Tennessee 24, Auburn 14 — Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, TN
The gameplan on the first series was right out of a book... or a preview article from last week. Auburn attacked the perimeter. Jeremiah Cobb went right up the middle for 5 yards. Jeremiah Cobb caught a pass for 5 yards... 1st down right? No, not last Saturday... before that 5 yard pass was completed the offensive line had a false start penalty. False start penalties halted three separate drives for the Tigers in a first quarter that saw both teams punt the ball back and forth 6 times. Both defenses were effective, but Auburn was smothering. The Vols took advantage of Auburn's offensive mistakes, and Tennessee was able to pickup a couple of 1st downs, winning the field position battle early on- costing Auburn a field goal in the 2nd quarter.
On the other side of the ball the defensive front was able to sack the quarterback and cause enough disruption Josh Heupel pulled him from the game before halftime. Five minutes before the half, Xavier Atkins intercepted a Faizon Brandon pass to put Auburn 1st and 10 from the Vols own 19 yard line. Auburn would score a few plays later thanks to a herculean effort on the part of Auburn's signal caller.
At times Byrum Brown looked hesitant or slow to respond, but several times we saw what the Auburn quarterback is capable of on the ground. A 57 yard run was his longest as he contributed 107 of Auburn's 186 rushing yards. Jeremiah Cobb was pulled from the game with a back injury and replaced with Omar Mabson. Omar carried the ball 10 times for 62 yards without a lot of room to run. RB2 was an early spark, but the Tigers were unable to overcome the penalty yardage to keep the chains moving.
The red-zone defense continues to force field goals despite opponents sustaining long drives down the field. Tennessee scored one touchdown in the red-zone on Saturday. Big plays were the issue for DJ Durkin's defense as the Vols run game opened up substantially in the 2nd half resulting in DeSean Bishop tallying 220 yards on the ground.
The trajectory of the game shifted significantly when Tennessee changed quarterbacks. George MacIntyre was able to see the field better. He put his team in a passing rhythm that caused just enough stability in their offense to open up the run game for Bishop: dictating the tempo for the rest of the game. After getting to the QB 3 times early, the Tigers did not record a sack in the 2nd half. Auburn went from leading 7-3 to trailing 17-7 in a matter of minutes.
DeSean Bishop rushed for 82 yards over 6 plays for the first touchdown drive of the day for the Vols. Moments later Byrum Brown would throw an interception that set up Bishop for another big play in the form of a 44 yard touchdown run to just about seal the deal for the Volunteers.
The Tigers were not done yet though! They responded with some of the best football we have seen Auburn play this season. A 21 yard Omar Mabson run through the middle of the UT defense started a nearly flawless 4 play, 94 yard touchdown drive to start the 4th quarter. The 2nd play was the only hiccup after an incomplete pass. On the 3rd play of the drive Byrum let his feet do the walking as this was the moment of that previously mentioned 57 yard stroll through the middle of the Tennessee defense once again that easily made him look like the best player on the field for either team.
After giving up big plays and back to back touchdown drives in the 2nd half, the Auburn Tiger defense takes only 4 plays to get the ball back.
The coaching decision to go for it on 4th and 1 has more than one layer. The first question to ask is should we have gone for it on 4th down that close to our end zone? The ball was on the 24 yard line. DeSean Bishop had just ran for a 25 yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter. With 8:07 on the clock is punting and playing defense the better option? Additionally, is running the option to the short side of the field our best play in that situation? The quarterback has demonstrated time and time again he is very capable of picking up short yardage himself.
Ultimately the defense was worn down by the Tennessee rushing game. Auburn did not affect the backup QB the same way they did Faizon. Time of possession was closer than other games this season, but the defense was still asked to do way too much. They played well enough to win. Unsurprisingly the final drive for the Tigers ended with a false start penalty and an interception. Penalties and turnovers are mistakes that are correctable. Auburn outgained the Vols overall and both teams had 17 first downs. 11 penalties and 3 turnovers are too much to overcome most of the time... and this is one of those times.