PASADENA, Calif. — You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression in the often one-and-done college football world.

And first impressions don’t come much bigger than this.

The 18th-ranked University of Tennessee football team opens its season just after 8 p.m. tonight in a nationally-televised, unopposed game at UCLA in The Rose Bowl.

As Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel said, “It’s a great carrot to put on the end of the stick.”

For better or worse, the Vols have tonight’s spotlight.

A team largely ignored by the national media — at least compared to rivals Georgia and Florida — can reverse or accelerate that trend tonight on ABC.

“We’re not really talked about that much,” All-America senior guard Anthony Parker said. “It’s not like we need to get talked about that much to go play well, but this is a good chance for the rest of America to see what we are, what we stand for and how good we actually are.”

Sure, if they actually play well.

“It’s a big risk-reward kind of thing,” said senior tailback Arian Foster, who finished high school in San Diego. “The Cal game two years ago helped us out a lot, but last year’s game out there (in California) didn’t.”

The Vols feel like they still deserve national respect, and they probably have it — though that glow has faded for many. Drilled three times in the first half of last season, twice on national television, UT’s improbable run to the SEC Eastern Division championship was relatively quiet outside the South.

UT was one quarter from completing that stunning turn-around and winning the SEC championship, but two fourth-quarter interceptions put them behind LSU and prevented a comeback. The Vols salvaged a 10-win season by winning January’s Outback Bowl, but it’s been nearly 10 years since they won a conference title.

“When you go to a school like the University of Tennessee, everybody wants and expects you to win,” senior defensive end Robert Ayers said. “They expect you to win here, period. It’s something you learn to deal with.

“No one outside this program puts more pressure on ourselves than we do, though. Those outside influences really don’t affect us, because we have greater expectations of ourselves than anyone else.”

Much of that pressure sits on the shoulders of UT’s new starting quarterback Jonathan Crompton and first-year offensive coordinator Dave Clawson. These Vols returned proven commodities in most other areas, but that won’t matter without strong seasons from Crompton and Clawson.

“We know what we’ve got to do, and we’re ready to go out there and do it,” Crompton said. “This is what everybody wants. You want to open the season under the spotlight with everybody watching.

“We’re the only game on that time (tonight). That’s the best way to do it.”

Only if it’s done well, though.

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