Vols Upset Auburn, 30-24, at Jordan-Hare Stadium
Tennessee outscored No.
21/21 Auburn 17-7 in the final two quarters of Saturday's game to earn
its first road and SEC win of the season at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"We
beat a really good football team today," head coach Jeremy Pruitt said.
"It's like I told them in there, if we learn to execute and raise our
level of fight, we've got a chance to have a really good football team.
There were times in the game where things didn't go our way. I didn't
think we played very well at certain times in the game, but our guys
kind of kept their poise. Fought a little bit harder. They played with
a little better technique. We got some turnovers and didn't turn the
ball over."
The conference victory is the first of the Jeremy
Pruitt era and marks UT's first road win over a ranked Auburn team
since the 1980 season when the Vols defeated the No. 18 Tigers 42-0 in
Auburn.
With the win, Tennessee improves to 3-3 (1-2 SEC) and Auburn moves to 4-3 (1-3 SEC) on the season.
Redshirt
sophomore quarterback Jarrett Guarantano paced the Vols offensively,
completing a career-high 21 of 32 passes for 328 yards and two
touchdowns. Sophomore running back Ty Chandler rushed for 50 yards on
16 carries while redshirt junior wide receiver Jauan Jennings caught
five passes for 71 yards and a touchdown.
Auburn quarterback
Jarrett Stidham completed 28 of 45 passes for 322 yards, two touchdowns
and two interceptions. Andrew Schwartz led the Tigers in rushing with
44 yards on three carries and added 83 yards on two receptions.
The
Tigers got the scoring started with a 14-play, 75-yard drive, capped
off by a 1-yard touchdown rush by running back Chandler Cox with 9:44
remaining in the opening frame.
Tennessee then added three
points to the board in its ensuing possession with a 42-yard field goal
by sophomore kicker Brent Cimaglia. Chandler had an 18-yard rush to
start the drive while freshman running back Tim Jordan made two plays
for a combined 37 yards to set up the kick.
The Vols' defense
proceeded to hold Auburn to a field goal in the redzone after the
Tigers marched 73 yards down the field to UT's two-yard line during
their final drive of the first quarter.
In the second quarter,
freshman defensive back Bryce Thompson ignited Tennessee's third
scoring opportunity, intercepting Stidham's pass on a second-and-four
try with 13:05 to go to set the Vols up at their own 41.
Guarantano then marched the Big Orange 59 yards in five plays, capping
the drive with a 42-yard pass to Chandler for a touchdown. Cimaglia's
successful PAT tied the game up at 10-10.
Stidham was
intercepted again in the second quarter with 6:34 left to play by
redshirt senior linebacker Jonathan Kongbo. He returned it 10 yards to
the AU37. The resulting Tennessee drive ended in a Joe Doyle punt.
Auburn capitalized on the opportunity with a 76-yard touchdown pass to
make it a 17-10 ballgame.
In Tennessee's final drive of the
half, Cimaglia made his second field goal of the game, a season-long
45-yard kick which capped a seven-play, 24-yard drive.
The two
teams exchanged punts to start the third before Tennessee ate up 6:24
on a 12-play, 86-yard drive. The Vols used three plays over 10 yards to
get down the field before Guarantano connected with Jennings in the
back of the endzone for a 25-yard score. Cimaglia's PAT was good and
gave the Vols a 20-17 lead.
Tennessee then attempted an on-side
kick that Auburn recovered at it's own 25-yard line. On the second play
of the drive, defensive linemen Kyle Phillips and Alexis Johnson Jr.
forced a Stidham fumble that was recovered and returned for a touchdown
by Alontae Taylor. It marks the first fumble returned for a touchdown
by a Vol since VFL Corey Vereen did so at Georgia on Oct. 1, 2016.
Cimaglia
added another field goal for Tennessee in the fourth quarter to extend
the Vols' lead 30-17. The score finished off a five-play, 47-yard drive.
Auburn recorded the last touchdown of the game with 37 seconds left in the fourth to make it a 30-24 final.
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