No. 17 Auburn Tigers (5-0, 2-0 SEC) conquered the Tennessee Volunteers (2-3, 0-2 SEC) Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn., 26-22.
The win marked the first road game for the Tigers of the season, and the 20th consecutive win with head coach Gene Chizik on Auburn's staff.
"I love watching these guys come in from a win," Chizik said. "That was our first win and our first SEC road win. At a place like this where no one has ever played here. It was just a great way to come in here and find different ways to win the game and it was awesome to see our kids' faces after the win."
Senior quarterback Chris Todd completed 19 of 32 passing attempts for 218 yards and threw one touchdown.
Junior wide receiver/quarterback Kodi Burns threw for 17 yards and completed one pass on three attempts. Neither quarterback had intercepted passes.
Rushing for 128 yards on 25 attempts, senior running back Ben Tate scored the first touchdown of the game on an 11-yard run with 8:07 left in the second quarter.
"We really felt like we were making some progress with the hurry up offense and the tempo," Chizik said. "We just kind of put the peddle to the metal and keep running it at them and running it at them. Ben ran for some tough yards and we wore them down a little bit at that point of the game."
Freshman running back Onterio McCalebb rushed for 51 yards on 13 attempts.
Junior kicker Wes Byrum put the first points on the board for Auburn with a 29-yard field goal with 5:01 remaining in the first quarter.
Byrum made a career-high four field goals.
Byrum's 15 points Saturday puts him at 55 points for the season and makes him the leading scorer in the SEC.
The Tiger offense rushed for 459 yards and maintained possession for 34:46 minutes.
"That's a great Tennessee defense," Chizik said. "Time of possession was huge for us tonight, that was obvious. The offensive line came together. Our running backs Ben Tate, Onterio and Eric Smith and those guys fought for some tough yards tonight. It was good to see them run the ball down field tonight."
Auburn's defense held Tennessee senior running back Monterio Hardesty to 90 yards rushing.
Hardesty is the leading rusher in the SEC.
Leading the Tigers in tackles was junior linebacker Craig Stevens with 11, followed closely by fellow linebacker junior Josh Bynes with nine.
Bynes and Stevens each have 43 tackles so far this season, putting them at sixth in the SEC.
"We have come through a lot of things," Chizik said. "We have had a lot of adversity, but we are finding different ways to win as a team. That's the good thing about it. Guys going up and down the bench with the defense thanking the offense and the offense thanking the defense and thanking the special teams because everybody is finding different ways to contribute."
The Tigers remain on the road, traveling to Arkansas (2-2, 0-2 SEC) Saturday.
The game begins at 11 a.m. C.S.T. Game coverage will be carried on ESPN.
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