Tennessee Benches Faizon Brandon After Early Struggles but Beats Auburn

Faizon just wasn't operating. He wasn't feeling 100%, Josh Heupel told ESPN at halftime. He benched freshman Faizon Brandon with 3:42 left in the second quarter trailing Auburn 7-3 after Xavier Atkins intercepted a rollout pass that set up an Auburn touchdown. George MacIntyre entered on the next snap. Brandon finished 3 of 8 for zero yards and one interception plus four rushes for minus-9 yards. DeSean Bishop rushed for a touchdown as No. 17 Tennessee won 24-14 to reach 4-1 and 1-1 SEC; Auburn dropped to 3-2, 1-2. Sources differed on Bishop's yards at 213 (Chat Sports) or 220 (The Athletic) on 31 carries, and on MacIntyre at 8 of 10 for 86 yards (The Athletic) versus 5 of 5 for 38 in the first half. Brandon's sole positive pass was a 7-yarder to Trent Thomas. The decision followed 10 sacks in a 20-17 loss to No. 1 Texas. Through five 2026 games Brandon has 697 pass yards, 7 TDs, 1 INT and 130 rush yards with 3 TDs. Chat Sports noted Alex Golesh's return to Neyland. Next is Arkansas on Oct. 10.