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Saturday Down South With Atkins out, De'Marcus Riddick could have expanded opportunities . . . It's a bit ironic that Auburn is next on Georgia's schedule given what the Bulldogs just accomplished. Georgia won in Tuscaloosa for the first time in 19 years as Auburn comes to town looking for its first win in Athens in 21 years . . . Rumors had circulated towards the end of last week on the Auburn corner of social media about speculations of a possible suspension, but nothing was officially confirmed . . . "He won't be with us this week for the game on Saturday. Won't be available . . . Omar Mabson, who was barely on most Tiger fans' radars at the start of the preseason, has emerged as a strong contender for the starting job, averaging a strong 6.7 yards per carry to Cobb's 5.4, but the offensive line will need to come together for either of the Tigers' top backs to make a push in the middle stages of this season . . . The Tigers' RB1 at the start of the season, Jeremiah Cobb, has totaled just 20 carries over three games of SEC play . . . Byrum Brown is one of the biggest quarterbacks in the country at 240 pounds, and Omar Mabson II was averaging around 6.0 yards per attempt during the game. The ultimate head-scratching decision led to Tennessee icing the game . . . For Golesh, the next step is turning that talent and effort into consistent execution from snap to snap. "It's been getting these young guys to not be young . . . Auburn has turned the ball over 9 times already with only Oklahoma worse in the Southeastern Conference at 10 for the year. That's already more turnovers that the Tigers had in all 12 games a season ago . . . For Auburn, they did rush for 186 yards, but 107 of those were from Brown. Cobb was limited in the game for 17 yards on three carries, but Omar Mabson proved why he should get more carries. He had 62 yards on ten attempts . . . The Tigers have shown flashes of top-level play on both sides of the ball, but those flashes are largely surrounded by long stretches of mediocrity . . . Tennessee scored 14 unanswered points in the third quarter to take control and defeat the Tigers 24-14 Saturday at Neyland Stadium . . . For Auburn, this was just the start of the gauntlet for the Tigers. After an open date, they are scheduled to face No. 2 Georgia, No. 11 LSU and No. 9 Ole Miss. LSU is the only home game of the stretch . . . Tennessee has graded above 60.0 in run blocking only once this season, according to Pro Football Focus, while Auburn has graded higher than 75.5 in run defense three times . . . The play of the offensive and defensive lines is always important in big-time matchups, particularly in the SEC, but these two programs match up in a way that could prove to be interesting in that regard . . . The speed and tempo of the offense need to keep the Tennessee defense on its heels. The Volunteer defense had its first test last week against Texas, but it hasn't dealt with anything that goes as quickly as the Tigers will move . . . The first road contest of the Alex Golesh era will be in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Golesh once served as the offensive coordinator . . . Singleton has led the way this season for the Tigers with 268 yards on 22 catches and one touchdown . . . The Tigers have a brutal schedule coming up in the month of October, in which special teams could very well prove to be the difference . . . "My focus is on Tennessee. That's the challenge to our team, too: Can we just be focused on what the heck is important? . . . It would not have happened if not for the efforts of Mabson. Bronowski is proud of Mabson for showing just how valuable he is to the team . . . "We had three 4th-and-1s. We had a 4th-and-3 and didn't get a stop on any of them. Those were turnovers that need to go our way. That's a huge point of emphasis for us . . . For all the talk about offense and defense, there's still nothing more important than being clutch and this team has shown some of that early in the 2026 season . . . "There's obviously some things we got to clean up, But that's a starting point . . . The Tigers must find an answer on the ground. A consistent ground game is essential for Golesh's offense to reach its full potential, and he knows it . . . He'll try to lead the unranked Tigers to an upset of Heupel's 17th-ranked Volunteers. Not only do the 2 coaches have history, but there's some other coaches on Auburn's current staff who used to coach under Heupel, like Kodi Burns, Tim Banks and Parker Ball . . . Two massive plays on Vanderbilt punts in the first half made all the difference for the Tigers . . . The Tigers took a step in the right direction on Saturday, as they beat Vanderbilt 21-15 for Golesh's first conference win as the coach at Auburn . . . Auburn's offense was held to just 279 yards of total offense on Saturday, and held the ball for just 22:28 of game time. However, it made the most of its opportunities, especially in the run game. Auburn outrushed Vanderbilt, 139-112, and was efficient on third downs, converting 7-of-15 chances . . . The Tigers totaled 96 yards in the first quarter, a full 99 yards better than their first-quarter performance against Florida, adding a touchdown and four first downs . . . Auburn held the Commodores to 112 yards and 2.7 yards per carry. Furthermore, Vanderbilt quarterback Jared Curtis accounted for many of those yards on scrambles . . . WATCH: Alex Golesh's postgame press conference following the Tigers' 21-15 win over Vanderbilt . . . With 6:26 remaining, Auburn's offense sealed the win by converting critical third downs—highlighted by a 20-yard completion from Brown to Camden Singleton and a 21-yard burst by Jeremiah Cobb—to run out the final minutes and preserve the conference win . . . Auburn beat Vanderbilt 21-15, to end its SEC home losing streak, which had lasted for 671 days . . . Cade Carlson recovered a blocked punt for a score . . .
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