With the Tennessee offense looking totally sluggish in the first half, a lot of the blame went to freshman sensation Faizon Brandon. However, his confidence must be at ground level right now after Josh Heupel made the needed call to bench him in the middle of the Vols' SEC showdown against Alex Golesh and Auburn.
As you might have been able to guess, Heupel was asked about the head-turning decision at halftime while on with the ESPN broadcast team. Straight up, Heupel said Brandon just wasn't getting the job done, but he also hinted that his QB may still be battling the shoulder injury he suffered in Week 4 against Texas.
"Faizon just wasn't operating," Heupel said. "He didn't feel 100 percent, and George came in and did some positive things. We've gotta go find a way to win the ball game in the second half."
Faizon Brandon had a first half to forget for Tennessee against Auburn
To say Brandon wasn't operating is putting things lightly. Brandon was 3-of-8 on his pass attempts for zero yards, which is unheard of. In the second quarter, the signal-caller delivered an interception on a platter for the Auburn defense, which the Tigers took advantage of with the go-ahead score from Byrum Brown coming not long after. This was just a big-time play from Xavier Atkins, who made it look easy:
Read it like a book @XavierAtkins8 📚
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) October 3, 2026
📺: @espn pic.twitter.com/HsC06o1YPN
Heupel claiming Brandon still isn't 100 percent might take some pressure off his QB, but if he was healthy enough to play, there's no excuse for how poor he looked. Heupel was given really no choice but to bring in G-Mac, who immediately looked sharper running the offense.
MacIntyre closed out the first half, completing 5-of-5 pass attempts for 38 yards. Moving forward, though, the rushing attack needs to wake up overall, and it begins with the offensive line stepping its game up. Offensive line coach Glen Elarbee is dealing with stud left guard Wendell Moe Jr. being out for the season, while fellow guard Shamurad Umarov was ruled out vs. the Tigers after being questionable.
For now, it's up in the air just how long Brandon is going to be benched, but this obviously becomes a major focus for the Vols. Brandon took over the offense after being the No. 3 QB in the country for the 2026 class. After looking sharp in his first three starts, he's looked every bit of an 18-year-old QB since. The door has now opened for MacIntyre to fight for the QB1 job the rest of the season after losing it in fall camp.
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