Tennessee earned a hard-fought 24-14 win over Auburn on Saturday in Neyland Stadium thanks in large part to head coach Josh Heupel’s decision to bench quarterback Faizon Brandon in favor of George MacIntyre.

Heupel made the move after Brandon looked rattled following his first career interception.

MacIntyre didn’t put up crazy numbers during his two-plus quarters of action (86 passing yards), but he operated the offense efficiently and the Vols got the win as a result.

The natural reaction from many has been that MacIntyre should be the starter moving forward.

I get it — MacIntyre played well in his first extended meaningful game action. But Heupel absolutely can’t name him the starter. At least not yet.

George MacIntyre still has a lot to prove for the Vols

When the depth chart comes out for next week’s game against Arkansas, I think it should list Brandon and MacIntyre as co-starters. I don’t think Heupel should name either quarterback as the official starter moving forward.

Now, I definitely think MacIntyre should be the first guy on the field against Arkansas next Saturday. I think he earned that with the way he played against Auburn.

But we need to see how MacIntyre plays after preparing as the “starter” before any grand decisions are made.

It’s a little easier to come into the game as the backup when the starter hasn’t played well. There’s not nearly as much pressure in that situation. And that’s not to take away from what MacIntyre did against Auburn. It’s just reality.

The last thing Heupel needs is to name MacIntyre the starter moving forward, and then MacIntyre goes out and has a terrible game against Arkansas and the Vols are forced to go back to Brandon. Tennessee doesn’t need to make this situation messy.

Heupel doesn’t need to worry about naming a starter until one of these quarterbacks steps up and consistently plays like a high-end SEC starter.

These are two young quarterbacks who are still growing. There are going to be a lot of ups and downs for both players going forward. Heupel’s main goal the rest of the season, outside of winning each week, is to figure out which one of these quarterbacks is the best option to be the starter in 2027. And until he figures that out, neither of them need to be named the official starter. This needs to be a game-by-game — or even series-by-series — situation until there’s no question who the best quarterback option is for Tennessee.