Auburn’s trip to Rocky Top turned into the kind of loss that sticks with you: a 24-14 defeat to Tennessee that never really felt alive once the Volunteers made a quarterback change and the game tilted hard in their favor.
Josh Heupel pulled true freshman Faizon Brandon in the first half and turned to George MacIntyre, and the switch worked exactly the way Tennessee wanted. MacIntyre handled the game-manager job cleanly, and that opened the door for DeSean Bishop to hammer Auburn for 220 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
For Auburn, the result only sharpened the sense that some ugly patterns are already threatening to wreck the 2026 season on the Plains if things don’t change soon. There were a couple of bright spots, but the night was mostly a slog. Here are the two winners and three losers from the game.
Jonathan Echols had a rough stretch in the third quarter, and it came in two different ways. First, he dropped an eight-yard pass that could have turned into much more with open field ahead of him.
Not long after, he let DeJaun Lane get to Brown in the pocket with barely any resistance. Tight end remains a major problem for this team, especially when it comes to both run blocking and pass protection.
DJ Durkin’s defense also came away looking bad again. Auburn has now been bullied on the ground twice this season, with Florida’s Jadan Baugh piling up 162 yards and three touchdowns at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Week 3.
Allowing elite backs to have their way is not a good look, and it puts more pressure on Durkin to fix things over the bye week before Georgia shows up in Week 7. The source material puts that price tag at $2.7 million, and the performance hasn’t matched it.
On the positive side, Omar Mabson gave Auburn something to work with. His 6.2 yards per carry against Tennessee stood out, especially considering the offensive line he had in front of him. The Auburn High School product is starting to carve out a useful role in the running back room.
Byrum Brown’s night was more complicated. Social media chatter during the game pushed the idea of moving on from him as QB1, and it was easy to understand why after Tennessee’s own quarterback change paid off so well.
Brown threw two interceptions, but he also finally showed some life as a runner, finishing with 107 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. Still, the bigger issue remains his inability to produce sustained drives against SEC competition.
If Brown and this roster keep going nowhere fast in his final season of eligibility, Tristan Ti'a has to at least enter the conversation.
Keshaun Singleton also made his case. He finished with seven catches for 57 yards and moved into the team lead this season in both receptions and receiving yards.
That kind of production matters even more when Brown is struggling to create clean opportunities from the pocket. Brown was sacked four times in Week 5, and that came after he had already been sacked 14 times through the first four games.
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Auburn's Bye Week Just Got More Urgent After Alex Golesh's Remarks
Auburns 24-14 loss to No. 17 Tennessee left the Tigers at 3-2 overall and 1-2 in SEC play, and it made the upcoming bye week feel less like a breather and more like a reset button. Alex Golesh pointed to the second-half performance as the place where things slipped, with the run defense, pre-snap penalties and even the crowd noise all showing up as problems that disrupted what Auburn was trying to do on offense.
Golesh also touched on individual player performances, a reminder that this is not just about fixing one phase of the game but about sorting through several issues at once. The bye week now offers Auburn a chance to clean up communication, tighten the defense against the run and get the operation smoother before the schedule turns back toward SEC pressure. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Late Fourth-And-1 Decision Deserves Fresh Scrutiny
Late in the fourth quarter against Tennessee, Auburn had one of those calls that can linger long after the final whistle. Facing fourth-and-inches at its own 24 with just over six minutes left, the Tigers went with a toss to Jeremiah Cobb, and Tennessees defense was waiting. The stop flipped the field immediately and put Auburn under pressure at the exact moment the game was tightening.
From there, the sequence only got worse for Auburn. Tennessee turned the short field into a game-sealing touchdown, and Auburns next possession ended with an interception near the goal line. It was the kind of stretch that turns one questionable decision into the focal point of a loss, especially when the margin for error is already gone. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn's Biggest Problem Just Got Harder To Ignore Before Georgia
Auburn heads into the Georgia game with the same offensive concerns that have been hanging over the season, only now they are louder after a 24-14 loss to No. 17 Tennessee. The Tigers fell to 3-2 after a day in which Byrum Brown never quite got the offense settled, even with a touchdown through the air and another on the ground, while Tennessee found enough answers to keep Auburn chasing the game.
The defense did give Auburn chances by forcing turnovers, but the missed opportunities piled up once Tennessee leaned on DeSean Bishop in the second half. Bishop finished with two touchdowns and helped turn a competitive game into another frustrating result, leaving Auburn with little margin for error and even less time to sort out what is going wrong before the trip to face Georgia. [Read more 🡒]