One of the storylines heading into last week’s Tennessee-Auburn game was the matchup of Jeremy Pruitt’s defense and Gus Malzahn’s defense. The two coaches have faced off against one another annually since Malzahn became the head coach on The Plains and should know each other like the back of their hands.

Judging by the results on Saturday, and his career record against Malzahn, Pruitt clearly deserves the edge in the coaching matchup.

There was perhaps no better example of Pruitt’s understanding of Malzahn’s offense than the play below from Tennessee’s 30-24 win. Right before the play was snapped, Pruitt appears to signal a defender to blitz, which he then did. The result of that blitz? Auburn’s trick play was blown up and Jarrett Stidham threw an ill-advised pass which was intercepted by outside linebacker Jonathan Kongbo.

Check to SEC Network analyst for pointing this out on Twitter:

It’s been some time since Tennessee fans could feel this could about the future of their defense but with Pruitt leading the way, expect more of the same in the future.