Another second-half collapse led to a loss for the Tennessee football team Saturday night at Auburn.
After opening a 10-0 lead, the Volunteers surrendered 27 straight points and suffered a 30-17 Southeastern Conference loss at the hands of Auburn from Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The Tigers spotting Tennessee (2-5, 2-5 SEC) a 10-0 lead, as Auburn rallied to knot the game, 10-10.
Auburn (5-2, 5-2 SEC) mounted its comeback without freshman running back Tank Bigsby. He suffered an apparent early hip injury and returned for one play before leaving for good in the second quarter.
Tennessee has now dropped five consecutive games.
The Vols scored first when quarterback Jarrett Guarantano connected on a 9-yard touchdown run with 5 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
The Vols extended their advantage to 10-0 when Brent Cimaglia kicked a 47-yard field goal with 13:42 to go in the first half. The field goal was set up when Bryce Thompson intercepted a pass from Auburn’s Bo Nix.
The Tigers tied the game before halftime as Nix threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Schwartz and Anders Carlson kicked a 24-yard field goal.
Auburn took the second-half kickoff and engineered a drive that was capped by a 27-yard field goal by Carlson to give the Tigers a 13-10 lead, their first advantage of the night.
The Vols were driving later in the frame, but things went awry when Guarantano lofted a pass that was intercepted by Smoke Monday, who promptly returned it 100 yards for a touchdown to give the Tigers a 20-10 lead.
Auburn pushed its advantage to 27-10 on a touchdown run by D.J. Williams.
The second half did, however, have a bright spot for the Big Orange as Eric Gray had a 1-yard touchdown run that capped a long drive.
Freshman Harrison Bailey relieved Guarantano for that drive. He would finish 7-for-10 and amass 86 yards through the air.
Gray had a big night for Tennessee as he rushed for 173 yards and a touchdown. He also had three receptions for a team-high 49 yards.
Carlson added a field goal in the final frame to provide the winning margin.