Tennessee answers Texas loss with 24-14 win over Auburn

01 · The NewsTennessee Answers Back

No. 17 Tennessee answered its 20-17 loss to Texas with a 24-14 victory over Auburn on Saturday, Oct. 3, improving to 4-1 and sending the Tigers to 3-2.

The matchup also brought Auburn coach Alex Golesh back to Tennessee. Golesh previously served as the Volunteers’ offensive coordinator before spending three seasons at South Florida and taking his first season at Auburn. Tennessee will play at Arkansas on Oct. 10 at 4:15 p.m. ET, its first game after the Auburn win.

Tennessee entered Saturday ranked No. 17 in both the AP Top 25 and the AFCA Coaches Poll, with a 3-1 record that included three victories to open the season before the loss to Texas on Sept. 26. Auburn entered 3-1 and had won two of its first three games before the Vanderbilt victory and Saturday’s defeat.

The game added another chapter to a series that dates to 1900. Auburn led 29-22-3 entering the matchup and had won seven of the previous eight meetings. Tennessee’s lone victory in that stretch came in 2018, when the Volunteers won 30-24 at Auburn. The teams played annually from 1956 through 1991 before the SEC’s 1992 expansion and division split moved the game into a rotation.

Tennessee also wore its Neyland Legacy Smokey Grey uniforms, a tribute to the 100th anniversary of Robert Neyland’s first season as the program’s coach. The helmets included a white star tied to Neyland’s military career and his signature on the rear bumper.

For Tennessee, the trip to Arkansas now comes with the Texas loss behind it. For Auburn, Georgia is the next test after another conference defeat and a return to 3-2.

02 · The StakesThe Stakes

The result stopped Tennessee from absorbing a second straight loss and kept its SEC-season hopes on track. Auburn, which had beaten Vanderbilt 21-15 on Sept. 26 after losing 44-39 to Florida, now faces a narrower margin before its Oct. 17 trip to Georgia.

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