If every Jarrett Guarantano performance transpired like the one two years ago inside Jordan-Hare Stadium, there would be no talk of a quarterback change at Tennessee.
Nor would there be a four-game losing streak, either.
Guarantano notched his first career 300-yard passing effort at No. 21 Auburn in 2018, completing 21 of 32 attempts for 328 yards and two touchdowns in leading the Volunteers to a 30-24 upset triumph. He outperformed Tigers counterpart Jarrett Stidham, who had guided Auburn to as high as No. 2 nationally the season before and is now with the New England Patriots.
“I don’t know how many explosive plays we had that day,” Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said this week. “We couldn’t run the football, but we could create explosive plays, and that was the difference in the game. Probably the two most important things when you talk about outcomes of games are turnovers and explosive plays, whether you create them or whether you give them up.”
Tennessee and No. 23 Auburn meet again this Saturday night at Jordan-Hare in a game that the Southeastern Conference added in late July to create its coronavirus-altered, 10-game schedule consisting solely of league contests.