FACTS & STATS: Site: Neyland Stadium (104,000) -- Knoxville, Tennessee. Television: ESPN. Home Record: Auburn 4-0, Tennessee 2-1. Away Record: Auburn 0-0, Tennessee 0-1. Neutral Record: Auburn 0-0, Tennessee 0-0. Conference Record: Auburn 1-0, Tennessee 0-1. Series Record: Auburn leads, 26-21-3.
GAME NOTES: The undefeated Auburn Tigers continue to be impressive under the guidance of first-year head coach Gene Chizik, and they will battle SEC rival Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday night.
In all four of their victories this season, the Tigers have come from behind, but the team has played at an extremely high level after shaky starts. Last weekend, they cruised to a 54-30 decision over Ball State in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the final score suggests. The lone SEC contest so far for Auburn came against Mississippi State two weeks ago and resulted in a 49-24 triumph.
As for Tennessee, it halted a two-game skid with a 34-23 victory over Ohio University last week. The Vols, who lost to top-ranked Florida two weeks again in a game that was much closer than most expected, will attempt to avoid a potentially crippling 0-2 start to SEC play. Like Auburn, Tennessee has a new leader in the fold, as Lane Kiffin is in his first season as head coach of the program.
Auburn owns a 26-21-3 edge over Tennessee in the all-time series between the two teams, which includes a 14-12 triumph over the Vols a year ago.
Chizik was formerly the defensive coordinator at Auburn, so many thought that a great emphasis would be placed on the defense upon his hiring as the program's head coach. Surprisingly, however, the Tigers have made headlines with an explosive offense that has led to 45.2 ppg and 526.2 total ypg. Chris Todd has been sensational, passing for 1,012 yards and 11 touchdowns with only one interception. He has a favorite receiver in Darvin Adams, who has made 20 grabs for 334 yards and five scores. As for the ground attack, Ben Tate leads the way with 412 yards, while Onterio McCalebb is close behind with 365 yards and three scores. In last weekend's beating of Ball State, Auburn finished with 560 total yards en route to seven offensive touchdowns. Todd tossed five scores with no picks, including a pair of touchdown strikes to Terrell Zachery. McCalebb posted 83 yards and a touchdown on only eight rushing attempts in a game that Auburn seemingly could do no wrong offensively.
Opponents are scoring 24.2 ppg against Auburn, which is allowing 327.8 ppg. Many of the points scored by the opposition have come after the outcome of games has been long decided, so the defense hasn't played quite as poorly as the scoring output indicates. The Tigers are permitting less than four rushing yards per carry and only 9.8 yards per pass completion. They have already intercepted eight passes and have four fumble recoveries to their credit, good for an average of three takeaways per contest. Josh Bynes leads Auburn with 34 total tackles, and Antonio Coleman has 4.5 TFLs to date. Of the 30 points scored by Ball State against the Tigers last weekend, 13 came in the fourth quarter of what was a blowout. Sure, the Cardinals kept possession of the ball for nearly 36 minutes in the clash, but they still managed only 260 total yards.
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