Heupel benches freshman QB Brandon as Tennessee beats Auburn 24-14

Freshman Faizon Brandon was lifted in the second quarter against Auburn, and sophomore George MacIntyre handled the rest of Tennessee's 24-14 home win at Neyland Stadium.

Tennessee came away with a 24-14 win over Auburn at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 3, but the night's biggest development came at quarterback. During the second quarter, coach Josh Heupel removed freshman Faizon Brandon and handed the offense to sophomore George MacIntyre.

The switch came with 3:42 remaining before halftime. To that point Brandon had connected on three of eight passes for no yards, with an interception — the roughest outing of his brief college career. The victory ran Tennessee's record to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in SEC play.

Speaking after the game, Heupel pointed to performance and kept every option alive at the position. "Faizon, ultimately, didn't play his best football," he said. "But I've said it a bunch ... we're going to need them all throughout the course of the year. ... The guys that had to step up did and we'll be back in the building on Monday and continue to grow. There's a lot of growth left for us on the offensive side of the football."

Brandon's condition became part of the conversation as well. In a halftime interview on the ESPN broadcast, Heupel said his quarterback "just wasn't operating" and "wasn't feeling 100%." Afterward, though, he declined to tie the freshman's rough night to lingering discomfort from a Sept. 26 loss to No. 1 Texas. "I don't know that I would say that," Heupel replied when asked whether health affected the performance. "We'll watch a little bit of the tape and see more of it. But we'll go from there."

Nothing during the week signaled that Brandon was hurting. He appeared on no injury report in the days before the Auburn game, despite absorbing 10 sacks plus repeated hard contact in the Texas defeat a week earlier. He also left that contest during the second quarter with what appeared to be an injury, missing only a brief stretch of snaps before returning and finishing 17-of-29 passing for 145 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions in the 20-17 loss at Neyland Stadium.

MacIntyre's relief work brought steadier production through the air. He hit on 80% of his throws for 86 yards, with neither a touchdown pass nor an interception. Pass protection firmed up alongside him — after dropping Brandon twice during the freshman's shortened stint, Auburn broke through against MacIntyre only once.

The Tigers, who fell to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in the SEC, had no answer for DeSean Bishop on the ground. Tennessee's running back piled up 220 rushing yards and reached the end zone three times to anchor the Volunteers' offense.

How Tennessee divides the quarterback snaps going forward is the immediate question. Heupel said the competition will remain under evaluation, leaving the split between Brandon and MacIntyre unsettled as the Volunteers move through their schedule.