DeSean Bishop delivered for Tennessee on Saturday.
The senior running back had career highs of 220 yards and three touchdowns as the Volunteers pulled out a 24-14 win over Auburn on Saturday inside Neyland Stadium.
“The way he was running the football, he was feeling much better this week than a week ago, but he is a fighter,” Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel said. “I thought he had really good vision and he made a couple of bounce cuts that were the right time, big time plays by him and ultimately it was just the way the game unfolded.”
Bishop had a 25-yard touchdown in the third quarter to give Tennessee a 10-7 lead, and added a 44-yard touchdown a few minutes later to push the lead to 17-7. After Auburn’s Bryrum Brown found Arlis Boardingham for a 16-yard score early in the fourth, Bishop scored his third touchdown to leave no doubt on a five-yard run.
“Yeah, first and foremost, all the glory to my lord and savior, Jesus Christ, I knew this was his game plan, especially when the first touchdown got called back, I calmed myself down,” Bishop said. “I was like, God’s plan. And he surely had a plan for it today. And the whole mindset of it was just chipping away when my number was getting called. It was kind of a slow start early in the run game as well, but just leaning in on him and trusting in him that he was going to provide for us tonight, and he always does, man. Just very grateful for what he’s allowed me to do. Yeah, definitely had a lot more carries in this than in my previous times, but it felt like those days back at Karns (High School), just running the ball a whole lot of times, doing what I can to put my team in the best place to succeed. So, God’s good, man.”
In addition to Bishop’s career day, George Macintyre had a solid day at quarterback after coming in relief of starter Faizon Brandon.
“First of all, I thought George did some positive things early when he went in the ball game in the first half,” Heupel said. “Situationally, there are some things all of us have to be better at. It is the second straight week where we got a sideline play where we do not ultimately get out of bounds, but George’s ability to throw the football in the second half allowed us to create big plays, in particular the one to Matthews early. In general, it allowed us to take advantage of some of the things that they were giving us.”
MacIntyre was 8-of-10 passing for 86 yards after coming in late in the second quarter.
Defensively, the Vols were paced by senior linebacker Amare Campbell and junior safety Dejuan Lane, who each notched nine tackles. Lane tallied a pair of sacks, 2.5 tackles for losses, a quarterback hurry and a third-quarter interception. Campbell, meanwhile, added a sack and TFL. Junior nickel Tevis Metcalf came up with his first career pick, ending an Auburn threat late in the contest.
“At first, the game of breaks go against you, don’t let up, put on more steam,” Heupel said. “Proud of our team for doing that in the second half. We’re honoring General Neyland and his legacy, uniforms, everything; it’s the right way to start this press conference. Defense held everybody in the game. Special teams, phenomenal job, Jackson Ross, punt unit, I think five (punts) inside the 11. And ultimately, offense was able to find a little bit of footing in the second half. Resilient, loved the way they came out and played, and competed. There are so many things in the first half that, offensively, we got to do better, but proud of our team.”
The Volunteers are set to hit the road next Saturday with a trip to Arkansas.
