winter weather throughout much of the Eastern United States, the University of Tennessee football team reported for Sunday's start to on-site, Music City Bowl practice without major incident.

The Volunteers (6-6) practiced Sunday night at in-state rival Vanderbilt, and afterward they reported back to their rooms at the spacious Gaylord Opryland Resort -- where Music City foe North Carolina (7-5) is also staying.

UT athletic department spokesmen Jimmy Stanton and John Painters said every player expected to arrive Sunday arrived before practice. That list included sophomore All-Southeastern Conference safety Janzen Jackson, who missed the Vols' on-campus bowl preparations while dealing with an undisclosed, "very personal" situation with a family member in his native Louisiana.

The Vols, who along with Dooley spoke with reporters Sunday night, will resume practice around 1 p.m. today -- noon, local time -- at Vanderbilt, and they'll again meet with the media afterward at the team hotel. Tuesday's and Wednesday's practices will be closed to the media, but Dooley and North Carolina head coach Butch Davis will speak with reporters in a Wednesday afternoon press conference.

UT and UNC will kickoff the Music City Bowl on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The game quickly sold out, and a heavily orange partisan crowd is expected at the Tennessee Titans' LP Field for the game.

"We've come a long way from 2-6, winning our last four games, but we're not done yet," Vols senior middle linebacker Nick Reveiz said. "We've got one game to go, and it's a chance to get our best win of the year, so obviously that's something we'd like to do.

"It's going to take really good preparation and a really good game to beat a tough team like North Carolina, but that's definitely something we can do if we put in the work."

Contact Wes Rucker at wrucker@timesfreepress.com or 865-851-9739. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/wesruckerCTFP or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tfpvolsbeat.