No. 17 Tennessee went to its backup quarterback in the middle of Saturday’s SEC matchup at Neyland Stadium, benching freshman Faizon Brandon and turning to sophomore George MacIntyre with Auburn ahead 7-3 in the first half.
Brandon’s afternoon had already gone sideways. He was just 3 of 8 for zero yards, threw an interception and took two sacks before Josh Heupel made the switch. That interception - Brandon’s first of the season - came on a first-down throw from the Tennessee 11 and led to an Auburn touchdown four plays later.
The rough outing fit a troubling pattern for the five-star freshman. Brandon came into Saturday 58 of 93 for 697 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions, but the Texas game in Week 4 exposed him. In that loss at Neyland Stadium, Texas sacked him 10 times, and he briefly exited with an injury to his right throwing shoulder.
Heupel stood behind Brandon on Thursday and said, “He knows that he can and needs to play better than he did Saturday,” Heupel said.
The protection didn’t improve much against Auburn. The Tigers got to Brandon twice in the first quarter, and Tennessee’s offense never found rhythm before the change.
On one first-down run later in the quarter, Brandon lost 12 yards and Tennessee kept the play alive only because he stepped out of bounds after the fumble. As a team, the Vols had zero net yards on 10 dropbacks before the quarterback switch.
Tennessee also entered the week with outside concern about the matchup. College football analyst Josh Pate had put the Vols on upset alert, pointing to the loss of guard Wendell Moe Jr. and Brandon’s recent struggles. Moe is out for the season, and Tennessee had reshuffled its offensive line for Auburn.
MacIntyre, meanwhile, brought a different profile to the huddle. The 6-foot-6 Franklin, Tenn., native starred at Brentwood Academy and lost the preseason quarterback battle to Brandon.
He committed to Tennessee in January 2024 over Alabama, LSU, Michigan and Clemson as the nation’s No. 15 overall prospect and No. 3 quarterback in the 2025 class. As a high school junior, he threw for 3,229 yards and 25 touchdowns.
He also comes from a coaching family. MacIntyre is the grandson of former Vanderbilt coach George MacIntyre and the nephew of longtime college coach Mike MacIntyre.
Before Saturday, he had completed 6 of 10 passes for 62 yards and a touchdown this season, including a 22-yard strike to five-star freshman TK Keys in the opener against Furman. He also entered briefly against Texas while Brandon was being evaluated.
The quarterback change came as Tennessee, now 3-1 and 0-1 in the SEC, tried to avoid an 0-2 start in league play. Auburn, also 3-1, arrived under first-year head coach Alex Golesh, who worked as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator under Heupel in 2021 and 2022.
Heupel spent the week backing Brandon’s growth, so the move to MacIntyre against a former assistant was a notable shift from the confidence Tennessee had shown in the freshman up to that point. Tennessee’s next game is at Arkansas on Oct. 10.
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Alex Golesh Had A Telling Read On How Neyland Shifted This Game
Auburn left Neyland Stadium with a 24-14 loss to Tennessee, but head coach Alex Golesh came away talking as much about the shift in his own offense as the final score. After a slow start and some penalties that hampered the Tigers early, Golesh said the group found better rhythm in the second half, with the run game helping settle things down and the passing attack starting to look more efficient.
For Tennessee, that kind of midgame adjustment is exactly the sort of wrinkle Neyland has a way of amplifying. The Volunteers were able to lean on the atmosphere and the flow of the game as Auburns offense began to click more cleanly, but Goleshs comments suggested his team left with a clearer sense of where the execution improved and where the early mistakes made the difference. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee's Offense Just Sparked A Debate Fans Can't Ignore
Tennessee got the result it needed against Auburn, but the way it got there left plenty to sort through. The Vols pulled out a 24-14 win to move to 4-1, and the offenses first-half unevenness put an immediate spotlight on true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon before the ground game took over and steadied things.
DeSean Bishop was the difference-maker, putting together a career-best outing with 220 rushing yards and three touchdowns to carry Tennessee through a tense finish. Even as the offense searched for consistency, the defense helped close the door, with Dejuan Lane adding an interception and a sack in the second half to keep Auburn from mounting a late push. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Just Added More Fuel To A Debate Fans Can't Ignore
Tennessee left Auburn with a 24-14 win that nudged the Vols to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in SEC play, and the reward on the national side was just as notable. The coaches moved Tennessee up three spots to No. 14 in the latest poll, placing the Vols sixth among SEC teams and keeping them in the thick of a conference race that still feels wide open in October.
The bigger conversation, though, is happening under center. Josh Heupel addressed the quarterback change during the game but stopped short of naming a starter for next week, leaving Tennessee to head into Arkansas with the position still unsettled. For a team that has already shown it can win while sorting through that question, the next week now feels like another test of both timing and trust. [Read more 🡒]