ESPN’s Cole Cubelic got Tennessee fans fired up for the future of the season earlier this week.

And then he pulled the switcheroo on them with his prediction for the Tennessee vs Auburn game.

Cubelic said earlier this week that he came away from the Vols’ loss to Texas “thinking Tennessee might be better than a lot of people believe.”

But just because Cubelic is feeling good about the Volunteers after their 20-17 loss to the Longhorns doesn’t mean he thinks Tennessee will beat Auburn in Knoxville this weekend.

Cubelic is taking Auburn to win an ugly game on Saturday.

Now, Cubelic isn’t overly confident in the pick — he says he could see the game going either way — he’s just choosing to go with the more experienced quarterback.

“I think it’s a lower scoring game,” said Cubelic. “I’d take the under 54.5 in this one. I think both of these teams’ familiarity will cause them to calm down a little bit. But I’m gonna take the veteran quarterback. I think (Auburn QB) Byrum Brown, who’s been speeding up a little bit more across the course of this season, has a little bit of a better day than he did last week. … I’m talking like 21-17 or 17-14 and Auburn gets the win.

“I see a very similar game to what both of these teams played a week ago — both Tennessee and Auburn — and Auburn squeaks one out on the road. But hey, if (Tennessee WR) Mike Matthews goes off and (Tennessee QB) Faizon Brandon understands where to get the ball, I can absolutely see it going in that direction (a Vols win) as well. But I’ll take Auburn.”

This is an important game for the Vols. It’s a must-win if they want to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive.

It’s also a game where there’s more pressure on Tennessee than Auburn. So while it’s a game that I feel like the Vols should win, it’s far from a given that they will.