George MacIntyre replaced Fazon Brandon at quarterback with 3:42 left in the second quarter of No. 17 Tennessee’s win Auburn SATURDAY.
Josh Heupel made the decision to pull Brandon after the true freshman was taken down by Auburn linebacker Xavier Atkins while Tennessee was deeply rooted in its own territory. Brandon had a tight end DaSaahn Brame opened along the sideline on a play kick leg, but threw it too late. His first career interception gave the Tigers the ball back at the UT 19-yard line with the Vols leading 7-3.
Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown rushed for an eight-yard touchdown on third-and-goal five plays later. This gave the Tigers a 7-3 lead that they would hold until halftime.
MacIntyre replaced Brandon at quarterback to start the next practice because “Faizon just wasn’t working” and “wasn’t feeling 100 percent,” Heupel told the ESPN broadcast as he headed to the locker room at halftime.
Although Brandon spent the week nursing an upper-body injury he suffered in last week’s loss to No. 1 TexasHeupel revealed after the game that he didn’t think it necessarily had an impact on Brandon’s play.
Brandon finished his second career SEC start going 3-of-8 passing for zero yards. He finished with -9 rushing yards on four attempts because he had several sacks.
“Faizon ultimately didn’t play his best football,” Heupel told the media after MacIntyre led the Vols to a 24-14 victory over the Tigers. “The turnover on the sideline and some other things, just progressions, but I’ve told you this many times before: we’re going to need it throughout the year. I alluded to it a little bit earlier with the guys who had to step up their efforts.
“We will come back in the building on Monday and continue to grow. We have a lot of growth left on the offensive side of the football. It’s positive that we get a win today”
MacIntyre guided the Vols to 198 total yards of offense in the second half, although he only threw for 48. Tennessee was able to outscore Auburn 21-7 in the second half thanks to 150 rushing yards to come from behind and win by 10. The Vols scored 14 of those points in the third quarter while Jim Knowles’ defense pitched a shutout.
The second-year quarterback completed eight of 10 pass attempts for 86 yards in his first extended action of the season. MacIntyre did not turn the ball over.
“I thought George did some positive things early as well when he came into the game in the first half,” Heupel said. “There are some things we all need to be better at. This is the second week in a row that we’ve had a sideline game where we ultimately didn’t go out of bounds, but George’s ability to throw the ball in the second half allowed us to create a big play, especially the one against Mike early on, but overall it allowed us to take advantage of some of the things they were giving us.
“It was a big lesson for everyone in the locker room. George, you don’t know when your opportunity will come. He’s ready. He’s playing extremely well. (Defensive back) Tevis Metcalf gets his opportunity (replacing Qua Moss), comes out, plays extremely well, but also finishes the game with the ball in his hands. on many last defensive positions.
Tennessee (4-1, 1-1 SEC) will be back in action next Saturday when it travels to Arkansas. Kickoff with the Razorbacks is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. ET. The contest will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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