The Tennessee Volunteers luckily got a bit of help the last few weeks of the regular season to help them get into the first ever 12 team College Football Playoffs, but they were anything but lucky with their first-round matchup in Columbus against an Ohio State team looking to prove the home loss to their archrival Michigan to close out their regular schedule was a fluke.
The Buckeyes immediately punched the Tennessee defense in the mouth, marching 75 yards in under three minutes to score on a 37-yard passing touchdown. The Vols’ Nico Iamaleava was nothing resembling his opposing passer, failing to complete a pass in the first quarter as Ohio State stormed to a massive 42-17 win to advance while UT hung their heads all the way back to Knoxville.
As bad as the scoreboard was, it frequently looked as though Tennessee would be lucky to just get a first down. Recently announced SEC Offensive Player of the year, running back Dylan Sampson, had hurt his hamstring the team’s last game against the Vanderbilt Commodores. The injury obviously slowed him as he only had a pair of carries, each for 3 yards, and one catch for 2 yards. In addition, leading receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr was also limited due to injuries to close out his season, leader Bru McCoy was playing at not full strength, and the offensive line was spinning players around on the right side.
Due to all the injuries, the Buckeye defense played deep safeties with roaming linebackers perfectly set up to defend the pass. Nico Iamaleava never got into a good rhythm, completing fewer than half his passes through the night and running for his life. He was sacked 4 times, but also scrambled for positive gains frequently, helping extend a few drives with his legs when his arm couldn’t get it done. He rushed Even including the lost yards from sacks, Nico ended the night with around 50 yards to lead his team.
Despite all the injuries to the offense, it really was the defense which was the biggest disappointment. Tennessee’s offense was known to go cold, sometimes for an entire game (the Arkansas loss specifically comes to mind), but the defense has been the backbone of this squad throughout the season. But Ohio State embarrassed the Vols. The Buckeyes scored touchdowns on three straight drives to start both the first and second half. By the time the game was well in hand with a 32-point lead and under 10 minutes to go in the game, the Buckeyes had gained nearly 470 yards compared to Tennessee only mustering 179 before their garbage time yardage jumped their total up over 250 yards. To have such a lopsided outcome while still picking off your opponent in the endzone attests to how dominant the Buckeye offense was.
Even more embarrassing is how Ohio State got their yardage. The defense was considered the strength of the Tennessee team, and the defensive line was supposed to be the foundation of the defensive success. But Ohio State, despite fielding an offensive line which had been patched together and re-shuffled throughout the season due to injuries of their own, opened up running lanes for their rushers and kept QB Will Howard from almost ever feeling pressure. Howard ended his night early with a nearly pristine stat line of 24 completions on 29 attempts for over 300 yards and a pair of scores. He also ran 5 times for 37 yards. Ohio State’s top two running backs combined for well over 100 yards on only around 20 carries while scoring 4 times on the ground, while catching half a dozen passes for over 60 yards.
After watching the Indiana Hoosiers and the SMU Mustangs get blasted away by Notre Dame and Penn State, I had an uneasy feeling Tennessee would have a similar outcome. Tennessee has a feast or famine offense, and a defense which relies on big plays to get their offense as many bites at the apple as possible. But when the opponent gets recruiting classes which include the top players at their position, the fastest guy in their classes, and the biggest bodies on the field, the disparity of talent is too much to overcome, and the feast never comes. Ohio State easily hung the most points on the Tennessee defense in over a year, and the offense looked as off kilter and inefficient as their have under Nico.
Tennessee’s season ends with heartbreak, but it was season which was never supposed to be, anyway. Tennessee was one of three SEC teams to make the CFP after being pegged in August to finish third in the conference. They notched wins over Alabama, Vanderbilt, Florida, and Kentucky, all rivals. The on-field success has helped spur a good recruiting class, which should end up ranked in the top 10 in the country when all is said and done. While the departing talent on both side of the trenches will be hard to replace, Tennessee’s arrow is way up compared to where it was before coach Josh Heupel came to Knoxville, and Vols fans will be eager for the 2025 season.