Tennessee Fans Pulled the Tiger’s Tail, Auburn’s Johni Broome Made Them Pay

The No. 1 Auburn Tigers defeated the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday night 53-51 in a low-scoring affair that saw the return of player of the year candidate Johni Broome.

Broome hadn’t played since January 11th when he left in the second half of Auburn’s 66-63 win in South Carolina.

He was doubtful for Auburn’s clash against the Vols on Saturday, but evidently some misguided Tennessee fans haven’t heard several legendary warnings.

Don’t pull on Superman’s cape; don’t poke the bear, and definitely don’t pull the Tiger’s tail.

A Tennessee fan, or a brilliant Auburn strategist, decorated Broome’s car before the game with several Power-T logos. Broome was asked if it helped motivate him for Saturday’s matchup.

“Actually it Did,” said Broome with no hint of humor. “This morning, I go to my car, and I see two Tennessee signs. Pitchforks, like a ‘T’ logo. So, at that moment, I knew I was playing no matter what.”

Asked how he felt after being doubtful for the game, Broome made it clear there was a lot of work done last week to get him ready.

“It just felt amazing to go out there and compete with my brothers. This week was very rough,” Broome admitted. “Shout out to Clark (Pearson), Amber (Kressler), Doc; they all put in a lot of effort and their time. Ultimately, I just wanted to be out there and help them win, help them grind it out.

“It was a rough one, but we got it done.”

Auburn moved to 18-1 on the season and 6-0 in SEC Conference play. They own a half-game lead over the Alabama Crimson Tide who are 6-1 in SEC games.

The upcoming slate of games doesn’t get much easier for the Tigers. They travel to LSU (12-7, 1-5) on Wednesday and No. 16 Ole Miss (15-5, 4-3) on Saturday before returning home to take on Oklahoma (15-4, 2-4) and No. 5 Florida (18-2, 5-2).

However, they’ll do so with a healthy Johni Broome, provided he doesn’t have any setbacks with his ankle. The Auburn star is still the favorite for player of the year honors at the end of the season.

He doesn’t typically need any extra motivation, but the Vols were gracious enough to hand him some Saturday morning.

It’s a good bet future opponents won’t make the same mistake.