As Auburn prepares for its first game since Halloween, a 2-4 Tennessee team looking to stop a 4-game losing streak enters Jordan-Hare.

The Volunteers enter the game ranked last in the SEC in total yardage, with 1,911 on the season. They’re ranked 13th in the SEC averaging just over 318 yards per game.

Nonetheless, Auburn remains focused on the Volunteers and aren’t taking the matchup any less serious.

While dealing with postponements and the potential of the opponent being swapped, Auburn remained focused on the Volunteers and the challenges they present.

“The teams -- I've said this all along -- that adjust and can not, or, adjust and stay focused and not get caught up in all the stuff, I think they're going to have an advantage,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. “So that's really our mindset, what it's been. But we've not put our focus on anybody but Tennessee since early last week.”

One of the main adjustments Malzahn and the Tigers will have to prepare for is a variety of different Tennessee quarterbacks.

Jarrett Guarantano has seen the most action thus far, but his performance has been shaky, and he’s still recovering from a concussion suffered against Arkansas.

When Guarantano went out, it was sophomore Brian Maurer who entered. He went 0-for-4 on passing attempts and carried the ball twice for three yards.

Maurer was replaced with 5-star freshman Harrison Bailey, who completed 6-of-9 passes for 65 yards, with two interceptions.

Preparing for the possibility of three different quarterbacks is a challenge, but in 2020 where teams have to be prepared for anything, Malzahn feels the team is up to the challenge.

“Yeah, I mean, I think so,” Malzahn said on whether or not there’s a challenge. “You know, it's such an interesting year that everything's a little different anyway. The fact you may see some different quarterbacks is probably not as big of a deal this year as some years just because you've got to be prepared for all the different challenges. You know, it's probably good that we had a little extra time to prepare, which they have extra time to prepare also.”

With quarterback a question mark, one thing Tennessee can count on and Auburn has to prepare for is the Volunteers running game.

Running back Eric Gray ranks eighth in the SEC in terms of total rushing yards, 478 yards and three touchdowns.

In the Volunteers’ last game, he carried the ball 31 times for 123 yards and a touchdown.

Shutting Gray and the rest of the Tennessee running game down will be of importance for Auburn.

“They’ve got some talented guys upfront. Their running backs run hard. It looks like they’re committed to the run,” Malzahn said. “A lot of games you could tell they are very, very committed to the run and I assume they’ll still be the same way against us. I think that will be a big key to the game, stopping the run.”

Coming off a game where the defense stifled LSU's running game, safety Jordyn Peters feels the defense as a whole has more confidence in stopping the run.

"Confidence, I would say so yes, just because we knew we did our job that game. And we know it comes down to just doing your job every week in and week out," Peters said. "You can come out and have a great week but if you don't prepare correctly the next week you can come out and have a bad one. So we're going to do the right steps and prepare correctly to come out and get the job done."