Vols Au..Burned 26-22 Tennessee falls to 2-3 on season

Auburn and Tennessee began the season with fresh starts under new coaches. The Tigers underscored their lead in the rebuilding race Saturday night with a 26-22 victory over the Vols at Neyland Stadium.
A crowd of 102,941 and an ESPN audience watched the Tennessee struggle to keep pace with Auburn’s prolific and imaginative offense as the Tigers improved to 5-0, 2-0 SEC, under new coach Gene Chizik.
UT (2-3, 0-2 SEC) trailed 23-6 before closing to within 23-16 on Daniel Lincoln’s field goal with 4:19 to play.
The Tigers, however, answered with yet another long drive and Wes Byrum’s fourth field goal to put the game out of reach.
Auburn joins Florida in holding an active five-game winning streak over Tennessee.
The Vols’ first two touchdowns came from Montario Hardesty. Denarius Moore scored on a 32-yard pass as time expired.
Hardesty scored on a 1-yard run just before halftime and on a 31-yard reception from Jonathan Crompton after the Tigers had carved out a 23-6 lead.
Auburn got touchdowns from Ben Tate on an 11-yard run and an 11-yard pass from Chris Todd to Terrell Zachery.
A historic footnote, the game was the first since 1982 that neither the Vols nor the Tigers were ranked in the Top 25. That covers a span of 16 games in which Auburn was ranked 13 times and UT 10 times.
The Tigers will almost certainly join the rankings next week after passing their first road test of the season. The SEC Rocks!