By: Jeremy Durham, sports columnist
Every breakup has that moment when you realize your ex took more than you thought – including your favorite sweatshirt. For Tennessee, that moment arrives Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT.
Alex Golesh was Hendon Hooker’s offensive coordinator, Josh Heupel’s right-hand man for the 2022 offense that led the country at 46.1 points a game and hung 52 on Alabama. Then he left to run South Florida, upset Florida in 2025 and landed the Auburn head coaching job last November.
He’s got company. Tim Banks, Tennessee’s defensive coordinator for five years and the former subject of many Vols fans’ discontent, is now Auburn’s co-defensive coordinator. Kodi Burns, who coached Vol receivers, is co-offensive coordinator. The offensive line coach was a Golesh grad assistant in Knoxville. Golesh brought his own quarterback, Byrum Brown, who followed him from USF after becoming the first Bull to throw for 3,000 yards and run for 1,000 in a season.
So Saturday isn’t really Tennessee vs. Auburn. It’s Tennessee vs. Tennessee’s old group chat, dressed in orange and navy. (Texas last week, now Auburn. When do the Vols start playing teams without some type of orange color scheme?)
No. 17 Tennessee (3-1, 0-1 SEC) vs. Auburn (3-1, 1-1). Neyland Stadium, ESPN. The Vols will wear Smokey Grey to mark 100 years since General Neyland’s first season.
The General would have hated the sacks but loved a successful drop kick onsides – even if slightly illegal!
The General would have hated the sacks but loved a successful drop kick onsides – even if slightly illegal!
About Last Week
We picked Vols 31, Texas 27. Final: Texas 20-17. Wrong winner, right side. Tennessee was getting 4.5 and lost by three. The scoreboard said loss. The sportsbook said thank you. We’re 1-0 against the number and plan to be unbearable about it.
And the Vols did everything but win. Eight more first downs than the No. 1 team in America. A 57-yard punt return touchdown from Qua Moss. Texas held under 70 rushing yards. A 30-yard touchdown to Mike Matthews with 1:22 left, Arion Carter grabbing the onside kick, and 101,915 people who believed. Then a Hail Mary got batted down. But hey, at least the kid threw it into the end zone instead of running out of bounds. (Nico at Arkansas, Joe Milton against Ole Miss. We’ve seen that movie twice. Thankfully no three-quel!)
The one thing that went wrong went catastrophically wrong: Faizon Brandon was sacked 10 times. Add Tennessee’s six on Arch and that’s 16, the most in any college game in at least 30 years. Colin Simmons had five himself, maybe his ridiculous, and costly, post sack gesture was a commentary on Tennessee’s piss poor offensive line play?!?
Why This Should Scare You
Tim Banks has seen every protection Tennessee runs. He spent five years practicing against them. And his best player, linebacker Xavier Atkins, was a unanimous preseason All-American who just watched Texas play pin-the-tail on a freshman quarterback for four quarters.
If the Vols’ offensive line looks like it did last Saturday, the ex wins the breakup.
Why It Shouldn’t
He’s still the Tim Banks whose defense ranked 92nd in scoring last year, which is why Tennessee fired him. And Auburn is 3-1 and nobody can tell you if it’s any good. It beat Baylor by one. It gave up 44 at home to Florida and lost. It scored 21 on Vanderbilt. Brown, the 3,000-and-1,000 guy, threw for 140 yards in that one.
And Auburn hasn’t been to Neyland since 2013, when it won 55-23. That’s the bad memory. The good one is 1985, when an unranked Vols team beat No. 1 Auburn and Bo Jackson 38-20. We mentioned Bo last week. This week, his old team is actually on the schedule.
The Line
Tennessee opened at 7.5, and at least one betting model likes Auburn to cover. That makes sense on paper: a coach who knows your playbook, a defense built by your own coordinator, and an offensive line that just gave up 10 sacks.
But paper doesn’t sing Rocky Top, and no team in the country matches the talent of the Texas defense. Brandon won’t get sacked 10 times again, and Golesh is about to learn what that song sounds like from the visitor’s sideline.
