Last weekend the Fearless Prediction was at Neyland Stadium for a frantic and flawed game between top-ranked Texas and then-14th-ranked Tennessee. We are happy to report that we were not sacked by Colin Simmons. The Fearless Prediction is upright and ready for the next game to prognosticate as the Vols host Auburn.
This marks the renewal of what used to be one of the SEC’s best rivalries. Tennessee and Auburn played annually between 1956 and 1991. The advent of divisional play in 1992 took that game from us, further proof that conference expansion is a fun-killer. Bring back 10-team conferences posthaste. It’s been now 6 years since the Vols and Tigers matched up, a 30-17 Auburn win on The Plains during the forgettable 2020 Covid season.
This game also marks the return of Alex Golesh to Knoxville. For 2 seasons, Golesh was the Vols’ offensive coordinator and tight ends coach. He played a significant role in the success of the 2022 team that featured the best offense in the history of Tennessee football. Now the head coach at Auburn, Golesh will try to beat his friend and old boss, Josh Heupel.
Auburn is coming off a 21-15 win over Vanderbilt, its first home SEC victory in 671 days. Where have you gone, Cam Newton? War Eagle nation turns its lonely eyes to you…. Ooh-ooh-ooh. The Tigers’ offense has yet to really click, but the defense showed improvement, allowing only 311 yards of offense to the Commodores. A week earlier, Auburn gave up nearly 500 yards in its loss to Florida.
Tigers QB Byrum Brown followed Golesh to Auburn after 4 seasons at South Florida. Brown is completing 65% of his passes and averaging 224 yards through the air. He also leads Auburn in rushing with 237 yards (59.3 yards per game). RB Jeremiah Cobb is close behind with 228 rushing yards on the season. Brown’s top options in the passing game are Keshaun Singleton, a transfer from South Florida, and Chas Nimrod, who played for Golesh at both Tennessee and South Florida. Singleton and Nimrod each have 22 catches this season. Are you detecting a pattern? Well, you should. Golesh convinced 13 players from his 2025 South Florida team to move to Auburn, including 5 wide receivers.
Lane Kiffin must be jealous.
Defensively, sophomore LB Elijah Mendez leads the Tigers with 34 tackles. Junior LB Xavier Atkins has a team best 7 tackles for loss, including 3 sacks.
As for Tennessee, the Vols are coming off a 20-17 loss to Texas. The Vols’ offensive line was exposed by Texas’s defensive front, allowing 10 sacks. Some of that blame lies on the shoulders of true freshman QB Faizon Brandon, who… well… looked like a true freshman most of the afternoon. Brandon threw for only 145 yards and held onto the football too long and that led to many negative plays.
The Vols’ potent rushing attack never got anything going. DeSean Bishop only rushed for 34 yards. As a team, Tennessee only rushed for 70 yards, a 1.6 yards per attempt average.
If you can’t throw the ball… and you can’t run the ball… it’s tough to win a football game.
Defensively, the Vols’ performance was overshadowed by what Texas was able to accomplish. Tennessee sacked Longhorns QB Arch Manning 6 times and allowed only 262 yards of offense, and only 61 yards rushing. They got off the field on 3rd downs, only giving up 3-of-12 attempts. They just ran out of gas by the middle of the 4th quarter.
Senior LB Arion Carter now leads the Vols in tackles with 27, despite missing the season opener due to NCAA suspension.
Maybe the most surprising things to come out of the Texas game were the positive signs coming from the Vols’ much-maligned special teams. Qua Moss’s 57-yard punt return for a TD evened the game at 10 in the 3rd quarter, but Tennessee couldn’t take advantage of that momentum. Jackson Ross averaged 46.1 yards per punt. Cooper Ranvier has now made all 4 of his FG attempts and all 19 extra points. Tennessee even recovered an onside kick… I mean, the SEC now says it wasn’t legal but still… recovered!
Tennessee’s schedule the rest of the way isn’t as daunting as others in the conference. Arkansas, South Carolina and Texas A&M each look dysfunctional, and the Vols don’t have to face Georgia and Florida as they traditionally did in divisional play. But Alabama and LSU are still lurking, and if the Vols are to have any chance at being in Playoff consideration, they must win the games they are expected to win.
Golesh has yet to pick up a signature victory. The opportunity is there on Saturday afternoon. But he doesn’t have enough on the roster to pull off the upset in a building he knows so well.
Fearless Prediction: Tennessee 30, Auburn 20
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Mark Nagi has covered Tennessee athletics for over 20 years. He is the author of “Decade of Dysfunction,” an in-depth look at all that led to the crazy coaching search of 2017 at Tennessee. The book is available on Amazon.
