KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 17 Tennessee defeated Auburn 24-14 Saturday inside Neyland Stadium. DeSean Bishop carried the offense with 220 yards and three touchdowns, but the Vols’ defense came in with the mindset of winning the game on its side of the ball. You could see that locked-in focus during media availability earlier in the week.
That focus showed up on Saturday. Tennessee finished with four sacks, eight tackles for loss, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
Auburn struggled to move the ball through the air when it mattered most. The Tigers went 5 of 14 on third down, and Brown completed 4 of 6 third-down passes for just 7 yards. Auburn averaged 3.8 yards per pass attempt once sacks were factored in and posted a 34% offensive success rate.
Defensive back Dejuan Lane was the one who changed the game. He was all over the field and bothered Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown in more ways than one. Lane finished with a team-leading nine tackles (six solo), two sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, an interception and a quarterback hurry.
Tennessee led 10-7 in the third quarter when Auburn put together a solid drive and crossed into Vols territory. That’s when Lane stepped up and flipped the momentum.
“Going into the game as a defense, our mentality is we want to win the game on defense, so we love games like that,” Lane said. “It was getting late, getting to crunch time, and I knew we needed a big play. Like Tevis said previously, I saw the ball and I took it, and that’s what it was.”
On the very next play, Bishop broke off a 44-yard touchdown run to put the Vols up 17-7. Lane came right back on Auburn’s next drive and sacked Brown to push the Tigers out of field goal range. He did whatever the defense needed and led the unit in big plays.
The defense came up big again late when Auburn went for it on fourth-and-1 from its own 25 with under six minutes left and came up empty. They played disciplined ball on that play and stuffed a misdirection play, with defensive lineman Nathan Robinson coming up big on the play.
“Like we said previously, we have a saying with Coach Knowles: ‘Give us an inch, we’ll defend it,'” Lane said. “And that’s what we did. It’s a mentality, and we showed y’all that we can make those stops in big games like this.”
Lane wasn’t the only defensive back who came up big. With Qua Moss out due to injury, Tevis Metcalf made his first career start, lining up alongside his brother TJ Metcalf in the secondary. He made it count, intercepting Brown with less than a minute left to seal the win.
“I’m just happy to be able to have my first career start with my brother,” Tevis Metcalf said. “It’s amazing to know that he’s got my back and I’ve got his out there, so I’m just glad that happened. And then with the pick, it was amazing. My first career pick. I’m reading my keys and then I see it and I take it.”
The interception came against a school Tevis grew up a couple of hours from, and he had extra motivation to get one.
“It definitely hit different because I know a lot of people on the team, so it did hit close to home being able to compete,” Tevis Metcalf said. “And then I was thinking of it as my brother, he popped it when he played against them, so I felt like it was mandatory that I did the same.”
TJ said seeing his brother deliver wasn’t a surprise.
“It gets real personal for me just seeing my brother go out there and make plays like that,” TJ Metcalf said. “We’ve been doing this thing for our whole lives, and I get to see him stay prepared, always be in his preparation like he’s gonna go out there and start each and every week since we’ve been playing college ball. So to me, it’s nothing new, but it’s amazing to see him go out there and perform.”
Jim Knowles’ defense showed again that it has the team’s back. The offense converted just 3 of 14 third downs, but even when it sputters and takes a while to find its way, this unit finds ways to keep Tennessee in the game.
