Auburn is 3-1 and already has a personality.
They stole Baylor 17-16. They buried Southern Miss. They lost a track meet to Florida 44-39. Then they beat Vanderbilt 21-15 because they blocked a punt, knocked down a field goal, and let the defense finish. That is the team coming in Saturday. Not Texas. Not a cupcake. A pulse.
The whole operation runs through Byrum Brown.
Golesh brought him from South Florida for a reason. Brown has accounted for 103 touchdowns in his career. He leads this offense in passing and rushing. When Auburn needs a first down after halftime, it is usually his legs. Jeremiah Cobb can hit a crease. Omar Mabson II can too. If Brown stays in the pocket and the line holds, this looks like a normal SEC offense that scores in the 20s. If Brown takes off, it turns into a problem Tennessee has to tackle in space.
That line is not clean. Auburn has been among the most sacked teams in the country. Florida got home seven times. Golesh has been talking all week about how much he can ask Brown to run without breaking him. That tells you what this offense is. It is not 2022 Tennessee. It is a veteran quarterback trying to paper over an offensive front that still has “ors” on the depth chart.
The receivers came with him. Keshaun Singleton is the volume. Jeremiah Koger can take a ball and go. Chas Nimrod is the name people in this building already know. He spent three years at Tennessee, followed Golesh to South Florida, then followed him to Auburn. He has 22 catches for 240 yards and two scores this season. He called Saturday just another game. It is still a former Vol lining up in Neyland in the other colors.
None of them are the story if Brown is on the ground.
Defense is the part that travels.
DJ Durkin’s group is giving up about 21 points a game. Elijah Melendez and Xavier Atkins are the ones showing up on the sheet. They create negative plays. They do not always finish tackles. Florida exposed that. Vanderbilt did not. Tennessee’s freshman quarterback is going to see both versions if the game stays on schedule.
Special teams already decided one SEC game for them. That is not a footnote. If this thing is tight in the fourth quarter, that unit has already shown it can change a scoreboard.
Golesh said this is Auburn’s first real road environment. He is not wrong. Jordan-Hare in September is not Neyland in October with a ranked team that just lost at home.
The shot they have is simple. Keep Brown clean enough to run. Get Tennessee behind the chains. Hope the hidden yards show up again.
The shot Tennessee has is the same thing every good defense has against this roster. Make Brown throw from a muddy pocket and do not let him become the running game.
If Brown is loose, this is a fight. If he is not, Auburn is a 3-1 team that has already told you how it loses.