Ohio State upsets Tennessee in the College Football Playoff

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Will Howard threw two touchdown passes to freshman Jeremiah Smith and Ohio State dispatched Tennessee 42-17 Saturday night in a first-round College Football Playoff game, setting up a New Year’s Day rematch with No. 1 Oregon on Rose bowl.

Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson each rushed for two touchdowns as the Buckeyes (11-2) gave their fans an early Christmas present that should quell some of the clamor after a devastating fourth straight loss to Michigan three weeks ago.

“You could tell by the jump that they had a look in their eyes,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said after the win. “We’ve got a lot of football ahead of us. It’s a great win, we’re going to enjoy this for 24 hours and move on to Oregon.”

Howard finished 24 for 29 for 311 yards, his second 300-yard game of the season. Smith had six catches for 103 yards, the sixth freshman to have over 100 receiving yards in a CFP game.

Eighth-seeded Ohio State scored on its first three drives while forcing three straight Tennessee punts. The ninth-seeded Vols (10-3) finally got on the board with a second-quarter field goal and touchdown, but couldn’t generate anything in the second half before getting a meaningless touchdown late in the game.

“We called this game more aggressively, there’s no question about that,” Day said, comparing the win to the loss to Michigan. “But we also did some things in this game that maximize what we have … And I thought Will was outstanding in this game.”

The Buckeyes actually did what they didn’t do against Michigan: get the ball on the boundary and throw deep to their most explosive players. And as a result, they draw top-seeded Oregon, which defeated Ohio State, 32-31, on Oct. 12.

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava was 14 for 31 for 104 yards and rushed a career-high 20 times for 47 more.

The 473 yards gained by Ohio State were the most surrendered by the Tennessee defense all season.

“We had some balance in this game,” Day said. “But this has to continue in the next game.”

The game-time temperature was 25 degrees and falling in the first college football game played in December at 102-year-old Ohio Stadium.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.