KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Auburn received the kick out of halftime, and tried to go with a little trick play that went nowhere. Tennessee played disciplined and sound defense the first-half and looked to continue. Tyree Weathersby played solid run defense and Amare Campbell came up with a sack to put the Tigers into a third-and-11 and then a punt.
MacIntyre took the field as the quarterback, and on the second play of the drive ripped a slant to Mike Matthews that ultimately went for 42 yards. MacIntyre looked in control of the game and was confident. DeSean Bishop ran five out of the six plays on the drive for 40 yards, that included a 25-yard touchdown run. Tennessee took a 10-7 lead. The Vols were successful in 12 personnel and they looked like they did the first few weeks of the season.
Auburn came out and committed to the run, for a few plays on the next drive. But after Edwin Spillman sacked Brown on a first-and-10, Tennessee’s Dejuan Lane came up with a big interception to give the Vols the ball back. Then, all it took was one play for Bishop to burst through for a 44-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 17-7. The Vols’ rushing attack was back and Bishop to that point was up to 154 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.
The Vols defense allowed the Tigers to get into their territory before they turned up the heat. Byrum Brown recorded a 21-yard run in the drive as well. Then, just a drive after coming up with an interception, Lane came off the edge for a huge 8-yard sack that took Auburn out of field goal range. The defense answered once again, and Auburn burned 4:08 off the clock that was empty.
After Tennessee’s next drive stalled out and ended with a Jackson Ross 42-yard punt to pin the Tigers at their own six-yard line. Auburn then went down the field and cut the Vols’ lead to 17-14. Omar Mabson II opened the drive with a 21-yard burst. Then a couple of plays later, Brown took off for a 57-yard run and followed with a pop pass to Arlis Boardingham for the 16-yard touchdown to cap a 94-yard drive.
Bishop was on a mission Saturday. He opened the next drive with a 13-yard run for a first down. That was a run that took effort, as he could have easily lost yardage on that play. However, the drive stalled and ended with another beautiful punt by Ross to put Auburn at their own 5-yard line. Ross should be in consideration for Southeastern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.
Tennessee’s defense came up huge on a fourth-and-1. Auburn decided to go for it with 6:38 left in the game and two timeouts and was stuffed on a misdirection by Nathan Robinson. That gave the Vols the ball at the Auburn 24-yard line. That was a big gamble by Alex Golesh, and it backfired. Tennessee went to a heavy dose of Bishop for 24 yards and his third touchdown. Tennessee got into a fourth-and-1 situation of its own, but the Vols ran right behind Donovan Haslam and finished off the drive. That drive took Bishop to 213 yards on 31 carries.
Auburn responded with a mix of pass and run to move the ball down the field deep into Tennessee territory. Brown orchestrated a solid drive and on second-and-six, he hit Keshaun Singleton for a 13-yard pass. Singleton appeared to have fumbled late, and the play went to review, but they maintained possession for one more play. On the next play, Tevis Metcalf came up with the final interception off a Mariyon Dye tip. Tennessee would run out the clock and take the win.
