Vols ‘disappointed’ with fans in attendance at Ohio Stadium

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Tennessee fan base showed up Saturday night for the first round of the College Football Playoff, with orange splashed all over Ohio Stadium.

Unfortunately for the Vols, that energy and passion didn’t translate to the field. They were outclassed in every facet in a 42-17 blowout loss to Ohio State, Tennessee’s 22nd straight loss to a top-10 team on the road.

“We’ve been working since January to get to this point and it’s boring to go out like that because it’s not who we are, man,” Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava said. “I love this team. I love the team we have. And the way tonight went was not the way we wanted it to go, and we’ll use that as motivation in the fall.”

Several longtime Buckeyes observers said Saturday marked the most fans from an opposing team they’ve ever seen in Ohio Stadium. The Tennessee fans, estimated at 30,000, showed up early, started partying early and were hungry for what was the school’s first postseason (playoff or BCS national championship game) appearance since the Vols’ 1998 national title campaign.

But the Vols (10-3) were no match for a Buckeyes team that built a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, dominated the line of scrimmage and scored the most points Tennessee had allowed since a 63-38 loss to South Carolina in 2022 By the end of the first quarter, Ohio State (11-2) had outgained Tennessee 205 yards to 16, and Iamaleava had. yet to complete a pass. Tennessee pulled within 21-10 at the half, but Ohio State extended the gap to 42-10 before the Vols scored their final touchdown in the final two minutes.

“I think they thought they were going to take this place over and we showed them pretty quickly that we weren’t going to let that happen,” Ohio State quarterback Will Howard said. “And I think obviously us getting off to a pretty quick start helped with that. But I have to give credit to Buckeye Nation for showing up and being vocal.”

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel called the turnout of Vols fans “special” and apologized for not being a better result.

“I’m disappointed for them, disappointed for our team and everything we’ve put into it since last January that we didn’t train and play better in this one early,” Heupel said. “There wasn’t a phase of the football game where we were functioning the way we were supposed to early in the game. We came back and made a few plays at the end of the second quarter to tighten it up and just didn’t function well enough to get in in the third quarter, credit to them, but we just didn’t do what you have to do on the road again against a really good football team.

Iamaleava said it was disappointing not to be able to reward the fans who made the trip.

“It sucks the performance we gave them. I hope they come home safe, man,” Iamaleava said. “I really appreciate the support.”

Tennessee’s passing game was nonexistent for most of the contest, and the Vols couldn’t generate any big plays downfield, whether it was Iamaleava being harassed by the Ohio State pass rush or his receivers simply not creating separation and were opened.

Injuries also hampered Tennessee. Leading rusher Dylan Sampson, the SEC Offensive Player of the Year, suffered a hamstring injury sustained in the regular-season finale against Vanderbilt on Nov. 30 and carried the ball just two times for 6 yards.

“He’s been out the first few weeks, got back with us and started building through the week,” Heupel said of Sampson. “We felt he was in a good spot and expected him not to have the same type of load that he normally would, but early in the game he kind of turned it around and wasn’t available there for a while.”

Tennessee wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. and Squirrel White also left the game with injuries after battling physical setbacks for most of the season.

“At the end of the day, man, whoever’s out there, whether it’s a rookie or not, we’ve got to be able to execute the same way with those guys or not, and we didn’t do a good job of that. tonight,” said Iamaleava, who finished 14-of-31 for 104 yards and no touchdowns and was sacked four times.

With the passing game so ineffective, the Vols used Iamaleava in the run game more than they have all season. The redshirt freshman tallied 20 carries, several of them scrambles, and finished with 47 yards.

“We’re the ones out there on the field playing and we just have to hold ourselves to a higher standard and execute at a higher level,” Iamaleava said.

Heupel, who completed his fourth year at Tennessee, has guided the Vols to at least nine wins in each of the past three seasons, with wins over rivals Alabama and Florida in two of the past three campaigns and an Orange Bowl victory over Clemson two years ago . But there is also a next step, especially in these types of games where the stakes are the highest.

“Well, you’ve got to play better. You’ve got to coach better,” Heupel said. “Ohio State is a good football team and tonight wasn’t one of our best performances of the year and so at the end of the day you’ve got to continue to grow. We’re going to start over and start rebuilding and rebuilding and grow as a football team Two years ago we finished sixth in the country.

“There is a standard inside our building and we will continue to grow.”