With five minutes remaining in the first half against Auburn, Josh Heupel had a tough decision to make. The Tennessee coach chose to bench his five-star quarterback, and it proved to be the correct call as it sparked the Vols' offense to a 24-14 win over Auburn.
Sophomore George MacIntyre took over for Faizon Brandon, and though he wasn't asked to do much, he was effective when called upon. MacIntyre completed 8 of 10 passing attempts for 86 yards, and one of those two incompletions was a drop on a perfect throw.
That threat of the pass -- limited as it may have been -- opened up the ground game just enough for DeSean Bishop to run wild on the Auburn defense. Bishop exploded for 213 yards and a trio of touchdowns as the Vols averaged 5.0 yards per carry.
The question now is, quite simply, what comes next?
"We'll go watch the tape," Heupel said after the game. "Faizon ultimately didn't play his best football. The turnover on the sideline and some of the things, just progressions. I've said it a bunch to you guys. We're gonna need them both throughout the year."
In 2021, Heupel dealt with a similar scenario. Joe Milton won the starting job out of camp, but he was replaced by Hooker midway through the Vols' Week 2 game against Pittsburgh. Hooker took the job and ran with it, becoming one of Tennessee's best quarterbacks of the 21st century.
Of course, there are a few key differences that don't apply here. The first is that Milton left the Pitt game after getting banged up, not necessarily due to his ineffectiveness -- although he did have some bad misses through the air.
The biggest difference is that Hooker wasn't a player Heupel recruited to Tennessee, and he certainly wasn't a five-star freshman making big money.
Prior to his firing, Jeremy Pruitt landed Hooker on the transfer market, and Heupel's staff recruited Milton to Knoxville. There was no expectation that Hooker would be the future of the quarterback position for the Vols.
Brandon, on the other hand, arrived with sky-high expectations. The No. 3 quarterback in the 2026 signing class, Brandon was hand-picked by the Vols coaching staff and still projects as a future star at Tennessee.
Whether he can become a star this season is very much up in the air, and there's a case for Heupel to leave Brandon on the bench for the foreseeable future.
Brandon's low floor could cost Vols
Through the first three games of the season -- against Furman, Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State -- Brandon flashed some of the high ceiling that made him a blue-chip prospect. He made tough throws and used his legs to create plays that weren't there.
However, against Texas and Auburn, we saw how low his floor could be. In almost six quarters of SEC action, Brandon has completed 52.6% of his passes for 145 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
When Brandon was pulled against Auburn, he had zero passing yards and a pick. He was hesitant when dropping back to pass, and the interception resulted from Brandon staring down an open receiver until he wasn't open anymore.
With MacIntyre in the game, there was a noticeable improvement, even in limited action. The sophomore saw the field more clearly, and MacIntyre wasn't afraid to pull the trigger when there was an open window.
The best throw of the day for MacIntyre was a 42-yard dart to Mike Matthews, which was the result of the sophomore letting a pass fly over the middle of the field. That big gain set up a 25-yard touchdown run from Bishop.
Just the remote threat of a passing attack meant the Auburn defense couldn't tee off on Bishop and the Vols' run game, which is the bread and butter of Heupel's offense.
"George's ability to throw the football in the second half allowed us to create a big play, in particular the one to Mike early,' Heupel said. "In general, it allowed us to take advantage of some stuff they were giving us."
Brandon's long-term ceiling is undeniable. He's a supremely talented football player, but his floor is so low that playing him could cost Tennessee in the more winnable games on its schedule.
Tennessee can't waste its defense
First-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has already been a value add for Tennessee. When the Vols were sputtering on offense, the defense kept them in the game until Bishop got rolling.
Tennessee allowed just two touchdowns, and one of them can be laid at the feet of Brandon, who threw an interception at the Vols' 19-yard line. Auburn cashed in on that short field, but it was tough sledding for the rest of the game.
Perhaps the play of Tennessee's defense will give Heupel more reason to roll with MacIntyre as the starter for a while.
The defense has proven that it doesn't need much run support to win games. Tennessee had the ball with a chance to beat No. 1 Texas, even with a putrid offensive showing that resulted in 10 sacks.
On the season, Tennessee has yet to allow more than 24 points in a single game, and seven of those points were the result of a punt block against Georgia Tech. If MacIntyre can take care of the football and give the Vols something that resembles an average offense -- just as he did against Auburn -- the defense might be able to carry the load.
