An Auburn touchdown with 52 seconds left in the first half Saturday night brought a smile to celebrity Tiger fan Charles Barkley pacing the sideline.

It did more than that. It made the second half irrelevant.

The No. 8 Tigers blazed to a 31-3 halftime lead and then patiently put the finishing touches on a 34-10 demolition of No. 10 Tennessee before a Neyland Stadium crowd of 107,828 and an ESPN national audience.

A much-anticipated clash of undefeated SEC rivals turned out to be a tour de force for the Tigers and a force-fed embarrassment for the Vols.

"That was one heck of a performance in all phases of the game,'' said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville.

"I thought we dominated both sides of the ball.''

He'd get no argument from the Vols.

"We made so many mistakes,'' said UT linebacker Kevin Burnett, "we put them in a perfect position to win.

"Mental errors, missed tackles. That comes back to haunt you.''

"I take my hat off to Auburn,'' added UT coach Phillip Fulmer. "You give up that many big plays and you're probably going to get beat.''

The Tigers (5-0, 3-0 SEC) made big play after big play in rolling up 333 yards in the first half. Most of them came on passes from senior quarterback Jason Campbell.

Campbell lit up the UT defense for 240 of his total 252 passing yards in the first half. That included TD passes of 5 yards to Ben Obomanu and 31 yards to Courtney Taylor.

Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and Ronnie Brown each rushed for a score.

Tennessee's only answer when it mattered was a 41-yard James Wilhoit field goal. For a moment there, at 7-3, the Vols looked like they had a chance.

The Auburn defense, however, was too much for Tennessee's freshman quarterback tandem.

The Tigers forced Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer into six turnovers - five by Ainge.

Four of them were interceptions by safety Junior Rosegreen, who tied an SEC record.

Ainge's first start won't be one of his favorite memories. He was intercepted four times and fumbled at the UT 1 to set up an Auburn touchdown.

Ainge put himself in the UT record book, but not in a category he would have chosen. He joined Bobby Scott, Jeff Francis and Peyton Manning in throwing four interceptions in a game.

"We knew we'd learn some lessons with our freshman quarterbacks,'' said Fulmer. "I just wish we didn't learn them all at one time.''

The Vols (3-1, 1-1) go from a rock to a hard place. Next up is their first road trip of the season, to No. 3-ranked Georgia.

"How you respond to this is what makes you a great football player,'' said UT co-captain Michael Munoz.

"It's a long season. This is one game.''

And one play didn't undo the Vols. But Taylor's 31-yard TD catch just before halftime was a spirit-crusher, padding the Tigers' lead to 31-3.

The only suspense left for the second half was determining whether Auburn brought a punter.

The Tigers did, it turned out. Kody Bliss revealed himself in the third quarter.

It wasn't until the first play of the fourth quarter that Tennessee finally found the end zone. Fullback Cory Anderson rumbled in with a 2-yard pass from Ainge.

That score, however, only reduced the deficit to 31-10.

Auburn's John Vaughn kicked his second field goal to produce the final margin.

Williams, the Tigers' All-American candidate, rushed for 95 yards on 24 carries, including a 5-yard TD in the second quarter.

Brown added 57 yards. His 9-yard touchdown bolt on Auburn's first possession gave the Tigers a lead they wouldn't surrender. He also caught six passes for 79 yards.

Rosegreen caught as many Tennessee passes as any eligible UT receiver.

Ainge finished 17-of-35 passing for 173 yards. Schaeffer was 1-of-5 for 13 yards and was intercepted once.

Not that it was much consolation but the ground game at least showed up. The 107 rushing yards was 103 more than the Vols recorded against Auburn last year in a 28-21 loss

Cedric Houston gained 55 yards, and Gerald Riggs had 43.

From Tennessee's perspective, the first half was an unmitigated fiasco.

The Tigers were relentless and unstoppable, piling up 333 of their 400 total yards. They scored every time they touched the ball, with the exception of Brown's fumble at the UT 1.

Even that one worked out for the Tigers. Two plays later, Ainge fumbled the ball right back to Auburn at the 1, and Campbell hit Obomanu on third down for a 14-3 lead.

The Vols' offense stumbled over three turnovers, Ainge's fumble and a pair of interceptions.

Even the normally reliable punting game crumbled.

Dustin Colquitt's first punt was partially blocked, giving Auburn excellent field position to launch its opening drive: 55 yards in nine plays for a 9-yard TD run by Brown.

Colquitt's second punt covered only 30 yards, affording another short field in the second quarter. Auburn covered 50 yards in just four plays to go up 24-3 on Williams' 5-yard run.

When Auburn linebacker Travis Williams picked off a tipped Ainge pass with 2:05 left in the half, the Tigers took over at their 32 and were not content to sit on their lead.

A 38-yard pass to Brown out of the backfield set up Campbell's 31-yard scoring toss to Taylor, which would be the coup de grace.

"I thought we came to play,'' said Tuberville. "We got better and stronger with each snap.''

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com