November 21, 2020 Week 12 · Regular Season Belt defended

Auburn defends the belt, 30–17, at home over Tennessee.

Home · Defending Holder

AuburnAP No. 23 30

Away · Challenger

Tennessee 17

AP poll, week 12: Tennessee unranked at Auburn No. 23 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Auburn came in 21 days into reign #314, which began with a win over LSU, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. It was the last defense: Alabama took the belt in the very next belt game, on November 28, 2020.

For Tennessee this was its 23rd shot at the belt; it had held the belt 7 times before.

It was the 4th of 4 belt games between the two; going in, Tennessee led the belt series 3–0; all-time Tennessee leads 3–1. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Tennessee came out swinging with an early touchdown drive capped by a Jarrett Guarantano 9-yard scoring run in the first quarter, and added a field goal to build a 10-0 lead. Auburn climbed back into the game with a 54-yard Bo Nix touchdown pass to Anthony Schwartz in the second quarter, then added a pair of field goals to take a 13-10 halftime advantage. The pivotal moment came early in the third quarter when Guarantano was intercepted by Smoke Monday, who returned it 100 yards for a touchdown to give Auburn a commanding 20-10 lead. Despite Tennessee's best efforts to claw back with late scores, including a 27-yard Eric Gray scoring run in the fourth quarter, Auburn sealed the belt with a clutch 50-yard field goal from Anders Carlson with 1:27 remaining to secure the 30-17 victory.

Guarantano's 9-yard TD run in Q1 gave Tennessee an early 7-0 lead and momentum
Nix's 54-yard TD pass to Schwartz in Q2 kept Auburn in the game and sparked their comeback
Smoke Monday's 100-yard pick-six in Q3 broke the game open and gave Auburn a 20-10 cushion
Anders Carlson's 50-yard FG with 1:27 left sealed Auburn's belt defense

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

AuburnTennessee

Total yards385464

Rushing yards165222

Passing yards220242

First downs2328

3rd down conv.9/159/15

Turnovers11

Penalties–yards6–604–33

Time of possession28:3131:29

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 12:00	Tennessee	+50 yd	Brent Cimaglia 50 yd FG MISSED
Q1 14:24	Tennessee	+28 yd	Jarrett Guarantano pass complete to Velus Jones Jr. for 28 yds to the Aub 40 for a 1ST down
Q1 8:59	Tennessee	+33 yd	Eric Gray run for 33 yds to the Tenn 48 for a 1ST down
Q1 5:56	Tennessee	+9 yd	Jarrett Guarantano run for 9 yds for a TD (Brent Cimaglia KICK)
Q1 2:40	Auburn	+0 yd	Bo Nix pass intercepted, touchback. Bryce Thompson return for no gain
Q2 13:42	Tennessee	+47 yd	Brent Cimaglia 47 yd FG GOOD
Q1 1:08	Tennessee	+25 yd	Jarrett Guarantano pass complete to Eric Gray for 25 yds to the Aub 48 for a 1ST down
Q2 12:06	Auburn	+54 yd	Bo Nix pass complete to Anthony Schwartz for 54 yds for a TD AUBURN Penalty, Delay of Game (-5 Yards) to the Tenn 8 (Anders Carlson KICK)
Q2 5:36	Auburn	+25 yd	Anders Carlson 25 yd FG GOOD
Q2 5:36	Auburn	+32 yd	Anders Carlson kickoff for 65 yds , Velus Jones Jr. return for 32 yds to the Tenn 32
Q3 7:25	Auburn	+27 yd	Anders Carlson 27 yd FG GOOD
Q3 14:12	Auburn	+21 yd	Bo Nix pass complete to Eli Stove for 21 yds to the Aub 45 for a 1ST down
Q3 2:21	Tennessee	+100 yd	Jarrett Guarantano pass intercepted for a TD Smoke Monday return for 100 yds for a TD (Anders Carlson KICK)
Q3 5:13	Tennessee	+21 yd	Eric Gray run for 21 yds to the Aub 26 for a 1ST down
Q4 12:33	Tennessee	+37 yd	Brent Cimaglia 37 yd FG MISSED
Q4 8:06	Auburn	+23 yd	D.J. Williams run for 23 yds to the Tenn 13 for a 1ST down
Q4 7:14	Auburn	+9 yd	D.J. Williams run for 9 yds for a TD (Anders Carlson KICK)
Q4 5:30	Tennessee	+27 yd	Eric Gray run for 27 yds to the Aub 30 for a 1ST down
Q4 4:07	Tennessee	+1 yd	Eric Gray run for 1 yd for a TD (Brent Cimaglia KICK)
Q4 1:27	Auburn	+50 yd	Anders Carlson 50 yd FG GOOD

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Auburn

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Bo Nix	17/26	220	8.5	1	1

Tennessee

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT
Jarrett Guarantano	15/23	156	6.8	0	1
Harrison Bailey	7/10	86	8.6	0	0

Rushing

Auburn

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
D.J. Williams	11	66	6.0	1	23
Shaun Shivers	14	65	4.6	0	13
Tank Bigsby	3	24	8.0	0	12
Bo Nix	9	10	1.1	0	13
Eli Stove	1	0	0.0	0	0

Tennessee

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Eric Gray	22	173	7.9	1	33
Ty Chandler	9	40	4.4	0	12
Harrison Bailey	3	15	5.0	0	12
Jimmy Holiday	1	6	6.0	0	6
Jarrett Guarantano	5	-6	-1.2	1	9
Jimmy Calloway	1	-6	-6.0	0	0

Receiving

Auburn

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Anthony Schwartz	3	84	28.0	1	54
Seth Williams	5	52	10.4	0	17
Eli Stove	3	48	16.0	0	21
John Samuel Shenker	2	11	5.5	0	6
Shaun Shivers	1	7	7.0	0	7
J.J. Pegues	1	7	7.0	0	7
Shedrick Jackson	1	6	6.0	0	6
D.J. Williams	1	5	5.0	0	5

Tennessee

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Eric Gray	3	49	16.3	25
Jalin Hyatt	3	37	12.3	17
Ty Chandler	4	37	9.3	12
Princeton Fant	3	28	9.3	15
Jacob Warren	3	28	9.3	18
Velus Jones Jr.	2	27	13.5	28
Brandon Edward Johnson	1	12	12.0	12
Ramel Keyton	1	10	10.0	10
Josh Palmer	1	8	8.0	8
Jimmy Calloway	1	6	6.0	6

Show more stats (5 more categories)

Defense

Auburn

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR	TD
Owen Pappoe	12	7	0	0	0	1	0
Jamien Sherwood	8	6	1	1	0	0	0
Christian Tutt	6	5	0	0	0	0	0
Zakoby McClain	6	2	0	0	0	0	0
Daquan Newkirk	6	1	0.5	0.5	0	0	0
Roger McCreary	5	4	0	1	0	0	0
Dre Butler	5	2	0	0	0	0	0
Smoke Monday	4	3	0	0	1	1	1
Caleb Johnson	4	3	0	1	0	0	0
Big Kat Bryant	4	1	1	1	0	1	0
Colby Wooden	4	1	1.5	1.5	0	0	0
Tyrone Truesdell	3	3	0	0	0	0	0
Nehemiah Pritchett	2	2	0	0	1	0	0
Ladarius Tennison	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Derick Hall	2	1	0	0	0	1	0
Jordyn Peters	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Marco Domio	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
T.D. Moultry	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chris Thompson Jr.	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jaylin Simpson	1	0	0	0	1	0	0

Tennessee

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Matthew Butler	6	5	0	0.5	0	1
Bryce Thompson	6	5	0	0	1	0
Deandre Johnson	6	2	0	1.5	0	1
Trevon Flowers	5	4	0	0	1	0
Kivon Bennett	5	3	2	3	0	0
H To O To O	5	3	0	0	0	0
Warren Burrell	4	4	0	0	0	0
Theo Jackson	4	3	0	0	0	0
Kurott Garland	4	2	0	0	0	0
Quavaris Crouch	3	2	0	0	0	0
Jeremy Banks	3	1	0	0	0	0
Tyler Baron	2	2	0	0	0	0
Tamarion McDonald	2	1	0	0	0	0
Alontae Taylor	1	1	0	0	0	0
John Mincey	1	1	0	0	0	0
Omari Thomas	1	1	0	0	0	0
Darel Middleton	1	1	0	0	0	0
Aubrey Solomon	1	0	0	0	0	0
Elijah Simmons	1	0	0	0	0	0

Interceptions

Auburn

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Smoke Monday	1	100	1

Tennessee

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Bryce Thompson	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Auburn

No recorded stats in this category.

Tennessee

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Velus Jones Jr.	2	40	20.0	32	0

Kicking

Auburn

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Anders Carlson	3/3	100.0	50	3/3	12

Tennessee

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Brent Cimaglia	1/3	33.3	47	2/2	5

Punting

Auburn

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Oscar Chapman	2	73	36.5	0	0	40

Tennessee

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Paxton Brooks	2	74	37.0	0	0	47

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401237137) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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