AUBURN, Ala. – Tennessee traveled to the plains of Auburn to face an unproven Tiger football team.

The Volunteer running backs apparently stayed in Knoxville.

After being physically dominated by the Tigers’ front seven, Tennessee finished Saturday’s loss with four yards of rushing offense.

Auburn gained 264.

“As a team, we wanted to come out and make a statement,” Auburn tailback Carnell “Cadillac” Williams said. “From here on out, I think we’re going to show the country we are one of the best teams in the country.”

Williams did enough on his own to prove that.

The Atilla, Ala., native, who verbally committed to the Volunteers in 2001 before switching late to Auburn, finished the game with a career-high 234 all-purpose yards.

After the game, Williams said he made the right decision.

“Tennessee has a great tradition with a lot of great running backs,” Williams said. “I had a great opportunity to go there and play for a great coaching staff. Auburn felt like home.”

But Williams wasn’t the only Auburn back to out-perform the talented Tennessee backfield.

Backup Ronnie Brown rumbled for 65 yards on 12 carries whenever Williams needed a break. Brown left the game with a pulled hamstring, but the Tigers didn’t slow down with reserve backs Brandon Jacobs and Tre Smith.

Jacobs gained 19 yards on three carries and Smith added another 11 yards on two carries.

No Volunteer back had more than 10.

“We had to throw the ball because we got down quick,” UT starting tailback Cedric Houston said. “We needed to make big plays with big catches for the passing game to get the running game going.

“As you see, the running game never did.”

After watching his team produce its lowest rushing output of coaching tenure, Vol head coach Phillip Fulmer said he had few answers for the performance.

“They (Auburn) came ready to play tonight and they played well,” Fulmer said. “We knew that they would run the ball. They rushed better, obviously, than what we had prepared for.”

Going into the game, it would have been difficult for the Vols to know which Auburn team to prepare for.

It could have been the 0-2 Tigers that entered the game 10th in the SEC in rushing, or the Auburn team that won its last two games by an average margin of victory of 41.5 points and the one that was hailed as having as the nation’s top running game in the preseason.

Obviously the latter prevailed.

“We’ve improved over the last month,” Tiger head coach Tommy Tuberville said. “We’re a running football team and that’s what we came in here to do. We had trouble doing that the first couple games, but we stayed focused and got better.”

According to Auburn offensive coordinator Hugh Nall, the ability has always been there.

“We finally started executing,” Nall said. “It took us a while to learn how to do that, but it worked out for us tonight.”

As for the Vols, an early 14-0 deficit forced the Vols to all but abandon the running game.

And on the few occasions when they did run – Houston and Jabari Davis combined for nine carries – the execution never seemed to be there.

“We never got in sync tonight,” Fulmer said. “They’ve got two good backs, but we’ve got two good backs.

“We just never got ours going tonight.”