The Auburn Tigers (5-0) extended its winning streak over the Tennessee Volunteers (2-3) to five games Saturday, coming away with a 26-22 win in Knoxville, Tenn. Auburn starts the season 5-0 for the first time in the last six seasons, the first time since 2006.
"I'm just really proud of this football team, we're finding different ways to win every week," head coach Gene Chizik said. "It's really good to see a very young football team come on the road with a coaching staff who had no idea how they were going to react in this type of environment and find ways to win."
The Volunteers shot out of the starting blocks early with a 41-yard carry by Nu'keese Richardson on the first play of the game. Tennessee came away empty handed after a 39-yard attempt by junior place kicker Daniel Lincoln missed.
Auburn got the ball with 08:31 left in the first quarter on their own 44-yard line and drove down to the Tennessee 12-yard line but had to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Wes Byrum with 05:01 left in the quarter.
Junior linebacker Josh Bynes recovered a Jonathan Crompton fumble on Tennessee's next possession which led to another Wes Byrum field goal, this time from 43 yards.
With 8:07 left in the half, senior running back Ben Tate extended the lead by scoring on an 11-yard touchdown run. Tate had 128 yards on 25 carries, making it the third time this year and eighth time in his career that he ran for more than 100 yards in a game.
"Tate ran for some tough yards tonight. I'm really proud of the way he ran the football," Chizik said.
Johnathan Crompton completed a 40-yard pass to junior tight end Luke Stocker to set up a 1-yard touchdown run by senior running back Montario Hardesty.
Auburn extended its lead going into the fourth quarter when Todd connected with junior wide receiver Terrell Zachery on an 11-yard touchdown pass with 13:41 left in the game.
Todd completed 19 of 32 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown. He completed passes to eight different receivers, throwing for more than 200 yards for the
fourth time this season.
The Volunteers answered with a 31-yard pass from Crompton to Hardesty to make it a two possession game with 11:36 left in the fourth quarter.
Crompton completed 20 of 43 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns and running back Monterio Hardesty ran for 90 yards on 21 carries.
Auburn travel to Fayetteville next Saturday to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-2) who are coming off a 47-19 win over Texas A&M.
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