Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has a quarterback dilemma on his hands after an ugly 24-14 win over Auburn on Saturday.

Heupel benched Faizon Brandon in the first half after the true freshman looked like he wasn’t seeing the field well.

Second-year quarterback George MacIntyre entered the game and while he wasn’t asked to do much (he attempted just 10 passes in two quarters-plus of action), he operated the offense more efficiently than Brandon.

So what does Heupel do at quarterback now?

After the game, Heupel didn’t commit to either quarterback as the starter, noting that he needs to look at the tape first.

Josh Heupel’s quarterback solution is something he doesn’t want to do

I don’t think either quarterback has taken ownership of the QB1 job. I think both are very much still in the developmental stage of their careers.

Brandon is still a very high-upside player who has the talent to be an early round draft pick. Just because he was benched in his second career SEC game doesn’t mean fans or the coaching staff should give up on him. Heupel did what he had to do to get a win on Saturday.

On the other hand, MacIntyre showed he deserves to play right now.

That’s why I think Heupel’s solution going forward is clear — he has to play both quarterbacks.

Now, that’s not something Heupel wants to do, but it’s probably the best thing for this team right now.

So how does that look?

I think Heupel just has to go with the hot hand. It’s not ideal, but as long as both players know they’re going to get chances, I think it can work without killing the confidence of either player. Play both until one takes control of the job. Maybe that takes one week. Maybe it takes the rest of the season.

This seems like the best way to keep the competition going while also doing what needs to be done each Saturday to get a win.

The hope with this plan is that one of the quarterbacks emerges before the end of the year, and then Tennessee has a dude at quarterback going into the 2027 season.